Winter Riding in MN
We love riding so much that we suck it up and do it in the winter as much as we possibly can. The nice thing is that my husband invested in solid doors and heat for his 2018 Polaris General so a lot of time I tend to be under dressed for riding when we get out to chat with the folks we are riding with. It’s so warm in his machine I forget how cold it is outside so I don’t wear warm enough clothes or enough layers and I’m freezing – I can’t wait to get back in the machine. You’d think I’d know better by now given how long I’ve lived in MN.
I just got my machine this last summer in 2020 and it seems like this winter in particular we’ve been taking my machine on a lot of these rides. It’s helped my choice of clothing when going out so I’m not dying when we’re standing around at one of the stops we make. My husband has had his machine at home a lot this winter for various reasons – a little work here and there, bigger tires, new A-arms because he wanted his machine to look as cool as mine…
We do love to go riding and he’s into snowmobiling but we tend to get in our side by sides a lot more than he goes snowmobiling. This year wasn’t the best for snow which worked out really because we got to go riding together more.
This last year I think we got out in the winter a lot more that the year prior. This was largely due to the amount of snow we got year over year – last year was a great year for snow up north and made the conditions great for snowmobiling and not so great for riding side by sides. One of the coolest things we did this last winter was go to Draper tower – the last image on the right above. It’s somewhere we never heard of but a member of the club we’re a part of – Over the Hills Gang – reached out to see if we wanted to go for a ride on a Sunday the week before the Getting Loose on the Moose ride. It just goes to show you that even in the winter you can go on a ride with friends to new places.
Starting fires and roasting hot dogs over the fire is a common stop we make when riding. There are areas on the trails where they have fire pits and generally have woods. We bring our own from our cabins just in case and we always have a cooler full of hot dogs or brats. We load up our favorite condiments and even a can of Hormel chili from time to time that we stick in the fire for chili dogs.
If you dress appropriately and make sure that you have extra blankets and extra layers, riding in the winter really isn’t that bad. Most importantly to me is that you go riding with others. Not only is it way more fun to hang out with your friends on the weekend, but it’s also a safer way to ride. You have people that are looking out for you and can help if something happens on the trails.