[Closed] So how are you coping with Winter, wear & tear, breakage etc?

My bike hasn’t turned a wheel this year so far and thats not likely to change any time soon, due to a bimalleolar fracture of the right ankle after a fall at work on the 29th dec.

im now bored out ma tits, so I’d say, if you get an opportunity to get a ride in, seize it with both hands.

Shamefully today is the first time since, we’ll last winter, I’ve said “sod It, I’m staying home”.

the bike’s a wreck, rear brake is spongy, the fork needs a service, the cassette is a greasy mess, the lower jockey wheel is sluged up.

My only pair of 510s are on there way out. My knee pads are falling to bits. I’ve destroyed my lid and I’m not sure I like the new one.

My body is sore, I’ve got plates in both arms and they hate cold and wet, I woke up tired and sore.

I’d have to be home by midday or my wife would kill me as she’s got to get to work and my mate can’t make it.

im hanging a picture and learning to slow-cook instead.

It even rained last time I went on zwift.

Haven't been out since getting the flu and coughing for 3 weeks non stop. Might brave it tomorrow.

Haven't been on the mtb for months, can't be bothered commuting in the cold and rain as I have a really easy commute by public transport. Just about getting one or two rides on the cx bike at weekends but got second shoulder surgery this winter coming up soon so fitness low and enthusiasm even lower

I constantly ache, mainly as I’m running lots and the easy spins in the evenings have been replaced by brutal sessions on Zwift. Feeling fit mind you, just exhausted as well.

I went out in October after those big storms to a lot of damage to the greenways and trails. Put the MTB away, I’m doing base training on TrainerRoad and getting in a road bike ride when the weather allows.
I also entered a big road event next year as my goal instead of a MTB event.

Sitting on my trainer doing Clark, a 1.5 hour workout.

Tore my hamstring in October. Had lots of physio, felt on the mend. Did a couple of races, then hurt it again jumping over a stream. Awaiting more physio. + The usual stomach bugs, colds etc. Convinced that my bar is the wrong width now, so hoping a new bar will fix all ills. 😉.

I've done a total of 27 miles this year (& not a lot last year due to all sorts of shite)
Now that I actually feel a bit more motivated (due mainly to Mrs Egf feeling better & me having a job I like) I'm full of snots & coughs & the weather's worse than dismal.

I had the joy this morning where the roads were frozen but the trails were muddy. Worst of both worlds.

Been riding loads over the winter 😆

The main bike has just had a new drivetrain and a new rear wheel after I bent the old one one too many times and I've just finished building up a hardtail out of the donated bits from my other FS.  Wanting to work on my skills and fancy a hardtail again, even been hitting the gym regularly too!

So I'm coping fine despite the crappy weather.  Does help have a lot of different riding spots to chose from to suit the prevailing conditions though.

I'm usually quite good at getting motivated and going out for a ride ([perhaps even a bit obsessive) and I've cycled in all weathers. The odd bad weather ride can be really fun and invigorating, however I seem to have had a fairly constant run of wet, windy and bitterly cold rides that are really dragging me down; the off road bits are sloppy and the roads are wet and greasy (and down on the Somerset Levels generally mucky too). I've been feeling a sense of achievement finishing the rides but not actually enjoying them ending up wet and cold and quite often with extremely painful fingers from the cold (despite a good set of gloves and liners).

I'm starting to miss quite a few rides and I really can't wait for better weather!

Mostly road riding during winter. Though I have been through 4 chains, a cassette, two power metres (one refunded and another fixed), maybe half a dozen tyres with big flint cuts, a trashed jersey after an off, and no end of coin cell batteries that really don’t like the cold.

Getting a fair amount of riding in though and motivation is  pretty good for Feb. Can’t contemplate riding off road though right now, ridiculously wet and muddy round here.

Running and turbo trainer... I really hate cleaning bikes!

Commute a mere 8 miles (in total) every day, and do sporadic work on the turbo. Otherwise, I haven’t dropped an ounce of weight since Christmas in spite of trying to be diligent with respect to calorie intake.

That is getting me down, but I am pretty sure that, if it wasn’t for the meds, I would be as low, or lower, than I have ever been.

And the weather is just not helping!

The bikes, meanwhile, are excellent. I love them, and look forward to better days.

The whole family has been suffering bouts of cold, flu and gastroenteritis since mid December.

