Saddle up; make friends with Winter.

The mercury’s dropping and autumn mists have begun the annual descent but year round riding offers us cyclists a unique meet and greet with each new season. So it’s time to saddle up and make friends with winter!

What’s to look forward to at the end of September? Racing season’s over, Sportives are all done and group ride numbers dwindle. Sunday morning heroics are downgraded to grizzly chain gangs conducted in the rain and then there’s the winter grime on your beloved steed. Bonding with winters stormy tempest can easily fill you with dread.

Fun time is soon over if you crash; leaked diesel or black ice can quickly wrong-foot skinny road rubber. Shorter daylight brings the inevitable cold pedalling with only a halogen beam to fend off the gloom and ice fighting grit and grime unleash their salt and silt tideline, with powers to tarnish lustre and grind down gears. So, do you don a dowdy downgrade for winter and bid farewell to your favourite loops until spring? Or, ride through on a bike technically adept and eager to embrace all seasons, ready to witness natures glorious frosty transformation unfold?

Riding all year on the North Downs that surround Bowman HQ only helps us love this area more. And seasonal changes round here helped us to define a product that’s adaptable. Our Pilgrims frame is the base for a light, balanced and responsive multi surface machine that’s easily changed to suit any conditions. At the core is a frame happy to traverse tarmac (in any state!) and then transfer seamlessly to dry hard pack gravel, bridleways or frozen forest trails.

Bitter cold air will sting your lungs – there’s no denying the going gets tougher from here on in. But perhaps this is a reminder to sit up, look around and enjoy the ride. Also if you’re not in so much of a hurry there’s more chance to share notes. So wheedle out any fair weather types with the promise of what’s in stall and conquer those stay-at-home demons together. Learn to love the ley of the land this winter. Then re-ride your routes and watch them blossom as the first shoots of spring start to appear.