Winter Cycling - Grease, bearings, hub, etc. not working in cold weather.

I have heard the rear hub and bearings can be affected by cold weather. I think when it gets too cold the grease is not effective at lubricating the bearings and the hub tends to spin freely and not catch when you pedal. Is this not correct? If not then please correct me and explain what does happen. At what temps. does this happen or has happened to you? I understand there are lot of variable. Things like actual tempp. wind speed, wind chill, area of the country, humidity, etc. I just need to know at what temps. has this happened? Also is there a grease or method that would work and prevent this? Would this grease work in warmer weather as well?

Some persons use regular petroleum based grease in cranks. This topic arrises on a regular basis here. An idividual who chooses to use standard grease for cranks & brgs. most often realizes that such lubes suffice, they do.. most of the time. The abilty of the grease to protect & lubricate is more than adequate. If it's good enough for a taxi cab, it'll suffice for a bicycle. I use it, it's cheap. I also use Pedro's and other more bike specific branks on account o' their being synthetic for my more "precious" bikes. Cold is not a problem for me though.

Your circumstances are extraordinary; a synthetic grease is in order. Amsoil and other Co.s are used by farmers who need it for trailers, conveyors..etc..

Synthetic lubes are not so aptly named; in addition to being vegatable based, they often have some amout of teflon so essentially, these Syn. lubes are more organic than they are anything else. Ester based lubes = veg. based.

www.pedros.com (http://www.pedros.com)

I use regular lithium auto grease on headset/hub/cranks and my cheap winter beater (freewheel) made it through Minnesota winter without a single problem. Windchill got down to about -45F one night.

FWIW, I've had no problems with this on three different wheelsets in three winters of daily commuting. All with whatever the factory lube was in each wheel. Two are Trek wheels with Bontrager hubs and the other was whatever came on my old Giant comfort hybrid.

Then again, the coldest it's gotten these past three years is near zero F.

my theory on the rear hub is that if you keep pedaling you have nothing to worry about!

I don't have a problem with thick grease until it gets about -10 deg. F.
And my limit to riding to work is in the single digits.

I've ridden down to -40C/F in Winnipeg without grease/bearings/hub problems. The wind might be blowing at those temps, but the humidity level is usually quite low.

It happens to me at about minus 5 degrees Fahrenheit. The pawls inside the freehub on my bike don't catch, or don't catch reliably. Hence the freehub just spins and spins and I can't pedal.

So far, I've been able to make due by pounding the wheel on the ground to loosen the pawls and spinning the cranks fast to generate a bit of friction heat. Then they catch and I can proceed, but the same thing can just happen again at the next stoplight. What I need to do is overhaul the freehub with a low temperature grease. I just haven't gotten around to it yet. Fortunately we only hit minus 5 F here once or twice a winter.

It happens to me at about minus 5 degrees Fahrenheit. The pawls inside the freehub on my bike don't catch, or don't catch reliably. Hence the freehub just spins and spins and I can't pedal.

So far, I've been able to make due by pounding the wheel on the ground to loosen the pawls and spinning the cranks fast to generate a bit of friction heat. Then they catch and I can proceed, but the same thing can just happen again at the next stoplight. What I need to do is overhaul the freehub with a low temperature grease. I just haven't gotten around to it yet. Fortunately we only hit minus 5 F here once or twice a winter.

Yes , this has happened to me with one freehub at somewhat less extreme temperatures, about -15C. It was made worse by the fact the bike had been outside all night. The grease becomes too thick and holds the freehub pawls out of engagement. What temperature this happens at varies from hub to hub. You can stop it by replacing the grease with an oil or light, low temperature grease. it is a little tricky to service freehubs, Morningstar makes a tool that makes it a bit easier.

I've had freezing problems at about -10C, or 14F with my shimano freehub(deore)... The related problem is that you can ruin your freehub pawls if they don't engage properly. Chip a tooth off and it floats around in the grease causing more trouble. If you're leaving your bike outside in -10C i'd recommend having a shop prepare it for you or ordering stuff from morningstar.

Has anybody found a good way to prepare a freehub without the fancy grease and flushing tool?

Oh yeah, here is a tip.. if you're way out there and she freezes up, urinate onto the cassette to warm up the freehub a little bit!

Middle-aged freehubs work best for me... old enough that most of the grease is gone, but not too worn yet. Maybe around 3,000 mi for MTB hubs, 6,000 mi for road hubs.

Otherwise I start to have issues around -20C.

The coldest I will likely be ridding in is 25 degrees F. Colder then that or when the snow and ice start coming I am done riding and hang the bike up until next year.

