This winter: mountain bike or sofa? Are we talking about this?

Pedaling in cold, snow, fog, humidity, gray sky? When winter came, you probably told yourself that you need to make a mountain biking decision:

• Keep driving

OU

• Make a truce and prepare to recover later

Either way, here are some tips to help you make the right choice and stick with it.

Go mountain biking in winter

In winter it is quite possible to ride a bike. This requires little training, little equipment and, above all, goodwill.

Why travel in winter?

• Maintain acquired skills: Even if reducing the number of hours mountain biking is normal, continuing to ride in the winter makes it easier to resume the ride when warm weather returns.
• Earth : cultivating the land is necessary to withstand the massive field trips that will occur later this season. This is a good investment.
• Equipment: in winter the weather is more humid, the grip is less, the trails are slippery. You have to focus on driving and this will allow you to exercise to feel more comfortable when walking in dry weather.
• Driving in different terrain: the paths are covered with dead leaves, pine thorns, mud and snow. Riding in such conditions gives a different feeling, makes you realize the limits of the capabilities of your equipment.

Prepare for mountain biking in winter

Get dressed!

It's cold, windy, and you need to wear suitable clothes.

To ride warm, you must follow 2 basic principles:

• For the upper body, use the 3-layer principle with 3 types of garments strung on top of each other: breathable underwear, second skin, then an outer layer to keep out wind, cold and rain (ideally Gore-Tex and / or cork).
• Protect your head, arms and legs well. The limbs quickly and easily become numb from the cold ❄️.

Envelopes

By observing the principle of layering, you will stay warm, dry and protected from the wind.

• The underwear is in direct contact with the skin. It will keep your body warm and wick away sweat to keep you dry and warm.
• The jersey, preferably with long sleeves, should be breathable but insulating and warm.
• The jacket should be at least waterproof and windproof, potentially heat resistant. This layer is designed to protect against external influences (wind, rain, splashing mud or water). This layer needs to be breathable to stay dry, otherwise moisture produced by your body will condense. We will tell you about this in our file of MTB winter jackets.

On shorter days, choose clothes in bright, reflective colors: they are better for travel. It is also best during the hunting season not to be mistaken for a deer.

Limbs

Arms

Numbness and tingling are the first symptoms of a cold, so be sure to wear long gloves with a waterproof and windproof outer membrane such as Windstopper and inner thermal fleece. The glove should remain thin to retain the driving feel, have a coated palm for good grip, and have a high enough wrist to slip under jacket sleeves and avoid drafts.

If possible, purchase gloves with reflective tape.

There are “heaters” that resemble large bandages that can be applied to your arms or legs and that “dissipate light heat” are useful enough to give you some comfort during your breaks. Finally, for those who are more careful, you can also wear ultra-thin silk pads, for example, to improve thermal comfort.

Feet

The diagnosis is the same as for the hands, it is here that the feeling of coldness will be felt in the first place. Put on socks and shoes! It is not enough to be content with winter socks without taking off your summer shoes, the cold is guaranteed. Thermal socks (thermolite, merino wool) keep warm by wicking moisture away.

Be careful with the thickness of the socks: if they are too thick, they squeeze the foot and force you to choose shoes one size larger. At UtagawaShop you will find an assortment of thin winter socks that have been specially designed to avoid this.

Then, to protect your feet from wind and water, you can opt for special shoes or a pair of neoprene overshoes (less practical, but cheaper).

Legs

When it's cold, you have no choice, you have to switch to long shorts. Fitted with shoulder straps, they provide extra warmth and excellent breathability. The straps of the shorts will need to be pulled over technical underwear. Shorts should be made of waterproof (or waterproof) and windproof membranes. Finally, do not neglect suede to the detriment of the textiles of the shorts, your comfort in the saddle is at stake.

Stay in sight

In winter, it is not only cold, but also darkens very quickly.

On country roads, motorists tend to drive fast and forget that they might encounter cyclists: take clothes with reflective stripes and equip your mountain bike with flashlights.

We'll tell you more in our article on the best mountain bike headlights.

Determine the condition of the soil

Snow, ice, and rain or fog can change trails and roads. Check the weather forecast so you don't get caught off guard. On very muddy roads or snow, the tires should be deflated slightly to improve traction. Likewise, you should expect effective braking. Maintenance of the ATV after a walk in such conditions is a must. Clean the bike thoroughly and lubricate the moving parts of the frame.

