Ok, so I was out today getting cold, wet and muddy on my anti-gravel bike* and it got dark at 4pm.
If I was doing an overnighter, I'd be in my tent (Wild Country Panacea 1) for 5 hours before sleep. Five hours! In a wee tent like a cloth MRI machine!
Anyone here do winter? What do you do to not go mad?

*Parts bin steel 90s (maybe) mtb ...thing. Slow, heavy, ugly - the trinity of joy. Frame broke? **** it, pull another out the skip! Rust? Yes. I lust for rust. It goes anywhere, can take 80kg until the rims crack, cost £50. The saddle cost nothing and is more comfortable than my £120 Brooks b17 that doesn't like to get wet. What is it, a cat??

It ROCKS.
Death to gravel bikes!

Have done, but nowadays if it starts getting cold, wet, and windy, I head south to the sun ☀️

Backpacking in the winter I still do, but I think this is my last year of it. Set up camp in the light, pull out the REI camp stool and sit. Listen. Be quiet and munch a bit of food before sleep time. I absolutely love the peace and quiet. I don't sit for long in sub freezing temps, especially when it gets down below 28F. I have a headlamp, but don't use it that much. Inside the tent I will stay out of the sleeping bag until ready to fall asleep I do the same on bike tours in the summer, except I use a quilt.
Incidentally, I only use two Nemo Switchback foam pads in the winter for ground insulation, and only an air mattress in the summer.

You really just need a sleeping bag that is rated for whatever weather you will be in. I have a quality 0°F bag and have never had an issue with staying warm in temps as low as the high teens. A good sleeping pad will help keep the warmth in as well. Outside of the tent- same deal- wear clothes designed for the weather you'll be in.

Since you ride a 90s junk bike (not that it is a bad thing) gravel bikes are death? ;)))

what polymorphself said!

DIY forever!

Ratbikes rule!

Ok, aside from the kit, which I have, what do you do between setting up camp and sleep in winter when it's dark at 4pm?

Maybe I need a tent that takes three hours to erect. An airbeam without a pump? A yurt?

Three hour youtube binge?
Read War and Peace?
Go to the pub (forward planning essential and very stealthy wild camping)?

I have not done winter camping for several decades. And when I did that, it was with a small group, have not done that alone. I do recall one night when it was unusually warm (20s F) that we played cards for a while after dark in the tent, there were three of us. We were either using snow shoes or skis, not biking.

For it to be dark at 4pm, you must be at a Latitude of 47 or higher and have only 8 hours of daylight, 16 hours of dark. You need a good headlamp, good batteries, and having a second headlamp could be a good idea if the primary crapped out.

So, you should start setting up camp at about sunset. You might not start eating until well after 6pm because you spent so much time melting snow. You say you have the gear for it, what are you using for a stove?

To misquote Yogi Berra, it's 90% mental, the other half is physical. To me, winter camping is like getting joy out of climbing a hill. Embrace the long night and get some deep rest. An audiobook on a phone is a nice modern innovation.

Winter camping is another tool in the toolbox. Last year, a nephew asked me to take him on his first winter camp, to show him how it's done, the little tricks like keeping water and shoes from freezing, melting snow, etc. We purposely hiked 15 miles into a January storm to get him that experience.

andrewcaus, thank you for passing on the passion of winter outdoors activity to the next gen. My son never had interest in it, my daughter was all horses all the time. Fortunately both son and daughter are summer campers now and both ride to their destinations! Yay!
Camping in a winter storm is more enjoyable to me than a drenching summer storm. Yes, it is cold, however inside the tent all is well. Listening to a snow storm rage is a beautiful experience. Hiking out of it is a ton of work, but so very silent. Aging arthritic knees are now telling me to stop it, thus I will after one more campout.

reading books is not modern anymore? ;) and after a long day out on the bike one will fall to sleep soon anyway.

I have done exactly two bike tours in the winter, the second one only confirmed how much I hated it the first time. As you noted way too much time in the darkness and too little time to ride. Especially if you wait out the morning until it warms up enough to ride and then your daylight is even less. Hotels are mandatory.

As a kid we did winter camping every year. Did it with boy scouts and later with my buddies. As a teen it was a way to get away from our family and hang out with the guys. Plus we got "bragging rights" with our non-outdoorsy friends.

Later as an adult, I was in the Air National Guard and we had "Cool School" for our annual training one year. "Cool School" was winter survival training held in the North County in Jan. Highlights included trapping and eating a porcupine, Making and sleeping in a shelter made out of pine branches and ingenuity, 4 days and 3 nights of single digit temps, helping do a helicopter litter victim evacuation via a hoist (The downdraft of the helicopter made for a windchill of -100!), staying awake much of the night keeping the fire going, a government issued mummy bag made for someone 6 inches shorter than me. etc, etc,etc...

After that exuberance, I have NEVER been winter camping again! Nor do I plan to!

Thanks for a good chuckle as I am waking up. And thanks for your military service.

I read, then fall asleep.

Did an extensive amount of winter camping, usually in the Adirondacks with some buddies. I worked for Eastern Mt. Sports at the time so had all the appropriate gear, including a warm down mummy bag good to minus 20. It could sometimes be very cold, like that minus 20, a lot of snow, sometimes it would warm up and rain. Did a lot of x-country skiing with heavy packs, I sucked at it but persevered. I think the last time I went out in the winter was to an AMC hut - Zealand Fall, in NH. It was very, very cold that weekend, -30 or so, but we were indoors in an unheated bunkhouse. After that, I was probably 30, all my camping has been spring or fall with my wife and she has no interest in that type of cold, 35-40 is hard enough.