Why I Don’t Do Winter Riding…

Short Answer: I don’t ride in the wintertime, Three Things Keep Me From Riding In The Winter, I’’ll explain why below…

I have in the past, been riding during the winter and found that the experience is almost magical. Being on the trails when, in the past were off-limits, is incredible.

You can see things you might miss during the summer, because of the lack of vegetation in the winter. If you can handle to cold, it’s a wonderful expereince. Also, because of the lack of snow, some winters in Wisconsin, off-roading is encouraged to help the local economies “up north”. So, it’s a win-win, you get to ride and help the local economies.

Things are not always so great and wonderful as portrayed, below I share my single experience out riding during the winter and why I have never done it since and probably never again.

My single wintertime riding experience…

So, I was out on the Buffalo River State Trail in West-Central Wisconsin, which at the time, was open to off-roaders year-round, so long as the ground was frozen. So, it was the end of January and warm-ish for that month, I decided to ride for a little while to the west to see how I liked it in winter.

Driving along, I was enjoying the sights and the snow on the trees when “out of the blue”, snowmobilers. Now, at first, I was thrilled to see others out and about on the trails, but soon realized the feelings were not mutual. I can only assume they were mad because I was going slow, slower then them anyway.

I pulled over to let them pass, only to have them fish-tail their sled at me, throwing snow onto me. I thought maybe these were kids just having some fun, whatever. I didn’t have a windshield or anything other than my helmet to protect me. I did notice though, that these were adults and I felt bad, like I didn’t belong there on the trails.

Let me remind you, this is a multi-use trail and I had full rights to be there. It was the first time I had that happen to me and it stained the experience.

I had this happen in winter again, only this time in Southern Goergia, at what used to be called Durhamtown Off-road Park, it was a dirt bike and I did have a windshield. It could have been a lot worse because there was no snow. This was the whole premise for my disliking the park overall. It’s insanely crowded, and other riders are very disrespectful. I did find their “terrain park” in the back of the park which offered some relief but overall, not a great experience it could have been.

My real job…

I do have a real job, I work on A Dept Of Public Works Crew and am unable to get away in the winter time due to snow in Wisconsin. We are always on-call.

The salt…

I won’t take the camper or utv in the salt. So, I don’t travel in the wintertime.

It’s Difficult…

I do everything from coding to graphics to article writing, to video editing and marketing. I work on the website before and after my real job. It’s very taxing, some nights I only get 4 hours of sleep or sometimes less. It’s what I have to do to keep ahead. It takes so much to write the articles and make the videos each week, but I love it. This is my passion, promoting the ideas of slowing down and enjoying the stops along the trails. Showing you there is more to off-roading than the tires meeting the dirt!