How do they do it - Student Riders!

[Mr. Bloom]

This morning I'm driving to work at 6AM-ish and pass several students riding to campus in normal winter clothes with LOTS of EXPOSED SKIN!

IT WAS -3 degrees!

All Day Long, I'm seeing students riding in normal jackets, no caps, no gloves - at decent speeds (including the normal running stops signs...) on a windy day.

It was 6 degrees!

Seriously, how are they doing this without serious frostbite???

[Irulan]

I dunno.
lots of the boys around here wear basketball shorts year round.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Young folks seem to feel the cold less in general. But I also doubt they are riding very far.

[Mr. Bloom]

It's a mile or two, but it's SO cold and they're creating their own 10 to 15 mph breeze...flesh is flesh...

[Tri Girl]

I agree with Lisa. I teach, and there are days my students won't wear a coat outside at recess when I'm in my long, wool coat with a hat and gloves: and I'm STILL shivering. Kids (young or older) just don't know cold for some strange reason. And yes, I'm referring to college kids as "kids." I agree, tho, Mr. : flesh is flesh and even if it's only a mile- that's still WAY too cold. Brrrr... I get cold driving in my car at that temp. with the heater on.

[PamNY]

I'm surprised at the variation in what people wear cycling (or doing anything) at cold temps. It's not quite as cold as your area, but I've seen people cycling in shorts. Probably they aren't going far.

Hey, who knew bikes are supposed to stop at stop signs? I had no idea; never saw anybody do it.

Pam

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Hey, who knew bikes are supposed to stop at stop signs? I had no idea; never saw anybody do it.

Pam

Pam you are scaring me. I hope you are just kidding! For your own safety, please obey traffic laws while riding in traffic!

[PamNY]

Pam you are scaring me. I hope you are just kidding! For your own safety, please obey traffic laws while riding in traffic!

Sorry -- that was meant to be a wry comment about bikers in general. Seriously, on the bike path, I pull over as far as possible when I stop because you risk being mowed down by other bikers if you actually stop when no cars are coming.

Pam

[OakLeaf]

I remember being like that when I was a kid. Ah to be young again. I stopped riding below freezing after I fell on some black ice and wrapped my front wheel around my fork... but my rule for running used to be long sleeves below freezing, tights and gloves below 0°F, didn't even own a hat that I remember.

[beccaB]

My son is 6'2" and almost never wears a jacket. He wears t-shirts all the time. He only weighs 140 so there's no meat on him. It was 15 degrees below zero here today. He wore a sweatshirt.

[Tuckervill]

My 15 yo son is like that, too. I MAKE him take a jacket wherever we go, just in case we break down or something and have to walk a long way (better safe than sorry). It is a constant struggle to even get him to TAKE a jacket, but in his more cooperative moments he grabs one without a reminder, even though he has no intention of wearing it.

Everywhere he goes in the cold weather, people are asking him where his jacket is. You think the annoyance of that alone would be enough to get him to wear one, but nope.

I have noticed he does wear shoes and socks more often than he used to, though.

Karen

[Crankin]

I stopped fighting with the kids (12-13 yr. olds) about wearing coats when we went outside about 5 years ago.
I don't get it, either. I was not "warmer" as a kid. Yesterday, when it was about 13 out, I went to the dentist, near my kid's old HS. While everyone I saw was wearing a jacket, some of them had on what I would consider to be a spring jacket, none had gloves, or hats on as they spilled out of the Starbucks.
And I also don't understand some of the riders and runners I see wearing shorts when it's 50, 40, or 30. Last week I saw 2 runners in my neighborhood in shorts. It was around 25 out and their legs were bright red. While I definitely have developed more of a tolerance for cold, the more I ride, I have to wear tights when it's less than 55, maybe 52. Between 55-65 I can do knee warmers or knickers.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I also suspect that most teenagers and young people run around in the freezing cold without gloves, hats, or jackets simply because they keep LOSING them.

DH's son used to keep telling us his stuff was 'stolen'. Replacements were purchased. After 2 winter coats were "stolen" in succession, further interrogation revealed that he actually LEFT the coats hanging over some fence in the baseball field or at the park, and then when he went back to get them like two days later they were gone....thus, "stolen".

I suspect when they go off to college there is a period of time during which they are astonished when replacements don't 'magically' appear...and eventually (when they run out of clothes) they stop shedding apparel like autumn leaves everywhere they go.

[Crankin]

Yes, it is amazing that my older son has not lost a coat since he graduated from college and he wears a hat, gloves, and a scarf all of the time. He once lost his brother's winter coat, that he had worn because he liked the color better! Although he did lose his backpack about a year ago; the same LL Bean one I bought him in 1992.
My other son still has his winter coat I bought him in HS. He doesn't need it too much in San Diego, but when he was stationed in VA, he wore it. He doesn't lose it, because he keeps it in the back of his Subaru.

[Tuckervill]

My legs, being well-insulated, are better able to take cold weather, and therefore if the weather is iffy, I'd opt to cover my upper half rather than my lower half. When I come in from a cold run and get in the shower, I am often surprised to feel how cold the skin on my outer thighs is (even when wearing pants)! I never notice outside.

Karen