Hang in There - 30 Days and Counting!

[OakLeaf]

You know, I thought about this.

None of us buys clothes for the coldest 2 or 5 or maybe even 10 days of our local winter, whether those days are 50 above or 40 below. It's simply not worth the expense or the storage space.

I have two lovely pairs of wool tights sitting in my closet in Ohio. They get plenty of use in the spring and fall. I would have loved to have had them on several of these mornings. Am I going to bring them with me to Florida next year? Nope. Am I going to buy some to keep here? Uh-uh. Not when I might wear them twice or three times over the entire winter. As for heavy winter shoes and gloves, I don't even own any, even though there are always a few days or even weeks in Ohio when I choose not to ride out at 8 a.m. with the club because my hands and feet would go numb and painful. I haven't been able to convince myself that, when I'm only in that weather for a few weeks a year, appropriate footwear would be worth the expense or the space and weight in my cycling duffel.

There are many people in the northern contiguous US who feel they can't ride because of the ice, snow and salt, and I respect that. I don't road ride when I'm home and the roads are like that (although most of my buddies, and on occasion myself, take every opportunity for off road riding.) But meanwhile there's an intermittent thread on the Alaska section discussing whether it's better to try and ride on deep uncleared sidewalks or in the middle of the street on the tire tracks between the snow berms. There've been any number of discussions about whether to ride when the temperature's in the teens, and if so, how to dress for it. Sue Geonz has been quietly logging more outdoor mileage on BikeJournal than almost any of us, from her home in central Illinois.

I guess all I'm saying is everyone has to be where they are. I don't think it's insensitive to the Norwegians that you don't have proper clothing for the weather you currently have in Virginia, and so choose not to ride. I don't think it's insensitive to the Virginians that Aggie doesn't have proper clothing for the weather she currently has in Texas, and maybe chooses not to ride. Making comments about other people's tolerance of weather conditions can be insensitive, whether you consider their weather "better" or "worse" than yours.

[ny biker]

I live in Virginia and am not offended by any of these comments. I also would not choose to live someplace where the weather would allow me to ride outside year round. I'm not a big fan of sub-freezing temps, but I can live with them because I prefer having the variety of four distinct seasons rather than warm weather year-round.

Weather, especially temperature, is so incredibly relative. When you're used to 80 degrees, 50 seems cold because it's 30 degrees lower, so you wear a coat. When the high temp barely reaches 20, like it did here on Thursday, and then it goes over 50 only two days later, you're walking around in a t-shirt because it's 30 degrees warmer. It's all about what you're used to.

(Apologies to those who measure temperature in celsius instead of fahrenheit. Did I even spell "celsius" right?)

[Mr. Bloom]

Yippee!

[RolliePollie]

I love DLST! And I am very excited that it's happening so early this year. I won't like that it's so dark in the morning, but the extra light after work is something I really look forward to! I probably won't be riding in the evenings until winter goes away a little more (i.e. snow on side of roads melts), but I should be able to at least go on some good walks.

p.s. ny biker is so right about it all being relative when it comes to temperature! I don't take offense at anyone's comments...I think it's kind of entertaining. It might be 35-40 degrees at my house and I'll head to Sacramento to ride where it's in the high 50's or around 60. I'll be wearing shorts and short sleeved jersey and almost everyone else is bundled up in all their winter gear. I get a kick out of it. It's just what you're used to.