Biking in Cold Weather: The Benefits of Winter Cycling
Winter can be a tough time for cyclists who love getting out on their bikes daily. However, most people don’t know how beneficial riding in cold weather can be.
Biking in cold weather can help you burn more calories than biking in warmer temperatures. It can also help you fight seasonal depression and keep bad habits to a minimum. Maintaining a regular biking routine, even in winter, can also help you sleep better.
This article will talk more about these benefits and why it’s so important to keep biking even when it’s cold outside. Let’s get started!
1. You Can Burn More Calories
Exercising in the winter is completely different from working out during warmer months. If you’ve tried exercising in cold weather, you may have noticed that it feels more difficult. The same cycling route may take you longer in the winter compared to other seasons.
This is because your body works harder during exercise when it is cold outside. Not only is your body fighting to push through the exercise, but it is also working hard to warm itself.
When you exercise in the winter, your body works harder to regulate its own temperature. As your body experiences cold temperatures, it will tighten your veins and arteries, and your heart has to put in more effort to push blood through them. Your muscles also have to work harder to move. In the process, your body burns more calories.
As a result, you are getting more calorie burn for less exercise because of your body’s reaction to the cold weather.
You May Not Go As Far
A major outcome of the extra calories burned due to your body working harder in cold weather is that you may not be able to go as far. If it’s your first time exercising in cold weather, plan a shorter bike ride to test out how you feel. Also, stay on top of hydration as your body will need it more.
Starting on a shorter trail and working your way up during the winter is not indicative of being out of shape. Rather, you need to be patient with your body as it reacts to the change in temperature. That said, you should always check with your doctor before starting on an exercise routine during the winter, especially if you have respiratory or heart problems.
2. It Strengthens Your Cardiovascular System
Along with burning more calories, riding your bike in the winter can help you strengthen your cardiovascular system. As we discussed above, when you’re outside in cold temperatures, your heart will work harder to pump blood throughout your body. Not only will this allow you to burn more calories, but it will also help your heart become stronger.
As someone who bikes, you probably already understand how important cardiovascular health is. When you exercise, especially when it’s cold outside, you’re teaching your muscles to pull oxygen from your blood. In turn, this means your heart won’t have to work as hard to pump blood because your muscles can get the oxygen they need by themselves.
Exercising even through winter can also help your heart health by relieving mental stress. Stress, as well as other mental health conditions, can negatively affect your cardiovascular health. When you exercise, your body releases endorphins which help elevate your mood.
If you deal with a lot of stress from your work or personal life, or if you have general anxiety, riding your bike can help you deal with it in a healthy and positive way.
3. It Helps Improve Your Mood
In addition to being a stress reliever, biking in the winter months can help you feel happier generally. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a common form of depression that comes with the change of season. Many things factor into this, like holiday blues or seeing less sunlight every day.
Without the benefit of being out in the sun as much, the sudden lack of Vitamin D can affect your mood and worsen the symptoms of SAD.
Being unable to ride your bike in the winter can also make this worse. Dealing with SAD and not being able to get those endorphins from exercising can make winter so much more difficult to get through.
Continuing your normal exercise routine during the winter can help combat the symptoms of SAD. Being outside, exercising, and breathing fresh air are vital in keeping your emotional health the best it can be, no matter how dreadful the weather outside might look.
4. Riding Your Bike Helps You Save on Gas
It costs a lot of money to run your vehicle. This is especially true during the winter when the engine needs to work even harder. You might as well save yourself the hassle of getting in your car for every short trip that you can do on a bike.
Maybe you live down the street from your local supermarket or pizza place. You can ride your bike to pick up whatever you need instead of using up gas to warm up your car. If you want to ensure your safety while transporting items, consider getting a basket for your bike to help carry things back home.
Try this with some small items first, like snacks from a nearby gas station. Or you could pick up some food from your favorite nearby restaurant and avoid paying for delivery charges.
Whenever you’re preparing for a short trip in your car, consider whether or not you can do it on a bike.
5. It Improves Your Quality of Sleep
Continuing your normal exercise routine, even in winter, can help you improve your physical and mental health by promoting healthy sleeping habits.
Sleep is vital for improving your mental health if you struggle with SAD or any general anxiety disorder.
How To Properly Time Exercising With Sleep
Exercise can help you sleep better at night no matter what time you do it. However, exercising at the right time can promote significant improvement in your quality of sleep.
Exercising helps raise your body temperature. When your body is warm, your brain sends a signal that it should be awake and alert.
This bodily response is why hot showers can help wake you up in the morning and why it’s always best to sleep in a cool environment. As you exercise, your body temperature will increase, signaling your body to awake.
After you finish exercising, the warmth of your body will keep your energy levels high for anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours. This is why exercising right before bed is not recommended. Once your body temperature begins to fall again, your brain will signal to your body that it is time to sleep.
Exercising about two hours before bedtime can help you fall asleep faster and easier than you would otherwise. This may not be the same for everyone, as all of our bodies are different. Still, the most important part of getting good sleep is to exercise at some point during the day.
Try to find a time within your daily schedule during which doing exercise improves your overall sleep. Schedule your bike rides within that window and make adjustments depending on how your body responds to it.
6. It Helps You Avoid Getting Sick
When the temperature changes, there is a good chance that you will get sick. Whether it’s the common cold or the flu, your chances of catching either increase during the winter. However, you can fight back. Exercising regularly helps boost your immune system and can stand between you and many different seasonal ailments.
