Winter Is Your Secret Weapon: 5 Ways to Build Your Best Riding Season Yet

As the days get shorter and dog days of summer become a part of the distant past, many riders hang it up for the year. Pads get stuffed into the back of the closet, riding lights make their way back to the junk drawer, and your top-of-the-line race bike becomes the world’s most expensive drying rack. In short, winter has a way of convincing riders that they’re best off disappearing for a few months until the sun returns and the trails are back in tip-top shape. But here’s the secret that nobody tells you: winter isn’t the time to hang it up, winter is the time to shift your focus. It’s time to hone your skills, build your fitness, and solidify habits that set you up for success once the sweet summer sun makes its return. I’m not the type of person to tell you that you need a color-coded training plan or a garage full of kettlebells, but I will say that by taking even just 30 minutes here and there you can take your riding and your upcoming season to the next level. With that in mind, here are 5 things you can do now to make your next season even better than this past one.

1.) Turn Winter Into a Low-Consequences Skills Lab

For most riders, the biggest gains don’t come from riding faster—they come from riding better. In the peak of the summer riding season, it’s tough to justify sharpening your skills at a micro level when the opportunity to ride real trails is just outside your door. But in the winter, when the days get short and your desire to ride in the cold is at an all-time low, the micro-session can save the day.

30–45 minutes in a parking lot or out in front of your house with some cones can go a long way. Track stands, wheelies, slalom drills, playing with your brakes, wheel lifts, bunny hops, and nose pivots are all skills that we use out on the trails, so why not spend some time in low-consequence terrain perfecting them? These tiny skills make up the hundreds, if not thousands, of moves you make as you work your way down your favorite trail, so taking some time to hone them in now might turn a few cold hours in the driveway into consistently cleaning that tech climb or navigating that awkward, slow, rooty corner.

Especially if you have some wet, snowy, or otherwise low-traction days, you can learn a lot about bike control. Take the time to master micro-skills without having to huck yourself or drive 5 hours to the closest dry trail. This is practice, not punishment.

2.) Tinker on Your Bike

Remember how mildly infuriated you felt on your last ride as your rotor ever so subtly squeaked up the entire climb? Or what about that weird clunking noise your shock started making at the bike park? Don’t even get me started on the ghost shifting and the weird creaking noise that you never found. Winter is the perfect time to put your bike in the stand.

Start with the basics: lube your chain, strip the drivetrain, hell, even a bolt check goes a long way. Reset limit screws, clean your jockey wheels, and bleed your brakes. These days you can YouTube University your way into learning just about anything, and that includes how to take care of your bike. From the basics of checking your chain stretch to dropping the lowers on your fork, there’s a video about how to do it at home. And if Gary from Indiana can do it, you probably can too. If you can’t, it’s probably the slow season at your local bike shop and they would be stoked to have some additional business.

Beyond maintenance, winter is a great time to adjust things even if they aren’t broken. In your cockpit you can play with bar roll, change your lever position, put on some new grips, or change your stem. These tiny tweaks can make a world of difference once you’re back out on the trail come spring.

3.) Build a Body That Wants to Ride

You don’t need to train, you need to feel good. That’s it. And while your 12 oz curls add up, it’s probably not the kind of gains you want to make this offseason.

Winter is about tuning, maintaining, and moving your body. For some people that looks like upping their cardio by running and swimming, for others it’s increasing mobility by stretching during commercial breaks of your favorite show, and while some time in the gym can go a long way, that’s not the only road to El Dorado. Hinge patterns, light squats, push-ups, rows, and anti-rotation core will do a lot for your strength and can all be done from the comfort of your living room. Add in some stability like single-leg squats, if that feels comfortable, and you’ll be strong and ready to ride in no time.

Taking as little as 10 minutes a few days a week will quickly add up when it comes to mobility. Take time to stretch, play with trying to touch your toes, roll your shoulders, and do what feels good in your body. And honestly, if you’re like me and spend 40+ hours a week hunched over your computer, you should be doing this anyway. But also, if you’re like me, you know that that’s easier said than done.

Finally, cardio doesn’t have to be a death sentence. Cross-training like skiing or pickleball can keep things moving and fun at the same time. Even a brisk walk a couple of times a week will be better than nothing. If it raises your heart rate and it doesn’t make you hate your life, it works. Progress is better than perfection.

4.) Feed Your Brain

Whether it’s watching videos, taking inventory of your season, or taking time for a little R&R, your brain is equally important to your body.

If you want to watch some videos, it can be more than just entertainment: it can be study hall. Slow things down, watch how some of the world’s best set up corners, study line choice, see where they brake, and how they stack their body over the bike. Study the details, and if you’re feeling crazy, maybe rewatch some of your own riding and see how your position compares.

Take some time to inventory your season—not in a judgmental way, but in an honest way. What scared you? What got you fired up? What features or tricks do you want to tackle in 2026? Setting goals and putting words to them can be super helpful. Writing them down and anchoring the ideas to reality can help keep you focused and motivated. Remember: where your attention goes, your energy flows.

Maybe most importantly on this topic is taking genuine time to rest—like really rest. Not doomscrolling on the couch, but actual psychological reset. Especially this time of year, there can be a lot going on, and it’s important to let yourself just be. Breathe. Meditate if that’s your thing. Go for a walk and witness the world; the trails aren’t going anywhere.

5.) Lean Into Your Riding Community Off the Bike

Whether it’s digging, getting together for dinner, or showing up to your local shop to shoot the shit for a few minutes on your way home, the community is one of the best parts of what we do, and when the bikes get put away it’s easy to lose touch with the people you ride with. Even if it’s a text that says, “Hey, do you want to come over, bleed our brakes, and drink a beer in the garage?” A little effort goes a long way and can open up a world of connection and possibilities.

Digging is as much a part of bikes as riding, so go resurrect a jump, fix a corner, or go build a totally-legal (wink wink) trail with your friends in the woods. Pick up a shovel and give back to the community; plus, if you go stack a landing, you can probably skip the gym—it’s a classic win-win.

Plan that trip. Everyone wants to go on a sick trip, but nobody wants to be the one to plan it. If you can slow down enough to pick a time and a place, it’s really not that hard. It takes a little bit of planning, but if you don’t make the time to do it, it might never happen.

While there’s nothing quite like riding with someone, they are a person off the bike too. Setting aside time for a conversation that’s not had between labored breaths on a climb can be nice. Mountain biking is a solo pursuit most of the time, but it’s rarely a solitary one. Winter is when you invest in the people and places that make the sport more than just exercise.

Winter has a way of slowing us down, but that doesn’t mean it has to stop us. A few intentional choices—tinkering, training, resting, connecting—can quietly stack into something meaningful. When spring rolls around, you’ll be grateful you invested in yourself and in the people who make riding matter. The trails will be waiting, and you’ll be riding better, feeling stronger, and showing up better than ever.