By kazimladimeji 
As we move into the off-season, the emphasis should be on modifying both your bike and your approach to riding to ensure safety and comfort whilst riding on wet, damp, greasy, slippy, icy, and maybe even snowy roads in often foggy conditions with low light levels.
In terms of approach, it’s vital to pay much closer attention to the weather to help you prepare for or potentially avoid inclement or hazardous conditions such as ice or storms like what I recently encountered in our recent Wednesday Night Social Washout Ride with Storm Aurore. Having an obsessive eye on weather forecasts, road conditions, wind speed and direction can where possible help you plot routes, days, and times for riding that make the best of the weather and conditions being offered to you.
Your riding wardrobe should be adjusted to suit the winter conditions, focussing on windproof and waterproof light-reflective gear with insulating layers to keep the heat in while allowing the skin to breathe. It’s important to know how to dress for cycling in wet, cold, winter weather.
Adding mudguards in the off-season is a recommendation of many cycling clubs to ensure the comfort and safety of trailing riders, along with having brakes serviced and deploying powerful bike lights to suit the night-time riding conditions.
Another important consideration for road bikes is swapping out summer tyres for winter tyres which typically offer more grip and greater puncture protection while sacrificing some degree of rolling resistance, unfortunately. The trick is to find the sweet spot between these three parameters. This site, bicyclerollingreistance.com, gives good comparison data on rolling resistance and puncture protection for a range of tyres and I use this to choose my own tyres and build this list below.
Here’s 5 Fast Winter Road Tyres With Good Grip, Puncture Protection and Low Rolling Resistance.
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Continental Unisex's 01014420000 Bike Parts, Other, 28" | 700 x 25C |
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Continental Gatorskin Road Bike Tyres German-Made Natural Rubber Tread and DuraSkin Protection | Durable and Fast Bicycle Tyre | Versatile Training and Commuter Cycle Tyre | 700x23c Tyres | £32.99 |
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Schwalbe Marathon Plus 700 x 28c (28-622) Wire Bead Tyre with Smartguard and Reflective Sidewall |
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Schwalbe Lugano 700c x 25 Road Racing Bike Tyres and Tubes (with Puncture Protection) - Black x 2 | £33.99 |
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Schwalbe Durano Plus 700 x 23c Folding Tyre w/ Smart Guard Black 340g (23-622) |
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