A winter ride

01-10-2004, 08:34 AM

Those of you in New York and New England (and probably Tennessee Titans
fans as well) know what kind of weather they're talking about for today.
Not all-time record low, but probably a record low for the date, and
possibly a record lowest daily high. When I got up this morning it was
about -2°F, and by 10:00 it had warmed up to a toasty zero.

My family had been bugging me last night to go out and get ice cream,
but I refused. However I decided today might be a good day for a winter
ride just to see how I fared, and to get the ice cream without having to
worry about it melting on the way home. So went through my ski clothes
trying to figure out what would be about right to keep my face, hands
and feet warm without making my torso sweat. For my hands, I ended up
with a pair of Pearl Izumi full-finger cool-weather cycling gloves under
a pair of heavy leather fleece-lined mittens. On my head I put a silk
balaclava mask with a foam rubber-like half-face mask over it, and my
helmet on top. Then a regular cotton t-shirt and turtle neck, and my
regular winter coat with a liner which can be zipped separately. On my
legs I had a pair of sweat pants under a pair of insulated nylon warmup
pants. My feet had a pair of thin UnderArmor socks underneath some
heavy ski socks.

Once I started moving, I tried the shifters to be sure everything was
working, and that I could control them ok with the mittens on. Shifting
the Tiagra STI's with heavy mittens was a little clumsy, but acceptable
as long as I was a little careful. The front shifted a little stiff but
still worked ok, since I only expected to need to shift it once.

Then I headed out. To be sure I didn't work up a sweat, I went up the
hill from my house in the granny (30x23), and kept my cadence down to
around 70, but I still ended up fogging my glasses. So I took off the
half-mask and pulled down the opening in the balaclava to below my
mouth. The bike came with an 11-32 cassette, but I had swapped it out
for an Ultegra 11-23 a month ago to get some closer gears for racing,
and because I never needed the 30x32 or 30x28 gears.

Going to the store was with the wind (not a whole lot of it; maybe 5 -
10 mph), and I was able to maintain about 15 mph with little effort at a
lower-than-normal cadence. I quickly found myself starting to get
excessively warm, so I unzipped the outer coat about half-way, and that
seemed to work well.

Loading up to head home from the store, I had to rearrange things a bit
because I was heading into the wind. I needed the half-mask to keep my
cheekbones from feeling like they were going to freeze, and my forehead
above my eyebrows felt like it was going to no matter what I did.

By the time I got home, the thermometer on the house was registering
about 6°F, but I was sweating pretty good even with both the outer coat
and the liner zipped halfway down from riding into the wind, and my toes
were cold. So I still have a bit to learn about what to wear to keep
from sweating, and need to figure out something to keep my toes warm.

Other interesting lessons learned:

My Specialized SpeedZone pro computer doesn't register the
temperature when it gets down around zero (the manual says what the
minimum it will register is, but I don't remember off the top of my
head), and the LCD display is a bit slow to update, but seems to work
fine otherwise. No problems like others have reported with blank
displays or inaccurate readings on other brands of computers.

My new seat (Specialized BG2 Sport) is great, and works well with
non-biking clothes. The cutout gave enough room for the crotch seams of
my two pairs of pants so that I had no problems with pressure points or
chafing. It was a short ride, though, so that might change with more
time in the saddle.

--
Dave Kerber
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REAL programmers write self-modifying code.

