Cold Mornings and Warm Memories - Winter Cycling

Quick Take: I have never liked riding a bicycle in cold weather, but staying ready for an early-summer bicycle tour means I cannot simply quit riding all winter. After decades of cycling, I have learned that keeping my ears, fingers, and toes warm makes the biggest difference, and sometimes the smartest winter ride is the one I do indoors.

I hate riding in cold weather. Some cyclists seem to love it. They talk about crisp air, quiet roads, and how a freezing morning makes them feel alive. I mostly just feel cold. My toes start complaining, my fingers never seem quite warm enough, and the wind somehow finds the one little opening in whatever I am wearing.

If I had my way, I would probably avoid the bike every time the temperature dropped below 40 degrees. The problem is that I usually have an early-summer bicycle tour somewhere on the calendar, and I know from experience that I cannot wait until April or May to start getting ready for it. Those summer miles are built during the winter, whether I enjoy the winter riding or not.

Summer Tours Are Built During Winter

For years, I trained through winter because I usually had something waiting for me when warmer weather arrived. Sometimes it was a big cycling event. Other times it was a long bicycle tour. These days, I am not necessarily preparing for a mountain climb, but I still want to be ready for an early-summer tour where I may ride 50, 60, or 70 miles day after day.

I have learned after more than 50 years of cycling that you cannot suddenly decide in May that you are ready for several consecutive days of riding. You need those miles in your legs ahead of time. That means getting out the door when the weather is colder than I would like, and it also means climbing onto the indoor bike on days when riding outside just does not make sense.

This is really another version of something I have written about before. Fitness for bicycle touring comes from consistency, not from one heroic ride a few weeks before you leave. Stacking rides and putting together weeks of consistent mileage is what prepares me for a tour.

Yes, It Gets Cold in Texas

I know somebody reading this from Minnesota, Wisconsin, or somewhere else up north may be laughing at a Texan complaining about winter. I get it. I am not going to pretend that winter in West Texas is anything like winter in the northern part of the country. We do not spend months buried under snow, and plenty of winter afternoons around here are actually pretty good for riding.

But we absolutely get cold weather. Temperatures can drop into the 20s, the teens, and occasionally below that, and West Texas wind can make a cold day feel a whole lot colder on a bicycle. A temperature that does not sound terrible while you are standing in the driveway feels very different once you are moving down the road with cold air hitting you for two hours.

When temperatures get down into the 20's or below, that becomes an indoor riding day for me. In fact, once we get down into the 30s, I am much more likely to move the ride indoors. I do not enjoy indoor riding nearly as much as being outside. I would rather see the road moving underneath me, watch the scenery change, and feel like I am actually going somewhere, but sometimes staying inside is simply the better choice.

I may hate indoor riding, but I still do it because the purpose is bigger than that day's ride. I am trying to stay ready for the tours and rides I really enjoy. Those summer touring days are a lot more enjoyable when I know I did the work during winter.

The Three Places I Protect First

I have always said there are three places on the body you absolutely have to take care of when cycling in cold weather: your ears, your fingers, and your toes. Once one of those three gets painfully cold, the whole ride can become miserable pretty quickly. I have tried plenty of different things over the years, and I have found a few pieces of gear that work well for me.

Keeping My Ears Warm

Under my helmet, I use the Hikenture Skull Cap Helmet Liner with Glasses Holes. What I particularly like about this skull cap is the small slit designed for the arms of your glasses. That may sound like a minor detail, but it makes a surprising difference.

With a normal winter cap, the arm of my glasses can create a small opening near my ear. Cold air finds that opening immediately. The slit in this cap allows the glasses to fit through the material instead of pushing it away from my head, helping keep that little stream of cold air from reaching my ears. It is one of those small design features that I did not realize I needed until I started using it.

Keeping My Fingers Warm

For my hands, I use the XUKER Full Finger Paddling Gloves when the temperature drops into the 40s. They are technically marketed for kayaking, canoeing, rafting, and paddleboarding, but they have worked well for me on the bicycle.

