I have did tons of winter biking and some winter backpacking. I keep threatening to put the two together. So far I haven't. I'm hoping to be down south all winter this winter but time shall tell. Be rather interesting to spend mid-November until ???late April/early May on a bike tour. Hey, if I don't have to pay a winter heating bill...why not? That aside...

One key secret to winter riding is to stay dry. Moisture will cause you to cool down and you won't stay warm. Everyone talks about using wicking clothing. I disagree. I ride with very little clothing on, even down to 0 Fahrenheit. I will put extra layers on if it's very windy(20-30+ mph) but only when the temps get down into the lower teens. You want the heat to escape. Once it starts to get trapped, by wicking clothing, your body heat starts to build and you start to sweat. What is another name for sweat...evaporative cooling. If you want to stay warm you want to stay dry. The only way to stay dry is the keep the clothing off and let your body heat release out into the atmosphere. 20-40% of the calories you consume each hour go to propel you forward the remaining 60-80% go to producing heat. The odds are against you toward helping you stay dry. You have to use the lack of clothing to keep you dry. By staying dry you will stay warm. I never get cold while winter riding other than during the first 3-4 miles. After that the heat has warmed me up and I can continue riding in crazy conditions with next to nothing on all day long. I can stop and take 10-15 minutes off in 10-15 degree weather and still be warm. The only thing I wouldn't want to do is to start back up by going downhill. I would rather off have a hill to climb or even the wind to buck...something to help me start generating the body heat again.

Depending on how you camp depends on how long the nights have to be. Granted I know my normal locations for stealth camping would change quite a bit so that would probably really change my way of doing things. I would have the tendency to have a laptop with me. I would go into McDonalds or someplace with free wifi and spend the evening online until it gets late enough to normally go to bed and then I would ride out to my stealth site and head to bed. Since I don't need the tent, unless the forecast is for snow, I wouldn't have a tent to set up...I would just lay out under the stars(can't do that very often during the summer months can you).

Winter camping could actually make things much easier as long as you have decent camping gear. The only things I haven't really ridden in yet is wet snow or ice. Dry snow, you stay on the snow and ride...don't get onto pavement or you'll lose traction. I ride 700x25c Bontrager T2's year round. No studs here. Hence why I know I shouldn't be here in NH this winter if I have any smarts at all. Bring on the cold temps, keep the snow away...my balls are too big already for my own good.

The only trouble with winter bike touring would be the size of the gear. Nothing packs down small due to the size of it normally. You may only have another 2-3 pounds of camping gear but it takes up a lot more space.