Winter Cycling - Q: Why shouldn't you pee before winter biking?

A: you might need to piss on the derailleur if it freezes up on ya.

In that event I should think the cold would make such precision aim a bit, er, challenging. Why not just carry a small can of WD-40?

In case your un-gloved hand freezes to the handlebar?

whatever you do DO NOT pee on the derailleur at -30F, if you have any intention of shifting again any time soon.

I think its also almost totally impractical for female riders. (waiting for machka to chime in :roflmao: )

I read about this in a story about mnt biking in snow. I image if you get snow all over your rear cog and RD it would work like a charm. Don't discount women's ability to aim. Once many moons ago(30years) we were camping in Baja mexico drinking and carrying on. One guy wanted to see who could piss the furthest. One of the women wanted to join in. Being gentlemen we allowed her to go first. She turned around backwards, bent over and shot an impressive distance. The first guy steps to the line unzips, aims but is interrupted by the female contestant....she shouts, "No hands allowed" She won :D

If it does freeze, and mine did today, just manually pick a rear cog and go with it. You can usually still shift from the front. Half the guys out there are on SS anyways.

yeah that just what i want a bike that smells like piss

wtf?

you should think bout driving in the winter, the transmission doesnt freeze on a car!

I think its also almost totally impractical for female riders. (waiting for machka to chime in :roflmao: )


Well, I'll chime in at least. Yeah, no whizzing on the bike for me, though I can't think that I'd want to, even if I could.

When my derailleur froze in the last snowstorm, I wasn't too concerned with shifting gears anyway. I had it in the overall lowest combination, doing all I could to keep traction and keep on in a straight line. Even at that, I kept spinning out through intersections. Which sucked.

You might as well pee in your pants to keep yourself warm... try it... NOT. :eek:

--J

actually if your looking at staying warm more efficently you should get rid of your wastes before going outside. i guess its not the case with cycling because your making enough body heat to stay warm, but in a survival situation your body will burn more calories trying to keep a bladder full of water from freezing, and when youve got nothing to eat, you have to conserve calories. its the same with feces, your body tries to keep it from freezing, cause if it does..your beyond hope at that point.

steve

I used to regularly help my rear derailleur shift to a larger cog by pushing it with my foot while riding. I got pretty good at it. I'd get the front derailleur to downshift that way, too. I couldn't shift to a smaller cog without getting off the bike, though. Riding the slushy, salty streets of center-city montreal in the winter often really jammed up both my derailleurs. I'd have been better off with a single-speed some of the time, but I didn't have one... and anyway, I like to be able to gear down or up depending on the wind and how iced-up my bike is.

It does save lives you never no when an avalance might beery :D you.

I can't find a working news link for it.

Here is the story.

From ananove news quirkies

Man peed his way out of avalanche[I]

A Slovak man trapped in his car under an avalanche freed himself by drinking
60 bottles of beer and urinating on the snow to melt it.

Rescue teams found Richard Kral drunk and staggering along a mountain path
four days after his Audi car was buried in the Slovak Tatra mountains.

He told them that after the avalanche, he had opened his car window and
tried to dig his way out.

But as he dug with his hands, he realised the snow would fill his car before
he managed to break through.

He had 60 half-litre bottles of beer in his car as he was going on holiday,
and after cracking one open to think about the problem he realised he could
urinate on the snow to melt it, local media reported.

He said: "I was scooping the snow from above me and packing it down below
the window, and then I peed on it to melt it. It was hard and now my kidneys
and liver hurt. But I'm glad the beer I took on holiday turned out to be
useful and I managed to get out of there."

Parts of Europe have this week been hit by the heaviest snowfalls since
1941, with some places registering more than ten feet of snow in 24 hours.