I seem to be the one with the functioning immune system, but work has been mad since coming b<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">ack from christmas... My missus had a go at me last night for saying I was planning to use Sunday to do work rather than go out for a bike ride.</span>

Best i can manage for now is going to be turbo sessions in the garage, easily going to be a stone and a half heavier than planned when April rolls round at this rate...

But mentally I seem to be doing OK, I'm generally a sunny side up sort of fella...

In winter I ride either single speed and rigid, or an SS hardtail.

Much less worry with things wearing out. Blast of the hose, quick lube and it's put away for the next slop-fest.

I winter I put the bike away (not including commuting) and do something else.

I've not been on the MTB since June!
I get out on the 'Gravel Bike' most weekends & I did a lot of miles on the road bike last Summer.Just can't be arsed driving to a trail,however I'm off work this week & I'm tempted to get the MTB out for a afternoon spin /evening night ride up at Rivi. Should break the week up & get me away from the diy tasks..

Fitness-wise, I've been awful. Eating like a pig, boozing too much, no real exercise. Winter drags.

Spring is however not far away so I'm getting the bike fixed. I also have some new work opportunities coming along which could change things and allow me to go back to part-time. I will need to cut down on the beer and food as I'm well overweight now.

not too bad. still averaging about 70k/week on the ss. a good regular turnout on wednesday night with the promise of a few beer flavoured recovery drinks in front of the fire at the ley helps. we've had trails closed on the hill for the past few months for fc work, so some of the better known off-piste are now getting very tired, but weekend openings on the official stuff, and folk not realising you can ride the nearby off piste too means this has remained in very good condition. We've also opened up/rediscovered/got new stuff nearby as well, so it's all good.
the bike's in decent shape, aside for a recalcitrant dropper that wants attention, but it'll get it's weekly brush off of the dried mud and a lube in a minute and that'll be it done. good to go tomorrow. 🙂

Been on the turbo quite a bit and MTB at weekends - Bike has needed a good old service, including the dropper.

Mileage is up on last two years - was doing 6,000 a year (mainly commuting) but got my spine broken by a crap driver. It's taken a long time to recover, and I'm managing to get out more recently, but it's backed up with copious amounts of pain killers after.

Stopped road biking completely, so off road only.

Pretty good so far, about 720Km, mostly commuting to work, with a few runs. No colds or flu. I've cut back on the commute ride as it was getting to muddy, and the amount of on road riding means a full on MTB wouldn't be fun. Hopefully it'll try out seen so I can get back to the full distance.

It's all been road miles for me apart from a holiday in NZ, which was amazing. Not really a fan of mountain biking in the winter!!

Full Sussers mint in the study, not turned a wheel in anger since October.  HT got cleaned and put in the shed early Jan, since then I’ve had a 3 week cold, it’s rained continuously and the Downs are wrecked.  I cannot face going out in these conditions.

Even the dogs are getting hacked off with the mud now.

I’m getting the odd ride out on the road bike but even then I have to give myself a strong listening too for motivation.

on the plus side my alternate timeline nazi killing skills via the PS4 are coming on leaps and bounds.

Just in from second track session in 3 days 😀. Zero cleaning required !

Went out on the single speed today, probably rule #9 conditions as I didn't see another cyclist, thought there was something odd about the bike as there'd be occasional clicks when pedalling. Got home and washing the bike I wiggled the cranks. Ah! Bottom bracket is goosed. It's a Deore HT2 and done around 9000km so I've had good use out of it, no complaints.

Single speed with oil bath forks was brilliant aside needing brake pads, now it’s broken as I’ve killed another crank arm.

Elderly full Susser again with oil bath forks is running well but hard work as it’s damn heavy. About to be heavier when I put the old Van RC coil back on.

Bird Aeris, staying dry. Can’t be arsed servicing Air can and forks every 30 secs and the less said about the reverb the better

My training is going to plan so far after the end of the cross season in December. A few bike mates have decided to put on an informal cross race series to keep the race fitness up which has been good fun. The only bad thing is my steel cross bike, and general winter bike,is back at the frame builders after the rear mech giving up the ghost on a night road ride and taking the gear hanger and drop out with it! Good job the frame builder is a friend of mine as this is the sixth time he’s repaired this frame. Only problem is that he has so much work on I’m going to have to wait until the end of March to get the bike back so it’s singlespeeding for me until then.