Keeping up with your normal exercise routine can help you build a resistance to viruses or at least help decrease your overall symptoms if you do catch something. Maintaining your biking regimen during the winter can help your body tackle incoming threats from disease.
So, what happens if you’ve already caught something? Continuing to bike even when you do not feel your best can help your body fight off symptoms if you’re already sick. That said, we don’t recommend exercising if you feel too dizzy or like you are unable to. Otherwise, try getting out there and biking as much as you can to help alleviate symptoms.
7. It Encourages You To Maintain Healthy Routines
Throughout the colder months, our healthy habits can decline as much as our exercising time does.
Sometimes as we stop exercising, other bad habits can take over. You may tend to eat more unhealthy foods or drink more sugary drinks. The more we take care of our body by exercising, the more likely we are to watch what we eat and drink. So, allowing your biking to fall off during the winter can have a domino effect on the rest of your habits.
The best way to combat this is to try your best to maintain those healthy routines no matter what the weather outside is. This may mean adjusting to a few changes, such as biking in the dark or switching up your biking schedule overall. Two hours of biking in the evening may need to become two hours of biking in the afternoon or morning instead.
8. Winter Cycling Improves Your Endurance
As you bike your ordinary route in the winter, you may notice you struggle to make it as far because of the extra effort your heart puts into going the distance. Challenging yourself like this is great for improving endurance. As a result, when the winter wears off, you may notice that going the same distance in warmer temperatures becomes much easier. While this is possible to accomplish any time of year, it is easier to do when the weather is cold.
9. You Get More Fresh Air
Biking during the winter is one of the few ways you can get fresh air after being cooped up indoors. Staying in your home, office, or car all day means that you are breathing in air distributed by a heater. It also means racking up a hefty heating bill as you try to keep warm.
There are quite a few health benefits that only fresh air can provide. Being outdoors provides you with more oxygen than breathing in air that has run through some sort of filter. The added oxygen helps you:
- Digest food more easily
- Strengthen your immune system
- Cleanse your lungs
- Have more energy
- Lower your blood pressure
- Increase serotonin levels
You can achieve each of these benefits in other ways, like changing your diet or going for a walk. However, if you’re an avid biker, then riding in the winter is a good way to enjoy all the advantages of breathing fresh air without opening a window at home or driving with the windows down.
Many people choose to stay inside during the colder months for fear of getting sick or not wanting to be cold, but the benefits of exercising outside are hard to ignore. Strengthening your immune system, having more energy, and lowering your blood pressure are reasons enough to maintain a consistent biking schedule.
How To Get the Most Out of Winter Cycling
Biking in the winter has many upsides, but there are some precautions you should take before getting out there. We recommend talking to your doctor about any health concerns before getting started, but let’s discuss some basic safety tips to keep in mind when biking in winter.
Change Up Your Gear
Biking in the winter can be a significant change if you aren’t used to exercising in cold temperatures. To do this safely, you will need to dress in layers to help keep your body warm as you exercise.
Exercising will help your body temperature go up, but this doesn’t mean that you should be biking in short sleeves in the winter. Your body needs decent layers to keep it warm. Otherwise, your heart may work too hard to warm your body, or you may get sick. Either way, you should always layer up when you bike in the winter to help maintain a healthy body temperature.
Hydrate
If you aren’t sweating as much when biking in cold weather, you may not feel the need to hydrate as you normally would. However, hydration is even more important in winter because the air is drier.
So, you need to get more moisture into your body by drinking water and staying hydrated. Don’t let the cold weather fool you: you can still dehydrate easily in colder temperatures.
Hydration goes beyond just drinking water. During the winter, your skin can easily get dry with the temperature and humidity changes. It’s important that you protect your skin as much as possible, as winter cycling can cause your skin to become very dry. Make sure you’re taking care of it by moisturizing and exfoliating regularly.
Warm Up
If you bike or do any type of exercise regularly, you probably know the importance of warming up. Not only does it help decrease your risk of injury, but it can also increase your overall performance.
If you choose to bike in the winter, warming up becomes even more important as it helps you regulate your body temperature and keeps your muscles from stiffening due to the cold weather.
Before getting on your bike on a cold day, you can warm up by stretching, running in place, or doing other simple exercises to get your muscles moving.
Safety First
One of the most significant aspects of winter is the change in time when it gets dark. Unfortunately, many people don’t get home from work in the winter until after dark. This means that you may be riding your bike in the dark now. If you are used to this, you know how dangerous it can be.
A crucial safety tip for riding your bike in the dark is to ensure others can see you. Oncoming cars need time to see and react to you to avoid an accident. So, wear reflective gear and try to avoid dark-colored clothes when riding in the dark.
Also, be aware of the temperature outside and ride accordingly. If there is a chance of ice on the roads, you must ride more carefully. During the warmer months, it’s easy to just go as fast as you want to, but winter provides more challenges with icy conditions. Ride carefully during the winter to avoid accidentally slipping on ice and possibly injuring yourself.
Avoid Getting Wet
One of the best ways to protect yourself from getting sick in the cold or even developing hypothermia is to not allow your body to get wet. This can often happen, especially during long bike rides, as the weather can sometimes be unpredictable. Your body may be unable to maintain a healthy internal temperature when exposed to cold and water.
This is why dressing for winter is so important when cycling. Not only should you dress to keep your body warm, but you should also dress to keep your body dry. Wearing waterproof clothing can significantly affect how your body responds to rain or snow during a bike ride.