What if we remove the bike?

Make way for a well-deserved rest for the body! How do you spend this winter break to recharge the batteries to the max and start again next year? What to do and what not to do? Do you like other sports or not? When and how to renew? Outside or inside?

Food

The concept of pleasure must remain central but controlled. Occasionally, hamburger and fries or year-end holiday dinners, on the other hand, are not prohibited! It's just that their excess is not good. With a balanced, varied and simple diet, we do not overpower ourselves and avoid large fluctuations in weight throughout the year. It is advisable to weigh yourself regularly in order to monitor the dynamics of your weight. It is important to eat a balanced, no-nonsense diet so that you don't start too far past your body weight level during recovery.

Active rest in winter

Staying active during this period is a guarantee of an easier recovery. If you can think of a complete sports break from one week to 10 days, it is not recommended to take a break of more than 15 days, because in addition to this, there may be adverse physiological changes (muscle and cardiovascular) compared to your body's ability to adapt to stress. A little sporting activity is enough to limit the "loss" of physical condition, for example, 1-2 light activities of 1-2 hours per week maximum. It is important to have fun, change the air, while maintaining what you have learned.

Then we will no longer seek a general cardiovascular restart on and off the bike. From this point of view, it is obvious that all endurance sports are a very good addition to cycling.

In winter, in addition to cycling, you can choose several types of outdoor activities for every taste:

swimming

This sport deserves special attention in the off-season, as it is highly developed: breathing and muscles of the upper body improve. Attention, crawling is better than breaststroke, which puts stress on the knees.

Running

This is a good way to keep your weight off and keep your breath. Equipment in shoes is very important so as not to injure yourself, and above all: stop immediately at the slightest problem with your knee (this sport is famous for tendonitis).

Bodybuilding / fitness

Strength training is beneficial for cyclists and complements endurance sports. Give preference to workouts for explosive tonic strength, avoid workouts designed to build muscle. Take advantage of the opportunity to work out the upper body, which is little used in mountain biking, but is still used for technical / trial parts.

For your legs, prioritize exercises such as abs or squats. You can also add balance exercises that will improve your mountain biking position and proprioception in general.

Indoor cycling

So that the pedal will hold the stroke and not lose too much space in the saddle. Cycling should remain fun, so take 30 minutes to 1 hour. In recent years, the "gamification" of training has allowed a shift towards attractive solutions for those who find it difficult to ride a bike without the sensation it brings.

A luxury solution is to afford homeschooling with an ANT+ connected tablet simulator.

For example, Wahoo and Zwift offer an interesting solution.

Skiing

Ideal in the winter for those who can, it is a good cardiovascular and technical activity, in particular to maintain reflexes on the descent, while prioritizing part of the pleasure. It is also a very good sport for strengthening the legs and abdominal girdle.

All mountain bikers are different, but they all have the same goal: to relax, keep fit, and work the muscles that are least used during the season.

Do nothing sporty

And yes, you can also skip sports and believe that you will have to pay dearly for it when you resume work 😉.

In these cases, it is possible to spend time in the workshop doing winter maintenance or updates after a session to find the best price for the desired accessory.

You can also follow the instructions online:

• To be able to do everything yourself on your own bike, our partners TUTOVELO have the perfect mechanical training for this.
• to improve your mountain biking performance with the advice of professionals in riding, nutrition, mental conditioning, and more. A dose of mountain biking training workshops with Sabrina Jonye, ​​XNUMX-time World Downhill Champion, will get you back on your feet in the next season.

You can also take stock of your year by analyzing mountain biking activities in your GPS history and take the opportunity to share your most beautiful routes on UtagawaVTT and add to the site's database of quality routes.

How to resume mountain biking after winter break?

It is about a smoother and more regular resumption of the exit path. The idea is to find consistency in your workouts so that your body gets used to the effort again. We will then prioritize work primarily related to endurance and technique (balance, mobility on and off the bike, mountain bike technique, pedaling efficiency), varying the workouts as much as possible, without hesitating to complement them with other endurance sports (for example, swimming.). It is important to prioritize the frequency and variety of training sessions over short periods of time, rather than high volumes of training, which cause great fatigue. The body responds and adapts much better to small, regular requests than to large one-time visits. In practice, it is better to do 4x1h of varied workouts per week than 1x3h30.

What will be your strategy for this winter?