First Cold Weather Ride

[sundial]

Oooh, the colds this year want to hang on. I had one and it was almost 3 weeks before my nose was back to normal. Ack! We haven't had the flu hit the area--yet.

As for cold weather riding, I'm sure the TE'ers steered you toward wool.
I layered a silk long sleeve tee under my jersey and it really helps. Also, windproof stuff will provide a more comfortable ride.

Christmas morning I headed out for a ride with bike shorts and fleece lined tights, long sleeve jersey and windproof jacket, gloves, Polar buff around my neck and shoe covers. When I finished I learned it was 28 F!

[pinkychique]

At the end of the summer I hit all the closeouts on last years winter stuff, and I picked up a fair amount of stuff!

I've been riding in the cold (20 deg F or sometimes lower my mom thinks I'm crazy) and I wear so much! I don't go without my buff to cover my face, a thick beanie, a base tank top for my core, a thermal running shirt, a long sleeve race shirt, a bike jersey, windproof vest (marmot oooh so nice, yay for sales ) and then a jacket that's not exactly wind proof, but not exactly breathable, and day-glo yellow. Then i have shorts, long underwears of silk, and then tights on, neoprene foot covers and Grabbers toe warmers and 1 pair of cotton/polyester and 1 pair of wool socks. Its a lot

oh and some windproof gloves, sometimes with an extra, smaller pair stuffed inside.

The cold makes for some long days, but I'm glad that I don't have to spend it on a trainer

[Mr. Bloom]

At the end of the summer I hit all the closeouts on last years winter stuff, and I picked up a fair amount of stuff!

Silver's good at that too!

Why buy current 'fashion' - it's only going to get covered in snot-rockets anyway

[PinkBike]

sundial, say it aint so. i'm in day 4 of a sneezing, sniffling, stuffy, eye-watering, breathe thru the mouth cold. so glad for aloe tissues. havent ridden in almost a week.

[sundial]

Yep, the 2007 Cold is a real pain! My nose stayed stopped up for 2 weeks.

If you have access to a sauna, that will help. Oh, and hot and sour soup from your favorite Chinese restaurant.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Yep, I'm a current member of the stuffy mucus head crowd too.
But I'm still walking and snowshoeing. 10" of snow last night, so went snowshoeing today.

Mr.Silver....those cotton socks won't do anything for you in the cold. Better to wear just wool socks- either 1 or 2 pairs. Also, instead of wearing 2 "tech" base layers, you can wear just 1 merino wool base layer under your wind shell and keep warm without getting soggy or stinky.

[Geonz]

Unfortunately I'm not sure what layers will help with the cold-air-in-the-lungs problems. I've ridden with people whom the chilliness has rendered far more breathless than the effort deserved. I'm not sure a person can't acclimate to it, though, or if it's genetic (or dependent on, say, the size of hte bronchial tubes).

Another little trick I learned is to make sure that I'm holding my shoulders "open" so that my camelbak and posture arent' interfering with circulation. This gets the blood down to those digits in my hands.

I launched so many rockets this week that I saw a screen crawl on the weather channel saying there was a "mucus advisory" on the roads and to watch for slick spots.

Oh, and my cotton socks did **fine** (SIoux is allergic to wool). But ... if they don't, and wool doesn't bug you, that's almost certainly warmer.

And my other advice if a person prefers non-grueling: slow down