LETTER EDITOR’S
This is the time of year when the Editor’s Letter traditionally exhorts you to get out on your bike and enjoy empty trails and puddle-splashing fun. Soak your mates! Surf the slop! Isn’t winter brilliant! Well, no. Quite often it isn’t. Here in the UK at least, it can be pretty grim. The picturesque snowfall of the Alps and British Columbia isn’t for us. Instead, we get days of torrential rain, interspersed with remorseless drizzle that chills you to the bone and relentlessly grey skies that sap you of all enthusiasm.
Now, I’m not saying you should put your bike away until spring and hibernate on the sofa – as tempting as that may sound. But you definitely need a masochistic side to be a year-round British mountain biker. It’s tough enough braving the elements and staying rubber-side-down, but what makes UK winter riding really testing is the knowledge of what’s to follow – hours of scraping muck off bikes, rinsing filthy kit, scrubbing muddy shins and teasing dirt out from under grubby fingernails.
Still, it’s worth it, most of the time at least, for the sheer joy you get skimming down the trails. And while there’s not much you can do to avoid the post-ride cleaning/cursing ritual, you can at least stay dry(ish) with the right kit (waterproof jackets test, p102) and in control with decent technique
(‘Master the mud!’, p110). Happy riding – and bring on spring!
Soak your mates! Surf the slop Isn't winter brilliant! Well, no. Quite often it isn’t. You definitely need a masochistic side to be a year-round British MTBer