Absolutely zero motivation at the minute, probs not helped by the stupid blustery wind which can **** right off and I'm probably 3kg over where I'd like to be too 🙁 I'm considering busting out the 24" BMX and fetching it to the indoor skatepark. My jeans still fit though, which is nice...

Had my lunch up on the Coreen Hills today. It's not all bad 🙂

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1 x dropper post

1 x right hand pedal

1 x light bar clamp

Body is generally working despite a couple of otb's from hitting mud in the dark at the wrong angle (see pedal and clamp above).

Just have to keep my spirits up for another month until spring starts springing and I may have just about survived another winter.

I've resorted to using old and worn out drivetrains and rigid forks for most of my rides (unless I'm at a trail centre). It takes the pain out of listening to the crunch from the rear mech on every turn of the pedal.

Well.....been out as much as I can but came off in uncut snow at Hammers the other week, ripped my jacket elbow 🙁

Washing machine has been earning its keep and I’ve crashed in both the livingroom and garage due to Roller incidents.

I'm a year round bike commuter and the cold n wet combination sucks the enthusiasm for weekend riding

If it were raining and not cold then I'd go out on the road bike or cold and dry then the mountain bike but dealing with the post-ride slop knowing full well it'll be the same going into work ...

Pretty good so far. Main issue has been a Medusa eXCeption I put on the rear, which is great in the mud and thoroughly untrustworthy on the damp road by which I get to the mud.

Rode 2nd Jan. Tore multiple ankle ligaments 4 days later running. That put an end to the half marathon I was training for and any riding. Physio said 8 weeks. 43 days later and I'm off out today for a very easy spin.

Riding through winter gets harder every year. It's not until you don't have a choice that you realise how much you'll miss it. Kind of got into Zwift. Then got bored of it.

Really looking forward to riding today. Yeah it'll be muddy and I'll be unfit and very tentative. All of that and I'm still VERY excited 🙂

Wrote a thing:  http://pickled-hedgehog.com/?p=4079

Only breakage was my finger in December. Not ridden since then. Tried running again, it's not good for a very flat footed man. Ached all over so retired from that once more.

Had been doing a couple of turbo sessions a week but then got flu which wiped me out.

Got the sign off from the docs to ride properly again this week and was riding this morning, but I've got another cold so I'm sat on the sofa with the kids looking at the sunny morning out of the window.

I have taken the opportunity to sharpen my diet up and lost a stone since Chrimbo, so at least I'm not going back in carrying timber.

Regretting flogging the cross bike a bit. Wasn't really using it, but the roads are a mess, so pootling around the little lanes for an hour or so seems quite appealing at the moment.

Winter can do one now.

EDIT: it's just starting blowing a hoolie and sleeting. Sofa's not too bad after all.

I tend to just ride the single speed in the winter so very little wear and tear, maintenance etc. Been using the turbo a lot too to keep fitness until spring.

Really can' wait to get back out on dryer trails now though on the full sus. Which reminds me I need to service the rear shock.

It often looks worse than it is so just applying rule #5 and getting out is the hardest part. Then again this weekend was a bit grim - getting hailstones in the eyes when you are heading downhill isn't fun 🙁  I've been out both days on my single speed road/cx bike, yesterday I saw precisely zero other cyclists out and today's grand total was six!

Its hard to get out in the morning but once out its great! Although the mud is really starting to get bad now - even at the usually drier winter spots. Trying to get out even second weekend....better than being bored at home. Winter bike is taking a hammering but that's what I bought it for! Bring on summer

It was  relentlessly muddy. There was a bitter wind. At times we had flurries of snow. I absolutely loved being back out. The ankle passed with if not flying, at least some kind of low altitude colours and my fitness wasn't as poor as expected. Still absolutely knackered tho after 3.5 hours. Possibly a bit keen for a first time out in six weeks.

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Here's me looking gormless as usual.

It's going to be spring soon. Didn't feel like it today

Dragged myself out. In between the hailstorms it wasn’t too bad. Headwind back to the van past south hessary tor was pretty brutal. Going full enduro with goggles was a great idea today...

Oil change on the Rohloff 4 months ago.

Oil the kmc x1 every ride.

Sometimes I have to wind the bb7 adjuster in a notch.