Winter Riding Is the Best Riding.

The Roads Are Empty

In January, the cycling infrastructure belongs to the people who showed up. The summer cyclists are on the turbo trainer. The casual riders are in hibernation. The roads — even the good ones — are quiet in a way they never are between April and September.

There is a quality to a cold, clear winter morning on a bike that is genuinely difficult to describe to someone who hasn’t experienced it. The air is sharp. The light is low and golden. The effort required to maintain pace against the cold is honest in a way that summer riding, with its warm tailwinds, sometimes is not.

Kit Makes It Possible

The gap between being comfortable and being miserable in winter conditions is almost entirely about clothing. A good merino base layer, an insulated windproof jacket, winter gloves, and overshoes transform a ride that sounds punishing into one that is genuinely enjoyable.

The bike matters too. Mudguards are not optional in wet conditions — without them, the road spray soaks through kit within twenty minutes regardless of how waterproof it claims to be. Our Night Rider and Hatch were designed with winter in mind: sealed bearings, mudguard mounts, full lighting.

The Fitness Dividend

Riders who train through winter arrive at spring in a different place to those who don’t. The aerobic base built over cold months doesn’t disappear — it compounds. The first warm ride of March, after a winter of consistent kilometres, feels like a reward. And it is.