Technique

Five reasons to keep riding outside when the weather’s bad

The temptation to stay indoors can be overpowering as winter draws in, but there are more than a few reasons to head out and brave the elements...

Peace and quiet

If you're going to ride through autumn and winter then you better get used to the idea of getting wet
CAPTION
The only way to learn how to ride in the wet... is to ride in the wet
Summoning the motivation to get out and ride is often the hardest part (Pic: Deborah Malin/Media 24)
There's something very peaceful about riding in the rain
The 2013 edition of Milan-San Remo was beset by bad weather (Pic: Sirotti)

Peace and quiet

Now this one obviously depends on where you ride. If you live in central London you’re probably not going to find quiet no matter where you go or what time you do it, but personally I find something very peaceful about riding in the rain.

Maybe it’s the consistent sound of the rain hitting the floor (and me), or maybe it’s that the grey skies make the world feel a lot smaller, but there’s an element of intimacy in bad weather riding that the summer just doesn’t have.

I like riding in groups or with friends, but a long, solo winter ride has a personal feeling that nothing else matches, that classic cycling cliché ‘just me and my bike’.

And, in my experience at least, there tend to be fewer people out when the weather’s bad, so you’ll find yourself with a little more privacy than the summer months when it seems like every road is the M5.