Winter Skill Share 2025 Recap – Grease Rag Ride & Wrench

We had a great time at the 2025 winter skill share! We met up at Minneapolis Central Library for some great sessions, conversations, and an awesome gear swap. Jessie (they/them) did an excellent job keeping us on track and sharing announcements between sessions.

Grease Rag welcome table with flyers, candy, teddy bear donation jar, pens, colorful banners, and spoke cards.

Closeup of Grease Rag welcome table with hand-sewn banner, pens, stacks of zines, and colorful spoke cards.

Winter biking is joy! We loved seeing live feedback from members who shared their favorite things about winter biking.

What is your favorite thing about winter biking? Or, why do you want to try winter biking? Responses: fun, the mindfulness of it all, the sunrises and sunsets, quietness, staying active, so I can keep biking, exciting commute, quiet mornings, more time outside, the sunsets, cheap transportation, snow is pretty, access to nature, dark slow mornings, winter outside time, staying active in winter.

Our first session was Safety, Routing, and Handling. Amanda (she/her) has been commuting in the winter for a long time, and also has experience with bikepacking events in Alaska in the winter!

Stage with person presenting. Slide shows a person wearing warm winter gear and bright lights.

Amanda gave some great tips for staying safe in the cold, tips for keeping your bike upright on the ice, and things to keep in mind when choosing a route in the winter. The slides from her presentation are linked here.

Our second session was Winter Bike Maintenance. Lisa (she/they) has been a bike mechanic for over ten years, and she has been riding through the winter since 2011.

Stage with person presenting. Slide shows description of different kinds of chain lubricants.

Lisa gave us some suggestions for how to maintain your bike weekly, monthly, and seasonally. Their slides (linked here) are a wealth of information!

Our third session was What to Wear. Raven (she/her) and Jenny (she/they) both enjoy winter fat bike racing, and both commute on their bikes.

Stage with two people presenting. Slide shows ideas for things to wear to keep your hands warm, and a photo of a cute cat standing on a bicycle seat.

Raven and Jenny shared a long list of ideas for things to wear, and reminded us to start with what we have. It is also helpful to take notes on weather conditions, what you wore, and how you felt to get a better idea of what works for you. Raven and Jenny’s slides are here.

We loved seeing tips from people attending the event.

Tell us your favorite winter biking tip! Responses: Nourish your brain and body: snacks, warm beverages, stretching, and rest! Look at the sky for clouds/stars. I swear by my reflective safety vest! In winter it is dark during rush hour and having a reflective vest really helps cars see you. Front studded tire. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast! Florts! (fleece shorts). Being a little cold at the start helps prevent overheating once you're moving. size up on boots for extra toe space. Two pairs of liner gloves (one for the way home). Have an empty front basket to quickly unload layers and gloves without getting off your bike. Ski helmet and goggles. Use pogies on winter bike.

The event concluded with a gear swap. As always, first-time winter bikers selected items first, and no one was required to bring anything in order to participate. Thank you to our wonderful community members, as well as Angry Catfish, Free Bikes 4 Kids, and Express Bike Shop for their generous donations! And thank you to Seward Coop for providing snacks.

Table with various bike parts, water bottles, bike accessories, and clothing.

Snack table with coffee, granola bars, hummus, fruit snacks, pita, and more.

If you missed the gear swap, remaining items are shared with the WTFNB trading post on Facebook.

A big THANK YOU to all of our volunteers who make this event happen! Grease Rag is an all-volunteer organization, and we could not put on these events without all of the amazing people who share their time, skills, and knowledge.

Happy riding!