First Cold Weather Ride

[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

[spokewench]

It has just been too darned cold here! About a month ago, we got a great big snow! And, usually, here in Flag, we usually get a week or so here and there in the winter where it gets warmer and things have a chance to melt. This year, not a chance! The roads for driving are okay, but all the bike lanes (and shoulders of road) are icy!!!!! Big patches of slick ice and huge piles of hard boulder like ice. Our best road ride out to the Lakes is covered with really icy patches on the small hills! So, even if I wanted to brave the 30 some degree (high for the day) sunshine, I don't want to brave the icy fall. Icy falls hurt way too much!

Mr. Silver, you are doing way better than I am getting out in the cold this year. I just can't hack the idea this year with the weather the way it is.

So, I haven't been doing much on the bike. Got a great hike in this weekend - up the Lost Burrito Trail - it goes straight up the mountain and is a great cardio workout. Got to do more of that.

I'm still playing tennis, which keeps me active, but sure doesn't keep me real fit - I need my bike for that. Here's to hoping for a warmer New Year!