The coldest I will likely be ridding in is 25 degrees F. Colder then that or when the snow and ice start coming I am done riding and hang the bike up until next year.

You shouldn't have any trouble with the bicycle in temps that warm .... but you know you can ride when it gets colder. You don't have to hang the bicycle up.

Never had any problems with the hub bearings or freewheels in temperatures down to -40 (windchill doesn't matter for mechanical systems, so these are real temperatures). And any issues with particularly thick grease are easily remedied by adding a bit of oil to thin it out.

By the time freehubs were available I had relocated to more hospitable climates. Not because of any consideration for the bicycle's mechanical parts, but because the bike motor's specifications had been established for sub-tropical Africa a few million years ago and preferred temperatures that stayed positive.

You shouldn't have any trouble with the bicycle in temps that warm .... but you know you can ride when it gets colder. You don't have to hang the bicycle up.

What do you do to keep your head and face warm while wearing a helmet? Do you wear glasses, prescription or otherwise? If you do what do you do to keep them from fogging over? I have gotten some pretty good suggestions when I have asked this before. Just wondering what your solution is.

I can not ride in snow and ice. I ride a recumbent, they are sometimes squirrly on dry pavement they are a lot worse on a slippery surface.

I have heard the rear hub and bearings can be affected by cold weather. I think when it gets too cold the grease is not effective at lubricating the bearings and the hub tends to spin freely and not catch when you pedal. Is this not correct? If not then please correct me and explain what does happen. At what temps. does this happen or has happened to you? I understand there are lot of variable. Things like actual tempp. wind speed, wind chill, area of the country, humidity, etc. I just need to know at what temps. has this happened? Also is there a grease or method that would work and prevent this? Would this grease work in warmer weather as well?

I sense an analogy here with questions, in the past, on sailing on far-away seas and expectations of sea-serpents and other dragons. The paradox is that, in part at least, the question pertains to stepping outside.

In any case, a while ago there had been a report on the web of someone winterizing a bicycle for riding on the South Pole. I recall that the grease has been there a real problem and I recall that the solution was to use Dow Corning Molykote 33, that works down to -77C. Unfortunately, recently I could not locate that particular report anymore. However, there is some discussion of winterizing freehubs with Lubriplate Mag-1 at Ice-Bike (http://www.icebike.org/Equipment/freehub.htm). Myself, I've been riding down to -30C and, as others, I have not had any grease related problems, no matter what grease I employed.

:Oh yeah, here is a tip.. if you're way out there and she freezes up, urinate onto the cassette to warm up the freehub a little bit!

:eek: Great tip! But I'd be worried that it would freeze up all the worse in a few more minutes and then I'd be out of "de-icing" fluid.

What do you do to keep your head and face warm while wearing a helmet? Do you wear glasses, prescription or otherwise? If you do what do you do to keep them from fogging over? I have gotten some pretty good suggestions when I have asked this before. Just wondering what your solution is.

I can not ride in snow and ice. I ride a recumbent, they are sometimes squirrly on dry pavement they are a lot worse on a slippery surface.

See Post #8 ... photos included:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=587369

I just keep the neck gaiter down below my nose to prevent my glasses from fogging up.

And when it gets really cold, I add a balaclava underneath.

I can not ride in snow and ice. I ride a recumbent, they are sometimes squirrly on dry pavement they are a lot worse on a slippery surface.

I've ridden thousands of [units of choice] in midwinter with a recumbent. Granted, they tend to get into trouble more easily than an upright selected with winter riding in mind, but it's by no means impossible. By the time you sink into snow halfway to your hubs, you are no longer going anywhere on a bicycle. So if you use smaller wheels, you'll stop moving earlier.

These days I own a Pugsley, so it's a rare winter day I'm taking a recumbent out...

What do you do to keep your head and face warm while wearing a helmet? Do you wear glasses, prescription or otherwise? If you do what do you do to keep them from fogging over? I have gotten some pretty good suggestions when I have asked this before. Just wondering what your solution is.

Sounds like further sea-serpent questions. Searching over the forums, as mentioned, can bring plenty of materials including many sea-serpent answers. Let us see how exotic the practice could be. Somewhere around -5 to -10C, I might put a scarf and more recently I started using a neck gaitor, like Machka. When I rode without a helmet, I would put a hat around -20C. With a helmet, I never felt the need for any extra protection for the head against cold. In fact, I bought a motorcycle helmet liner once, but the cold never justified its use. However, around winter, I started wearing a ski helmet, rather than a cycle helmet, because it sits better and generally feels of better quality than a cycling helmet. Thus, when I need no ventilation, I prefer to wear the ski helmet.

