Winter Cycling - Using a hair-dryer to warm hands/feet

It's starting to get cold here in the north-east. Now, with polyester gloves on top of polyester mittens, my hands are still OK after 2 hours of riding. My feet though, are starting to get cold, even with a combination of wool socks/shoe/big wool socks on top of shoe/booty. I know that when the mercury drops another 10 deg or so, my hands & feet will be turning numb with coldness.

Here's my question:

I have a rack on the back with a large pack. I could easily carry one of those large 12V batteries (lead/acid) that are sold in hardware stores. Is it possible to buy a hairdryer that runs off one of these batteries? This way I could stop for a short 'warm-up' and lessen the risk of frostbite.

Is this as stupid of an idea as it sounds? :o

I may have inhaled too much ether in the lab today :D

You can get mittens or gloves that will work for you. I use leather goose down filled mittens when it gets down to the teens.

For the feet

socks
sandwich bag over toes
shoe
1 gallon food bag over shoe
big sock
another bag
bootie
another bag
Another big size bootie.

That should be fine but you can also put the chemical toe warmers in your shoes. I do that sometimes on 6 or 8 hour rides in the snow. You can also carry extra chemical toe and hand warmers for the ride home. I think one set will last for a two hour ride.

Put the top back on the ether bottle! :D ;)

When we go out cod fishing on the Big Jamaica (http://www.fishinnj.com/index.htm) they run heated oil/water through the handrails. Maybe you could find a way to do that on your handlebars. LOL

easier to use battery heated gloves and socks.. with rechargeable batteries.. much lighter 8-)

Why don't you just pick up a bunch of those little hand warmers ... found in Walmart or Canadian Tire for a couple bucks. Get the hand warmers, not the feet warmers. The hand warmers last longer, and they are smaller so they are easier to tuck into your shoes without adding a lot of extra bulk. Put them under the balls of your feet ... between your foot and the cleat.



Oh, incidentally ... I have used the hand driers in some washrooms to warm up on occasion.

Chemical Hand warmers.
Or here's my cheap fix. Get a soda bottle, 16 ounce, fill it with hot water, then stuff it in your bag wrapped in a shirt. If your hands get cold, just wrap em around the bottle.

The key to warming up or cooling down fast is the coefficient of heat transfer, of which air is very poor convectively compared to conducting through, say a plastic bottle.

Stopping when it is extremely cold is bad. It would not work. You stop to warm up your hands and the rest of your body chills. So now you have warm hands for 3 minutes until you start riding again, at which point the rest of your body is suffering because you stopped for so long trying to warm up your hands.

It really does no good to warm up your hands. You need to put suitable coverings on them so they keep warm on their own.

Chemical Hand warmers.
Or here's my cheap fix. Get a soda bottle, 16 ounce, fill it with hot water, then stuff it in your bag wrapped in a shirt. If your hands get cold, just wrap em around the bottle.

The key to warming up or cooling down fast is the coefficient of heat transfer, of which air is very poor convectively compared to conducting through, say a plastic bottle.


Thats probably the simplest way to warm up my hands. Good idea, thanks Slvoid! My main problem during the last few days has been the cold getting through the cleat area of my feet (I suppose that I should say the heat of my feet escapes through the cleat area, which, being metal, conducts heat quite well. If cleats and pedals were made of plastic :D , it wouldnt be so much of a problem

MachKa: The little chemical warmers are a great idea too. They would work for both my hands and feet. I used to buy them from Crappy Tire when I lived in Toronto and went Skiing at Blue Mountian. I will check the nearest Wal-Mart to see if they sell them.

When my hands get cold I keep the bike speed the same and increase my cadence as much as needed. Spin like a mad man if you need to. Even if I take my mittens off and they cool down if I spin for a while I get them warm again. If your feet get too cold walk or run for a short way.

On a long ride in the very cold I fine tune my temperature by adding or subtracting effort.

Your hands really shouldn't get cold. It's sort of like asking what shoes are comfortable to walk in so you will be comfortable when you walk after you get a flat.

for the cold transference thru the soles from the cleat.. I have a solution I have been very happy with.. I mounted the cleats outside of my neoprene booties on an old pair of road shoes.. the the rubber sole is between the cleat and the shoe(I'm using look style cleats)... This setup has proven to be much warmer than having a bootie with a big hole cut out to fit the cleat thru.. I also caulked around the cleat screws to prevent air and water from getting in...still has enough room to flip the back of the bootie down over the heel to get in/out..