01-10-2004, 02:28 PM

I give you alot of credit. I rode earlier this week when it was 5F above
but at -8F (upstate NY) this am, I headed for the trainer in the heated
garage. What did you wear for shoes? What kind of UnderArmour socks? I
can stay warm enough to ride even at zero, but haven't found anything to
keep my feet warm
"David Kerber" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].net...
> Those of you in New York and New England (and probably Tennessee Titans
> fans as well) know what kind of weather they're talking about for today.
> Not all-time record low, but probably a record low for the date, and
> possibly a record lowest daily high. When I got up this morning it was
> about -2°F, and by 10:00 it had warmed up to a toasty zero.
>
> My family had been bugging me last night to go out and get ice cream,
> but I refused. However I decided today might be a good day for a winter
> ride just to see how I fared, and to get the ice cream without having to
> worry about it melting on the way home. So went through my ski clothes
> trying to figure out what would be about right to keep my face, hands
> and feet warm without making my torso sweat. For my hands, I ended up
> with a pair of Pearl Izumi full-finger cool-weather cycling gloves under
> a pair of heavy leather fleece-lined mittens. On my head I put a silk
> balaclava mask with a foam rubber-like half-face mask over it, and my
> helmet on top. Then a regular cotton t-shirt and turtle neck, and my
> regular winter coat with a liner which can be zipped separately. On my
> legs I had a pair of sweat pants under a pair of insulated nylon warmup
> pants. My feet had a pair of thin UnderArmor socks underneath some
> heavy ski socks.
>
> Once I started moving, I tried the shifters to be sure everything was
> working, and that I could control them ok with the mittens on. Shifting
> the Tiagra STI's with heavy mittens was a little clumsy, but acceptable
> as long as I was a little careful. The front shifted a little stiff but
> still worked ok, since I only expected to need to shift it once.
>
> Then I headed out. To be sure I didn't work up a sweat, I went up the
> hill from my house in the granny (30x23), and kept my cadence down to
> around 70, but I still ended up fogging my glasses. So I took off the
> half-mask and pulled down the opening in the balaclava to below my
> mouth. The bike came with an 11-32 cassette, but I had swapped it out
> for an Ultegra 11-23 a month ago to get some closer gears for racing,
> and because I never needed the 30x32 or 30x28 gears.
>
> Going to the store was with the wind (not a whole lot of it; maybe 5 -
> 10 mph), and I was able to maintain about 15 mph with little effort at a
> lower-than-normal cadence. I quickly found myself starting to get
> excessively warm, so I unzipped the outer coat about half-way, and that
> seemed to work well.
>
> Loading up to head home from the store, I had to rearrange things a bit
> because I was heading into the wind. I needed the half-mask to keep my
> cheekbones from feeling like they were going to freeze, and my forehead
> above my eyebrows felt like it was going to no matter what I did.
>
> By the time I got home, the thermometer on the house was registering
> about 6°F, but I was sweating pretty good even with both the outer coat
> and the liner zipped halfway down from riding into the wind, and my toes
> were cold. So I still have a bit to learn about what to wear to keep
> from sweating, and need to figure out something to keep my toes warm.
>
>
> Other interesting lessons learned:
>
> My Specialized SpeedZone pro computer doesn't register the
> temperature when it gets down around zero (the manual says what the
> minimum it will register is, but I don't remember off the top of my
> head), and the LCD display is a bit slow to update, but seems to work
> fine otherwise. No problems like others have reported with blank
> displays or inaccurate readings on other brands of computers.
>
> My new seat (Specialized BG2 Sport) is great, and works well with
> non-biking clothes. The cutout gave enough room for the crotch seams of
> my two pairs of pants so that I had no problems with pressure points or
> chafing. It was a short ride, though, so that might change with more
> time in the saddle.
>
> --
> Dave Kerber
> Fight spam: remove the ns_ from the return address before replying!
>
> REAL programmers write self-modifying code.

01-11-2004, 06:13 AM

In article <cU%Lb.1815$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>,
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ] says...
> I give you alot of credit. I rode earlier this week when it was 5F above
> but at -8F (upstate NY) this am, I headed for the trainer in the heated
> garage. What did you wear for shoes? What kind of UnderArmour socks? I
> can stay warm enough to ride even at zero, but haven't found anything to
> keep my feet warm

As I said in the OP, my feet got cold, too, though not to the point of
being worried about frostbite. The UnderArmor socks are a thin lycra
sock designed for wearing under other socks. They helped a bit, but not
enough, so I'm still looking for an answer to that. My shoes were some
LL Bean hiking boots that I only break out for cold weather or camping.
I have a pair of very bulky snowmobiling boots which would keep me warm,
but which would never fit in toe clips unless I got size XXXL.

--
Dave Kerber
Fight spam: remove the ns_ from the return address before replying!

REAL programmers write self-modifying code.

01-11-2004, 08:42 AM

"David Kerber" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].net...
> Those of you in New York and New England (and probably Tennessee Titans
> fans as well) know what kind of weather they're talking about for today.
> Not all-time record low, but probably a record low for the date, and
> possibly a record lowest daily high. When I got up this morning it was
> about -2°F, and by 10:00 it had warmed up to a toasty zero.

About a dozen of us did our 351rst consecutive club Saturday morning ride (30
mile loop), starting from Newton, MA, it was our coldest in that 7 years (~0
deg. F).

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

I can honestly say that I've gotten things dialed-in to the point where I
didn't have the slightest discomfort riding for 2 hr in 0 deg F. I was riding
a fixed gear, so shifting wasn't an issue, though my other bikes have bar-end
which works well with mitts, too. I used a thin fleece balaclava, with a
separate band of stretch fleece (home-made) over my nose & upper lip, the only
skin showing was my lips. I didn't have any trouble with fogging at all.