If the temperature gets a little colder, I can wear a thin liner glove underneath them for some extra warmth. Once it gets into the 30s and below, though, I think you really need a heavier winter cycling glove if you are going to stay outside for very long. Personally, that is usually around the point where I start thinking the indoor bike looks pretty good.

Cold hands are more than uncomfortable. If your fingers get too cold, shifting, braking, and handling small controls can become harder. I have had rides where my fingers got cold enough that shifting gears became difficult, and that takes the fun out of a ride pretty quickly.

Keeping My Toes Warm

Feet can be tricky because everybody seems to have a different tolerance for cold. Shoe covers are very personal. Different shoes, temperatures, wind conditions, and circulation all make a difference, so I do not think there is one shoe cover that is automatically right for everybody. If you are shopping for them, here are several different types of cold-weather cycling shoe covers to compare.

One thing I have used for years is a simple pair of Neoprene Toe Warmers. I bought mine back in 2018, and I still use them when I think my shoe covers may not be enough. On days in the 40s, I will often skip the full shoe covers completely and just use the toe warmers.

They fit inside the shoe and provide another layer over the front of the foot, which is where I tend to notice the cold first. They are not complicated, and they are not expensive gear that requires much thought. They simply help keep my toes warmer, which can make the difference between enjoying a winter ride and spending the last ten miles thinking about nothing except getting home.

The Cold Rides I Remember

Here is the funny thing. For someone who dislikes riding in cold weather as much as I do, some of my strongest cycling memories come from winter rides. I remember frost sparkling along the shoulder of the road as the sun began to come up. I remember stopping during a freezing ride and going into a convenience store for hot chocolate, or sometimes just because I wanted to stand somewhere warm for a few minutes.

I also remember how quiet some of those rides were. Cold weather keeps a lot of people indoors, and the roads can feel completely different. There have been days when it seemed like it was just me, the bicycle, my breath in the air, and the sound of the tires rolling underneath me. Those are the moments when I almost understand the people who say they love winter riding.

Almost.

Those quieter rides are also part of why cycling has always been more than exercise for me. Some of my best thinking happens when there is nothing around me except the road. I have written before about the mental clarity I get from cycling, and those empty winter roads can sometimes provide more of it than any other ride.

Some Winter Rides Are Just About Grit

Not every cold ride becomes a peaceful memory. I have misjudged the temperature, underestimated the wind, and finished rides with fingers so cold I had trouble shifting. I have spent plenty of final miles thinking about nothing except getting through the front door and getting warm.

Those rides were miserable while I was doing them, but I finished them, and I think they gave me something beyond physical fitness. They reminded me that I could keep going when conditions were uncomfortable. That matters during a bicycle tour because sooner or later something will not go according to plan.

The wind may turn against you. The day may get hotter than expected. Your legs may still be tired from yesterday's ride. You may have another 15 miles to go when you would really prefer the motel to be right around the corner. Those are the moments when all those ordinary training miles start paying you back.

After a lifetime of cycling, that may be one of the biggest lessons I have learned: not every ride has to be enjoyable to be worthwhile. What a lifetime of cycling has taught me is that some of the rides I least wanted to start ended up helping prepare me for the ones I remember most.

I Still Hate Cold-Weather Riding

I have not learned to love riding in the cold, and at this point I doubt I ever will. I still look at a forecast showing 38 degrees and immediately start thinking about whether I really want to go outside. I still spend too much time deciding which gloves are warm enough without being too bulky, and when the temperature really drops, I am perfectly comfortable admitting that I would rather ride indoors.

But I have made peace with winter riding because I know why I am doing it. I am not riding through winter because I love cold-weather cycling. I am doing it because I love what those winter miles eventually allow me to do.

When early summer arrives, the bike is ready, the bags are packed, and another bicycle tour is about to begin, I do not want to wonder whether I trained enough. I want to throw a leg over the bike knowing that I put in the miles, including the cold ones I did not particularly enjoy.

Sometimes those miles happen on a quiet West Texas road with cold air hitting me in the face. Sometimes they happen indoors while I stare at the same wall for an hour. Either way, they count, and eventually they lead me back to the kind of riding I really love.