21. January 2021

Winter biking: Health and fitness benefits

As soon as the temperatures drop, many mountain bikers hole up and fight their inner pig dog rather than snow and cold during the dark winter months. Those who leave the warm couch behind and can motivate themselves to brave the cold weather will find that winter training brings many benefits to the body and mind.

With this article we start our series on winter biking, in which we compile a lot of useful information for winter biking in the coming weeks. From the right bike clothing to tips on bike fitting and care to preparing and planning bike tours in the cold season.

5 positive effects of winter training

1. strengthening the body's immune system.

Especially in the cold season, bacteria and viruses make the rounds. Few of us escape a cold or even the flu. Winter biking helps ward off the symptoms of an illness and noticeably reduces the likelihood of being affected at all. The immune system works harder and is better prepared.

Get off the couch: wintry conditions shouldn't be an obstacle to getting outside for a round of biking. Photo: Christoph Bayer

2. strengthening of the cardiovascular system

Anyone who rides a bike outdoors in winter weather puts more strain on the organism by breathing in the cold air. The cardiovascular system must additionally activate its internal radiator and thus increases the blood flow and circulation of all arteries and veins. The heart thus has to work harder to pump the blood through the muscles and so winter training makes a lasting contribution to maintaining and improving heart health and performance.

3. increased calorie burning

The cold weather drives up calorie consumption with every physical exertion, because to maintain the body's core temperature, the body needs more energy. For this, the metabolism runs at full speed and burns significantly more calories than with the same load in the summer.

4. improvement of fat metabolism

In order for the core body temperature to remain stable in cold conditions, blood flow to the extremities is also increased. For this, the body needs a lot of energy. This energy production takes place primarily through fat burning of fat deposits close to the muscles. This promotes the important fat metabolism for our basic endurance. This is also a reason why winter training should mainly take place at low intensity. For more tips on improving fat metabolism, check out this article.

Winter weather conditions are an additional challenge to riding technique, but they can be used wonderfully to improve one's skills. Photo: Christoph Bayer

5. excellent mental training for well-being and psyche

Especially when it's dark and gloomy in winter, you tend to feel down and unmotivated. In psychology, this is called winter blues or seasonal affective disorder (SAD). One of the causes is the shorter days, as a result of which the body and mind do not get enough light and produce too few endorphins. Physical activity enhances winter health and well-being with profound effects at any time of year. Exercise in the cold, fresh air increases endorphin levels and ensures production of vitamin D in our body cells. Biking in winter under difficult conditions improves mental strength and resilience. You also benefit from this in the summer, because riding in the rain, headwinds or harder climbs will be felt less unpleasant in the future.

Additional advantages

Improve coordination and riding technique due to worsening track conditions with slippery roads and snow-covered, uneven trails.
Tapping into body reserves while exercising in the cold lowers resting heart rate and improves resting metabolism.
Tranquility and secluded winter landscapes on otherwise highly frequented routes.
Fit for spring: go full throttle while others still have to burn off their winter fat.

These positive effects should be convincing enough not to mothball the bike in the basement but to pedal even in the cold, snow and lousy weather. Because anyone who takes advantage of the winter bike will be far ahead of all couch potatoes at the start of the MTB season.