A Winter Riding Survey.

By Bryce Ward

Soon after the leaves have fallen, the many individuals who enjoy riding a bicycle enough to devote sizable portions of their time toward it are confronted with a dark age of sorts. The sun becomes impatient, slumping back down into the horizon with utter disregard for the 9-to-5 work schedule most of us adhere to, leaving behind little time, light and warmth for activities unassociated with a paycheck — let alone for bike rides.

The amount of time a person devotes toward riding a bike varies widely and is largely dependent on the amount of time left over once more practical responsibilities have been attended to. A person’s underlying motivations for cycling also greatly influence the frequency and duration of their rides. This stumbling dance between time and motivation is present year-round, but it becomes especially complicated when winter enters the scene.

Suddenly, your pre-ride apparel decisions are of grave importance to the quality of your riding experience — and to the nerve endings in your fingers and toes. Oftentimes in the winter, an outdoor ride is impractical, especially during the weekdays, and we must instead grapple with an abundant number of ways to spend the time left available to us.

Many cyclists choose to fill this time by replicating the experience of a bike ride indoors, most often by means of a trainer — a clever device that fixes a bike in its place while allowing the back wheel to roll freely underneath — or by means of rollers, a set of cylinders that act as an awkward treadmill.

Trainers are great for workouts and long bouts of indoor pedaling, but the experience they provide is only faintly reminiscent of a bike ride. Rollers are more effective at mimicking an outdoor ride because they require steadfast attention toward balance and pedaling form, but this demand on the rider’s focus can quickly become exhausting, and the lack of resistance makes workouts more challenging.

It is common for cyclists to combine indoor riding with different means of entertainment to make the strange experience of pedaling in place more enjoyable, or at the very least, more bearable. Music, movies, shows, podcasts and various other forms of visual and auditory entertainment are familiar companions to the indoor rider. And, in recent years, a phenomenon known as Zwift — a gamified cycling simulation — has become an especially common aid for biding time on the trainer.

Some cyclists, whether out of preference or necessity, do not ride indoors at all. When the weather becomes too formidable, they shift their attention away from the bike and toward other matters. Even the cyclists who ride indoors often begin supplementing other activities such as strength training, running, hiking and yoga into their routines.

Cyclists have many ways to approach the colder months, and each of these approaches come with benefits and concessions. Intrigued by this variance (and confronted with a rather short deadline), I decided to piece together a quick survey for cyclists regarding many of the pertinent topics related to the winter season.

These topics range from apparel and nutrition preferences to cyclists’ underlying motivations for riding in spite of nature’s temperament. It is by no means a flawlessly thought-out survey, but I hope it provides at least a partial glimpse into the variety of ways cyclists respond to the unifying dilemma of winter.

In total, 40 cyclists participated in the survey. It consisted mostly of multiple-choice questions, some short-answer responses, and a few image submission prompts. Due to the inherent limitation on space, we had to take some editorial liberty with the responses, but we hope you enjoy the result.