See Post #8 ... photos included:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=587369

I just keep the neck gaiter down below my nose to prevent my glasses from fogging up.

And when it gets really cold, I add a balaclava underneath.


What about the areas of exposed skin? Or are you able to tolerate it pretty well? I have a solution that works for a another forum member that I will keep in reserve. Not too crazy about the idea of using safety glasses over my eye glasses and the way I'd have to attach everything together. I am going to try a 3-hole "ski mask" over my Under Armour hood. Between the 2 my had and face ought to stay warm enough and most of the bare skin will be covered to prevent frost bite, etc.

Have to scratch my head here. The temperatures in most of the Australia barely ever go down below 0C, maybe sometime during the night in July. The southmost tip of the mainland Australia contains Wilson Promontory with pristine forest full of ferns and otherwise of the type where dinosaurs thrived. Quite a way to learn about frostbites...

:eek: Great tip! But I'd be worried that it would freeze up all the worse in a few more minutes and then I'd be out of "de-icing" fluid.

Ok, well if it freezes up again and you're fresh outta de-icing fluid, you can take some zip ties and use a few to bind the tallest rear cog right to the wheel spokes...

Instant fixed gear bicycle. :thumb: Just don't try to braking with the pedals!

What about the areas of exposed skin? Or are you able to tolerate it pretty well? I have a solution that works for a another forum member that I will keep in reserve. Not too crazy about the idea of using safety glasses over my eye glasses and the way I'd have to attach everything together. I am going to try a 3-hole "ski mask" over my Under Armour hood. Between the 2 my had and face ought to stay warm enough and most of the bare skin will be covered to prevent frost bite, etc.

I will ride with my skin exposed all the way down to -40C/F, although I will say I've only ridden for about 30 minutes at a time at those temps on a commute. But here ... read my story of my coldest century ... a 100 mile ride in late February 2003: http://www.machka.net/brevet/Coldest_Century.htm




Have to scratch my head here. The temperatures in most of the Australia barely ever go down below 0C, maybe sometime during the night in July. The southmost tip of the mainland Australia contains Wilson Promontory with pristine forest full of ferns and otherwise of the type where dinosaurs thrived. Quite a way to learn about frostbites...

I've only been living in Australia since June 2009 ... 4 months. Prior to that I spent 42 years living in the Canadian Prairies. I spent 11 of those years living in the far north of Alberta where I experienced temps down to -50C, and I spent 13 of those years living in Winnipeg where the -40C/F is combined with a wind to drop the windchills down to as low as about -60C. And the remainder of those years have been in various other ever-so-slightly warmer areas of the prairies ... like Central Alberta and Regina. Quite a way to learn about frostbites ...



BTW, we took this photo from partway up a mountain about 10 km from where I currently live in Victoria, about 10 days ago. Australia in late September!!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3542/3957675975_744e8ec893.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14302884@N04/3957675975/in/set-72157621677201030/

The coldest I will likely be ridding in is 25 degrees F. Colder then that or when the snow and ice start coming I am done riding and hang the bike up until next year.

That will be no problem at all. I've found that at -25c grease hardens and it take about 5 or 10 minutes of riding until it warms up enough for trouble free riding.

I've only been living in Australia since June 2009 ... 4 months. Prior to that I spent 42 years living in the Canadian Prairies. I spent 11 of those years living in the far north of Alberta where I experienced temps down to -50C, and I spent 13 of those years living in Winnipeg where the -40C/F is combined with a wind to drop the windchills down to as low as about -60C. And the remainder of those years have been in various other ever-so-slightly warmer areas of the prairies ... like Central Alberta and Regina. Quite a way to learn about frostbites ...


Sounds like exceptional experience! I don't think I have ever stayed for extended times below -40C anywhere. Incidentally, those lowest temps in daily life stem also for me from Alberta.



BTW, we took this photo from partway up a mountain about 10 km from where I currently live in Victoria, about 10 days ago. Australia in late September!!

Still pretty much an exception, whether across locations in Australia or time. I've done some pretty good skiing in Europe in August, but, after all, it is beyond the point.

when its below 40 degrees farenheit my road bike is as stiff as a board. i never had problems with any of my mountain bikes.

i use park tool polylube 1000 in my hubs and everything but the free wheel

Still pretty much an exception, whether across locations in Australia or time. I've done some pretty good skiing in Europe in August, but, after all, it is beyond the point.

