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Cold weather has always been a challenge in mountain biking because you have to start cold then warm up to break a sweat, making yourself wet. When you travel in this kind of situation, the combination of wet skin  and the windchill will be more chilling.

There are some cold weather clothing below that will minimize your bone chilling experience when you ride in the winter season.

When you ride in a cold temperature, the feet are them most exposed part of your anatomy.  Force from pedaling will tend to cut off the circulaton to your toes and this can put you at a risk of frostbite. You must wear neoprene booties. It will zip over your shoes and has a pattern in the sole where you can cut out a piece for cleats.

Wear a gloves when riding during winter.  There are some manufacturer that makes “lobster gloves”, a hybrid glove that seperate your index finger and thumb from the rest of your hand and these are warmer than regular gloves.  This gloves will not affect your riding because the index finger is free and will allow you to operate shifting and brake levers.  It is also advisable that you bring along a pair of lightweight glove liner to protect your hand from cold.

Wraparound glasses provides you a maximum protection from the wind, cold and debris while riding.

Try to wear lightweight socks as this could make your feet warm without bulk. If you still need some extra layer, try silk ski sock, it is very warm and extra lightweight. Wearing heavy socks will make your shoes tight, cut off the circulation and even make your feet cold. 

Polypropylene underwear is lightweight and best for colder weather.

Wear a wind protection, you will be able to vent  perpiration while also protecting yourself from windchill.  Choose a pants and a jacket based on durability, breathing and price. 

Use a helmet with fleece liner during winter riding because it is designed to protect your head and ears from cold temperature. Your head is very important because you lose 50 percent of your body heat through your head.

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Mountain bikes  today are equipped by as many as 27 gear ratios.  It is a combination  of three different sized sprockets in front and nine in the back to produce gear rations.

This design is to allow the rider to crank the pedal at a constant speed no matter what kind of slope the bike is on.  You could understand this better by picturing a bike with a single gear.  Everytime you rotate the pedal one turn, the rear wheel would  rotate one turn as well (1:1 gear ratio).

If the size of the rear wheel is 26 inches in diameter with 1:1 gear ratio, in one full turn of the pedal could cover 81.6 inches of the ground.  It means that you are pedaling at a speed of 50 RPM and that the bike can cover over 340 feet per minute. The equivalent of this is the walking speed or 3.8 Mph.  This may be an advantage for climbing a steep hill but might be a disadvantage for ground or going downhill.

If you want to go faster you need a different ratio. In going downhill at 25 MPH with a 50 RPM cadence at the pedal, you will need a 5.6:1 gear ratio. Having a lot of gears in your bike gives you a large number of augmentation between a 1:1 gear ratio and 6.5:1 gear ratio so that you can pedal at 50 RPM no matter how fast you are going.

In a normal 27 speed mountain bike, there six gears that are so close to each other and you can not notice any difference between them.

Most bike rider chooses a front sprocket suitable for the slope they are riding and stick with it even it is difficult to shift under heavy load.  It is more easier to shift the gears on the rear.

It is best to choose the smallest sprocket on the front then shift between the nine gear on the rear when you are climbing on a hill. The more speed you have on the rear sprocket, the more advantage you will have.

It is very important in a mountain bike to have gears.  They dictate your overall speed and without the gears you will not be able to build speed nor you will not be able to pound the pedals. Gears are install to help you move the pedals and help you build up speed.

There are a lot of gears available for a mountain bike.  All of this will help you build up a lot of momentum if you use the properly.

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