My hands were too warm in LL Bean expedition mitts, I should have stopped and
removed either the shells (lined) or the inner mitts (med. fleece). I had 3
layers of fleece on top (stretch shirt, jacket, windbloc vest), which was too
much, I unzipped both (and got a little pink belly from that). I had stretch
fleece warmups over stretch fleece tights on my legs, which was perfect.

For my feet, I used 2 pairs of socks (stretch fleece inner, smartwool outer),
oversize MTB shoes (Sidi), with home-made booties (stretch fleece over plain
fleece). My feet were good, cold, but not uncomfortably so, and they weren't
getting any colder during the second half of the ride.

01-11-2004, 11:51 AM

You guys have pretty big cojones to be riding in this sort of weather.
I'll lift a steaming hot coffee in your honor at the local Starbucks
here in Austin (where it will reach a nice 60 degrees today.)

r.b.

"Bob" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message news:<cU%Lb.1815$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>...
> I give you alot of credit. I rode earlier this week when it was 5F above
> but at -8F (upstate NY) this am, I headed for the trainer in the heated
> garage. What did you wear for shoes? What kind of UnderArmour socks? I

>>By the time I got home, the thermometer on the house was registering
>>about 6°F..

01-11-2004, 02:50 PM

flatline top-posted:

> You guys have pretty big cojones to be riding in this sort of weather.

Well, maybe PRIOR to riding!

Bill "basic physiology" S.

01-11-2004, 04:19 PM

In article <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ] >, blue_x21
@usa.com says...
> You guys have pretty big cojones to be riding in this sort of weather.
> I'll lift a steaming hot coffee in your honor at the local Starbucks
> here in Austin (where it will reach a nice 60 degrees today.)

When I was in school back in the mid-70's in Iowa, my bike was how I got
to school, and I rode every day. My record was about -20°F with a 30mph
wind. Better to do it on a bike and get there in 15-20 minutes than
walk and have it take 45.

>
> r.b.
>
> "Bob" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message news:<cU%Lb.1815$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>...
> > I give you alot of credit. I rode earlier this week when it was 5F above
> > but at -8F (upstate NY) this am, I headed for the trainer in the heated
> > garage. What did you wear for shoes? What kind of UnderArmour socks? I
>
> >>By the time I got home, the thermometer on the house was registering
> >>about 6°F..
>

--
Dave Kerber
Fight spam: remove the ns_ from the return address before replying!

REAL programmers write self-modifying code.

01-11-2004, 04:21 PM

In article <VilMb.58095$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].com>, sorni@bite-
me.san.rr.com says...
> flatline top-posted:
>
> > You guys have pretty big cojones to be riding in this sort of weather.
>
> Well, maybe PRIOR to riding!

The cojones don't shrink, but what they're connected to sure does!

....

--
Dave Kerber
Fight spam: remove the ns_ from the return address before replying!

REAL programmers write self-modifying code.

01-11-2004, 05:37 PM

Was it up hill with a head wind???

Did you have a hole in one shoe?

Burr

David Kerber wrote:

> In article <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ] >, blue_x21
> @usa.com says...
>
>>You guys have pretty big cojones to be riding in this sort of weather.
>>I'll lift a steaming hot coffee in your honor at the local Starbucks
>>here in Austin (where it will reach a nice 60 degrees today.)
>
>
> When I was in school back in the mid-70's in Iowa, my bike was how I got
> to school, and I rode every day. My record was about -20°F with a 30mph
> wind. Better to do it on a bike and get there in 15-20 minutes than
> walk and have it take 45.
>
>
>>r.b.
>>
>>"Bob" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message news:<cU%Lb.1815$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>...
>>
>>>I give you alot of credit. I rode earlier this week when it was 5F above
>>>but at -8F (upstate NY) this am, I headed for the trainer in the heated
>>>garage. What did you wear for shoes? What kind of UnderArmour socks? I
>>
>>>>By the time I got home, the thermometer on the house was registering
>>>>about 6°F..
>>
>

01-11-2004, 08:02 PM

David Kerber wrote:
> Those of you in New York and New England (and probably Tennessee Titans
> fans as well) know what kind of weather they're talking about for today.
> Not all-time record low, but probably a record low for the date, and
> possibly a record lowest daily high. When I got up this morning it was
> about -2°F, and by 10:00 it had warmed up to a toasty zero.
> kept my cadence down to around 70, but I still ended up fogging
> my glasses.

Here in Minnesota for winter rides I've used a pair of old Scott dua
lens ski Goggles which solved the fogging issues

-