OK, so none of us really like getting cold, but winter riding can be very rewarding on a bright, clear, cool day. Riding in challenging conditions definitely enhances your self-awareness and improves your motorcycling skill set.
PECAM is a local road safety charity, and associated to IAM Roadsmart, a national road safety charity. We share the goal of improving road safety for our members, and the general public, through advanced motorcycle training. Safety has to come first! To that end IAM Roadsmart has a policy that says there will be no training activity when the temperature is 5oC or below. PECAM, obviously, adopts the same policy for Associate training AND all other road-based training. This includes our very popular First Saturday Advanced Skills Development held on a runway (see: https://pecam.org.uk/2021/11/november-21-skills-development/), which has sessions scheduled for the whole year.
Social rides are a slightly different matter. In this case the 5oC threshold is seen as advisory for the ride lead to take into consideration when planning and leading a ride. The ride leader also has to take into consideration the skill level of the participants, other weather and road conditions and the proposed route. It could be that by slightly altering the route, maybe using less-challenging roads, a group ride could easily take place. Temperature is not the only reason why a ride may be cancelled, and often at the last minute, as the ride lead must always consider the safety of the members of the ride, and it is always the ride leads decision whether to lead a ride or not. Social rides are not there to pay testament to the groups endurance when facing severe or adverse conditions, or to see how hairy chested the riders are, they are for fun and organised to provide the maximum enjoyment for the majority of qualified advanced motorcycle riders.
At a group ride briefing the participants are always told that they are to ‘ride their own ride’ and that they are ‘solely responsible for their own safety and legality’. This holds true for all riding and especially winter riding. Often in the winter the road is wet, or sometimes worse ‘greasy’, which can considerably change the handling characteristics of the motorcycle. Relaxing on the bike when cold, can also be challenging. The other thing to keep in mind is that the cold can seep into you over the time of the ride. You may feel warm enough at the start of the ride, especially if the briefing has been done inside, and you have had a coffee and a chat with other group members. But over a fairly short amount of time the wind chill, naturally caused by riding, can lower your body temperature to a point where you are thinking more about how effective / ineffective your heated grips are than about the road conditions. If this happens, pull over the to the side of the road and wait for the TEC, so you can have a chat about the best way forward. If you are out on your own, or with friends on a casual ride, then make sure you also heed this advice, and pull over. Don’t submit to peer group pressure to ride when you are not functioning at 100%.
This is starting to sound like a list of reasons to put your bike in a heated garage when the clocks change to GMT, and not bring it out again until they change back again to BST. Far from it – I am a strong advocate for winter riding. Just after Christmas there was a casual group ride in challenging conditions (see: https://pecam.org.uk/2021/12/christmas-cabin-fever-ride-out/) and it was reported that the riders were in quite dense fog going into a bend and the weather was clear on exiting the bend. Riding in these sorts of conditions requires maximum concentration, an appreciation of the bike’s characteristics on less than perfect roads, and requires the riders to really engage in the fundamentals of advanced riding. It is brilliant fun, and very beneficial to your riding skills development. I firmly believe you should invest in the right riding gear, and get out and enjoy it, but be sensible, understand your own limitations and take it steady.
If you are a member of PECAM you are part of a large local riding community, and we are here to help. If you want to go out in less than perfect conditions, then reach out to the Chief Observer and he can put you in touch with an Observer who will be happy to help you develop your skills, or come along to a winter ride out – weather permitting – and enjoy a group ride or two.