When one thinks about the challenges of engaging in winter cycling the first thing that comes to mind is how to keep oneself warm. This is a reasonable enough thought, of course, particularly as you are just starting out. I suspect most folks, if they decide they are going to stick with it, figure out what works for them on that front fairly early on, and then stick with what works. I know that that is the case for me.
The variable that seems less predictable - and thus to present ongoing challenges - is the machine itself. I’ve done winter cycling on multiple machines. Early on I primarily rode my Cannondale SR400 in the winter months - the same machine that I rode in the summer. I would very occasionally alternate this with the Schwinn mountain bike that we also have in the stable. But since getting my Catrike Pocket in 2017, all of my winter riding has been on three wheels, first on that machine and now, since the winter of 2019-20, on my Catrike Expedition.
With the switch from two wheels to three my cold weather riding has increased considerably. I’d originally looked at winter riding as a replacement for cross country skiing. I really enjoyed cross country skiing, but it was becoming increasingly rare for us to get enough snow in our area to get out, and when we did it always seemed to melt before I had a day free to enjoy it. Given that, when I switched I rode in the winter, but not a lot, really. Looking back through Cyclemeter, between the four winters of 2013-14 and 2016-17 I clocked a total of 18 rides.
In my first winter with the trike I clocked in 26 rides - more than the four years prior combined - and it’s gone up every year since. The trike offers multiple benefits over uprights for winter riding, not the least of which is not suddenly disappearing out from under you when you hit a patch of ice (I’d never gotten to the point of investing in studded tires for my upright bikes).
With that increased activity, though, comes the realization that winter isn’t just challenging for your own body, but that the cold also takes its toll on your machine. Anyone who has hopped in the car to head to work on a January morning only to turn the key and hear that heart rending slow churn that tells you the battery has decided to take a powder knows this to be true. But it is also true for cycling machines.
Last year I ran into struggles with my left brake freezing up - and doing so, unfortunately, in the locked position. This led to the only time as an adult that I’ve had to call for a pickup (well, so far, anyway).
This year it’s issues with shifting. As I noted a few weeks ago, my trip up to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving seems to have gotten moisture into the cable line for my rear derailleur. This has been mostly fixed with liberal applications of WD-40. I say “mostly”, because down below about 15° F the problem re-emerges, and I’m then stuck with the three gears to which the front derailleur continues to give me access.
And that front derailleur apparently isn’t super pleased about its increased workload, and is showing some issues with wanting to stay in place, leaving me at times to ride with my left hand on top of the handlebar to keep it still. This is an oddly intermittent problem - I can, at times, reset it and get a couple of miles out of it, and then have it recur and I cannot get it to stay put. So far it’s not clear to me that it’s temperature related - I’ll likely investigate that further today.
If all of this sounds like complaining, I don’t intend it that way. While I may get a bit frustrated with it at times - suddenly, unexpectedly dropping from the middle to the small ring can be a bit jarring - mostly I think of it as representing part of the challenge to winter riding. With the increased cold-weather riding, I’m encountering - and learning about - how the cold affects the machinery, and what needs to be done to address those issues. It’s part of the challenge of winter riding.
This is, after all, part of what winter sports offer. It’s not just the opportunity to get exercise and enjoy nature, tho that is certainly a part of it. Winter sports presents with that additional challenge of contending with, facing, and (hopefully) succeeding at beating down what Old Man Winter presents us with.