Originally Posted by
bikenh
Here's the replies to an email Chef sent me a little while ago before I saw his posting on the forum. I've added some more to this that I didn't put in the email I sent to him. Yes, I see the flames already glowing on the horizon that big forest fire is heading straight for me. Let the flame wars begin.
I haven't did any winter touring yet. I'm not the best person to ask. With that in mind I will offer the standard thoughts...
1. Be prepared for winter. Big time on the camping side. Even though you are further south than I am you may still find yourself in the middle of winter conditions for camping this year. I would definitely want a 0 degree bag at least to play it safe.
1a. The stealth campsites probably won't be as plentiful as they are during the summer months. This is something I have been thinking about quite a bit. I'm so stuck in the mentality of basebal dugout anymore...I know they are pretty much useless during the winter months. The footsteps left in the snow are a BIG giveaway, which is the number one thing you don't want to do. Finding stealth sites could be a real challenge during the winter months. I know I have decided that if I get out and do any kind of winter trip this year...I've thought about it, I will end up heading straight for the Appalachian Trail and camp out at the trail crossings. That solves trying to hunt down relatively snow free spots to camp out. Most of the spots I have used in the past I wouldn't even want to try to use during the winter months.
1b. When looking for possible stealth sites on Google Earth think about where the snow might be and how that is going to influence the difficulty of getting to the campsite. Where might snowplows pile up snow...how is that going to influence campsite choices.
2. Plan your mileage to be lower. The days are shorter. Your speed is going to be slower due to the lack of leaves on the trees, the increased air density, etc. Right now most of the time I'm riding under 15 mph while during the summer I'm usually 17-18 mph. Over the course of 4-6 hours that can add up real fast. Think about giving yourself a little benefit and having lighting equipment on the bike.
3. Don't put everything on that you have with you. Plan your number one objective throughout the day to be...
DON'T REMOVE ANY CLOTHING.
If you keep that in mind you will have dry clothing for the entire trip and that will allow you to be far safer and far more comfortable than otherwise.
Putting on everything and than having to stop and remove clothing that is now damp to wet leads to having damp to wet clothing when you go to put it back on. More than likely you will be putting that clothing on a cold, damp body and that will suck the heat right out of you faster than you could ever imagine.
If you stay dry in the first place you will be fine. Sweat is called evaporative cooling for a reason. It is designed to cool the body down, not keep the body warm. It's a sign your body is already too warm to start with and it needs to cool itself down. Why try to warm the body up and cool it down at the same time. Stop fighting the body and start dressing smartly. You want to be cold the first 10-15 minutes. Let your body heat warm you up...not the clothing. You are constantly generating body heat. 20-40% of the calories you consume go to propel you forward on the bike while 60-80% are wasted as heat. Your number one job is to get rid of the heat...
Unless it's a day like yesterday, 15-20 degrees, wind 20-40 mph...I don't put anything on the head other than ear protection. I want the heat that is constantly being produced to have somewhere to go to escape. The two biggest areas for heat loss are the head and the torso(behind the shoulder blades on the back). As for the torso you really need something that gives wind protection on the front but leaves the back open to ventilate. I generally don't sweat much under the arms during the winter months...at least not that I notice. It's typically between the shoulder blades. Keep the hands and feet protected. You'll probably want the booties. Right now I'm typically wearing/experimenting with a long sleeve cotton tshirt and wind jacket. Unfortunately the wind jacket doesn't have pit zips on the back so it does hold the heat in to the body. So far down even at 20 degrees I've had no trouble. The tshirt has a bit longer sleeves than the polyester shirt I always wore the last two years. Up around 40 degrees it is almost too much and I stat sweating between the shoulder blades but down at 20 I stay nice and dry. Like I said in the email to Chef earlier, since early to mid-October I have been riding at least 100k everyday clear up until a bike accident I had back on Saturday. I had 37 straight days with at least 62.3 miles. I'm out riding all the time so I see what works...FOR ME. Everybody is different and I realize that but just remember rule number one of the outdoors...Don't let them see you sweat. Rule number two is simply, put more clothes on but never take anything off...you've already screwed up if you have to take anything off...you shouldn't have put it on in the first place.
4. Remember when riding when its snowing...stay on the snow. Granted I'm not sure if that holds to wetter snow like I have a feeling you have down your way or not. I know the snow up here(you can't make a snowball, it falls apart the second you open your hand due to the lack of moisture in the snow up here) it's vital to stay on the snow and not on the wet road surface. Wherever hasn't been plowed thus far is where you want to stay.
5. Don't make any quick moves while on the snow and even more so when on cold, wet pavement. Just like in a car your best moves are slow, gradual moves. Sudden jerking is a quick way to end up on the ground. Ease it over, don't pull it over.
6. Make sure the state park is open/that you will be able to get access into the state park. You might be in for a surprise, it is after Columbus Day and pretty much all state parks have closed by now in most of the non-southern states.
7. If the fingers/toes start to get cold/don't warm up initially try going inside for a while. Let everything warm up and then go back out on the bike. Typically for me once I do this I stay warm the rest of the day. I don't know why but it seems to work quite well. I really wish I could find an explanation for this one. It makes no sense at all.
8. Plan for long nights...your going to have them. Either plan to spend the evening in McDonalds or somewhere online and go out and set up camp when you are ready to go to bed or plan to have something with you that can occupy the long winter evenings.
9. Test the quilt before you use it in the real world. Different people sleep differently, temp/comfort wise.
10. Don't take batteries from a warm environment to a cold environment and use them. You will 'shock' discharge a battery VERY quickly. I learnt that lesson last year with the headlight. I was always keeping it inside the library/McDonalds with me while surfing online. I would put it on the bike and then head on towards home. I would get .5 mile from where I was surfing and bam, the light would go out. After a couple of times I come to realize what was happening. Keep the batteries cold. Keep them in the same temperature as the environment where you are going to be using them. They don't like to shocked by temperature changes. At least alkaline and nickel metal hydride don't like to be shocked.
11 .Yeah, make sure your stove/lighter works in the cold.
12. Yes, on sleeping with the water bottle. Sleeping with the water bottle can also help to keep you warm in the early part of the evening as well as keeping it from freezing overnight. Also, sleep with any lightly damp clothing. You can dry out the clothing by sleeping with the clothing(laying beside you) or by sleeping with it on.
13. Don't freak out about layers, remember stay comfortable, not warm. You don't want to sweat.
14. NO GLOVES. Pop top mittens. Preferably, wool. Generally look for ragged wool pop top mittens. It's what I wear when it get much below 40 degrees. Down to 40 I will wear fleece mittens. I only wear gloves during the summer months. When the hands start to get cold you can pull the fingers inside the mittens to form a fist with skin touching skin and warm the hands back up. You can pop the top of the mitten open to have full use of the fingers without having to take them off or having to have anything go slipping between the layers of the gloves. The pop top mittens keep the skin exposed under the pop top. You can also pump the hand...making a fist and opening it repeatedly to help warm up the hands. You can't pull the fingers inside gloves very easily. You lose too much dexterity and you also lose too much warmth using gloves. Stick with mittens. Pop top preferably.
Some good advice, but if you get hot cycling with clothing, remove it before it gets damp.
Do not wear cotton when cycling, it holds moisture and will make you cold.
Another one I found when I winter camped, unless you have a tent that erects really easily (like a hillberg) if your tent is wet try and wear gloves putting it up. I put up a wet tent in winter in freezing conditions and my hands were really cold within a minute (from the water) and it tooks 4 times as long to erect with great difficulty. imaging doing that in wet, cold and windy weather with no gloves?