You could try a pair of insulated insoles that have felt on one side and reflective foil on the other. I got them at the Dollerama.

I think that Ranger is right - unless it gets really cold, I probably wont get cold hands.

I went for a 25 mile ride last night at 9:00. The temp was about 19 deg F (about -7 C). After about 15 miles, I was actually feeling hot. My hands were warm and I was sweating. But even with 2 pairs of thin wool socks (smart wool), a big wool sock covering my show and my booties, my toes were begining to go numb with cold.

Ranger: You are right - stopping is a bad idea. I stopped at a CVS to buy a soda last night and when I started to ride again, I was cold all over for the first 15 min -it felt like my sweaty clothes were beggining to freeze.

I think that my best option (from Machka) is to buy those little chemical warmers and put them under the balls of my feet.

Overall, I like riding in the cold weather. Once I solve the cold feet problem, I will be ready to tackle 2 hour rides in much colder temps (the maximum time that my Night Hawk light allows me to). Generally I ride at night. I have so many blinky lights that cars sometimes slow to a crawl behind me! (until they realize that I'm not an emergency vehicle).

Thanks everyone for all your suggestions.

I think that Ranger is right - unless it gets really cold, I probably wont get cold hands.

I went for a 25 mile ride last night at 9:00. The temp was about 19 deg F (about -7 C). After about 15 miles, I was actually feeling hot. My hands were warm and I was sweating. But even with 2 pairs of thin wool socks (smart wool), a big wool sock covering my show and my booties, my toes were begining to go numb with cold.

Ranger: You are right - stopping is a bad idea. I stopped at a CVS to buy a soda last night and when I started to ride again, I was cold all over for the first 15 min -it felt like my sweaty clothes were beggining to freeze.

I think that my best option (from Machka) is to buy those little chemical warmers and put them under the balls of my feet.

Overall, I like riding in the cold weather. Once I solve the cold feet problem, I will be ready to tackle 2 hour rides in much colder temps (the maximum time that my Night Hawk light allows me to). Generally I ride at night. I have so many blinky lights that cars sometimes slow to a crawl behind me! (until they realize that I'm not an emergency vehicle).

Thanks everyone for all your suggestions.

Do you put a plastic bag over your toes? You should.

Are these clipless shoes you're working with? If so, might be worth swapping the pedals out for some regular flats and running with ordinary winter boots.

I generally run with a big wool sock, bag & Lake MX300 boots for temps between 15 - 25°F. For 5-10°F, I add another bag and neoprene booties.

Below that I swap pedals and go with some North Face boots.

Ok I got the christmas LSS safety supply catalog at work.
They sell a pair of gloves for $30 that have a series of channels on the back that hook up to a small vent that you can open on the back of your hand and blow warm air into to warm your hands, they seem pretty neat.

Ok I got the christmas LSS safety supply catalog at work.
They sell a pair of gloves for $30 that have a series of channels on the back that hook up to a small vent that you can open on the back of your hand and blow warm air into to warm your hands, they seem pretty neat.

Link?

the hair dryer will eat Any battery in minutes, plus they are very ineficient specially if you take into acount the windflow...

on the contrary a pair of heated grips (little resistor liners) that you can get at any snowmovil shop or a more touring oriented motorcycle shop will be very efficient and focus the heat were you need it...
i still don't knowif the battery mass and longevity will be justifiable.

I use them on all my motorcycles and i really enjoy them, since they are simple to install and graw very little current...

also is a few sourses of "Chemical heat" you know the patches that you get when you get a back acke or something that may work, but i think they will be a little to expensive, since they are not rechargable do to the quemical calalizis to produce the heat...


also passive materials like Gore windstoper are exelent wind and cold barriors, again I use them on my motorcycle rides when i'm exercising a lot less a.k.a. not producing that much body heatand still work wonders at even Autoban speeds..yes they are not cheap, but man they work


i hope this helps,, I don't even wnat to get into the concepts of "warm water suits" that recirculate warm water all over your body, because those are far to heavy require a pump (a small one, but a pump none the less) can be damage really easy but more than anything add to much weight to your upper body and don't really transpire well..

Link?
http://www.oneeighties.com/gloves.html

http://www.oneeighties.com/gloves.html

Kind of annoying website, but thanks for the link.

Yeah, did you have the sound turned up?
I did and the first beep scared the s**t out of me...