Originally Posted by
jrickards
Yesterday was a low of -24C/-11F so in preparation for this morning's ride, I got out my snow pants and ski helmet. When I woke up at 5:30am, it was -14C/7F and I decided to wear a balaclava and a bike helmet instead of the ski helmet. After I got up, let the dog out, fed the cats, let the dog back in, had my shower, it was -12C/10F and by the time I was dressed, hot and a bit sweaty, it was -10C/14F so I got rid of the snowpants and got my MTB shorts and wore cycling tights underneath and a replaced the balaclava with a Buff (shaped into a toque/beanie). It was dressed like this that I rode in (or at least as far as my pedal let me) and I was comfortable.
As annoying as this was, preparing clothes for a moving-target temperature, it made me realize that for my dream bike tour, for which I was considering cool weather clothes for cool weather days, I think that I have everything I need. If I can ride comfortably at -10C/14F wearing as few layers as I did (a thin long-sleeved merino shirt, a mid-weight long-sleeved polyester shirt, lightweight waterproof coat), I have plenty of clothes for temperatures that would be expected to go no lower than freezing during the summer tour (on my way up to Nordkapp Norway). Even if a cold night were to occur, I was probably wearing sufficiently warm clothes on today's ride to keep me warm in a sleeping bag to at or just below freezing temperatures (although I'd probably wear a merino toque instead of a bike helmet to bed, and merino long undies instead of cycling tights and lycra bike shorts).
I also got a GoPro-clone for Christmas, SJCam 4000, and I'm just learning how to use it. I did bring it with me but the settings were wrong and the video had to be scrapped. I'm happy though that, even with only streetlights for light in the dark pre-dawn morning, the scenery was quite visible.