Winter Cycling - Unable to communicate clearly when cold

This may just be me, but when I am out for more than 30 minutes in < 40 F weather, I lose the ability to talk ! My vocal chords become all constricted and I can only utter single words. I recently had two confrontations with motorists and all I could do was shout unintelligible expletives. Does anyone else have this problem? Maybe it is a good thing as it just encourages me to keep my mouth shut at the next confrontation in the cold.

what happens if you drink water to lube your throat?

I was on a 30 mile ride once along the shore of Lake MI, wearing a totally inadequate sweater, and wind was blowing right through it, chilling me to the bone. I think I was getting hypothermic. I came upon a McDonalds, and it seemed like a really good idea to go inside to get something hot to drink and warm up. I took me multiple tries until I was finally able to make noises that were intelligible to the clerk as "coffee". Damn, that was embarrassing.

chew gum. i used to think the cold made my mouth hurt but it was just the dryness. any thing you think is caused by cold is probably dryness

This may just be me, but when I am out for more than 30 minutes in < 40 F weather, I lose the ability to talk ! My vocal chords become all constricted and I can only utter single words. I recently had two confrontations with motorists and all I could do was shout unintelligible expletives. Does anyone else have this problem? Maybe it is a good thing as it just encourages me to keep my mouth shut at the next confrontation in the cold.

All year 'round.

The title of this thread made me think you'd be complaining that your mittens prevented using a particular finger.