I live in the Victorian Alps, and there is a very active skiing community here from sometime in late June, usually until sometime in early September ... although when I was here in 2004, there were still people skiing in early October, and I suspect they're doing it this year as well because it has been a long and quite chilly winter here with lots of precipitation. It snowed above the 800 metre level here again on Wednesday.

Tasmania is also experiencing the same sort of conditions. We visited Cradle Mountain in early September and there was snow everywhere.

There is a misconception that Australia is all hot and dry. I'm sure some of it must be ... but I've been here three times now, a total of 7 months, and for the most part it has been cool and wet.

I've been aware of the skiing in Australia and Tasmania. However, since the terrains, where it is possible, are apparently mostly limited to the elevations above 1200-1500m, they have to be naturally scarce. After all, in Europe you can find those terrains where you can ski in midsummer, but they are in no way representative.

My own impression of Victoria has been from the Australian winter and of a very arid environment. In fact, I have been impressed by the extent to which human life can be sustained there, seeing how much the vegetation was limited to the immediate vicinity of the shore and sparse otherwise. Regarding temperatures, it has been chilly during the night. In the morning, you might occasionally insist that the ground was frozen, but that was about it. However, I have not been to the mountains there. Neither I have been to those extensive forests that became known outside of Australia through this infamous case.

I've been aware of the skiing in Australia and Tasmania. However, since the terrains, where it is possible, are apparently mostly limited to the elevations above 1200-1500m, they have to be naturally scarce. After all, in Europe you can find those terrains where you can ski in midsummer, but they are in no way representative.

My own impression of Victoria has been from the Australian winter and of a very arid environment. In fact, I have been impressed by the extent to which human life can be sustained there, seeing how much the vegetation was limited to the immediate vicinity of the shore and sparse otherwise. Regarding temperatures, it has been chilly during the night. In the morning, you might occasionally insist that the ground was frozen, but that was about it. However, I have not been to the mountains there. Neither I have been to those extensive forests that became known outside of Australia through this infamous case.

Where in Victoria were/are you?

I'm toward the bottom of the Great Dividing Range, and it is quite an extensive range that runs right up into Queensland. There is skiing from where I am, just NE of Melbourne, all the way up into NSW. And they call a whole section of it the "Snowy Mountains". The snowy/ski area of mainland Australia is probably about 300 km x 300 km in size and includes numerous ski-able mountains ... there are three such mountains right in my area.

That whole area, plus some of the area around, have experienced a very wet, chilly winter this year. Since I arrived here in the middle of June, we have had a small handful of days where it has not rained. The overnight lows get down near freezing and the daytime highs have been about 10C, although they are gradually starting to warm up some days. This means that the incessant rain comes down as snow at the higher elevations (above 800 metres usually), and occasionally sleet in the valley where I am. Even though the rain is welcome here, everyone is starting to get a bit weary of it.

The more arid areas of Victoria are generally either pasture land for cattle and sheep or cereal crop land, much like Saskatchewan.

I suspect that much of what you call the "extensive forests" are gone now ... the area where we live was destroyed by the bushfire this past February. The pastures in the valley here look green, lush, and lovely now, but what trees remain are black. Earlier you mentioned Wilson Promontory with pristine forest full of ferns and otherwise ... it's not so much like that anymore.

Australia is a huge country full of lots of different climates and weather patterns.

Where in Victoria were/are you?

My base was in Geelong, west of Melbourne, and the primary purpose was visiting family, incidentally another branch of the same I have in Alberta. However, I could not sit still for long on my fingers and I started to drift in various directions in a rental car.



I'm toward the bottom of the Great Dividing Range, and it is quite an extensive range that runs right up into Queensland. There is skiing from where I am, just NE of Melbourne, all the way up into NSW. And they call a whole section of it the "Snowy Mountains". The snowy/ski area of mainland Australia is probably about 300 km x 300 km in size and includes numerous ski-able mountains ... there are three such mountains right in my area.


Did you choose that area as reminding you Canada or did you end up there by accident? Does the snow tend to be wet or mushy or does it get drier? I lived for a while in California and the skiing was there but mostly wet, OK but not as enjoyable as somewhere else. Regarding other places where there is a principal skiing, you can ski e.g. on Mt. Etna, but then not every year. The snow you may get may be old and compacted, harsh on the skin if you fall.



That whole area, plus some of the area around, have experienced a very wet, chilly winter this year. Since I arrived here in the middle of June, we have had a small handful of days where it has not rained. The overnight lows get down near freezing and the daytime highs have been about 10C, although they are gradually starting to warm up some days. This means that the incessant rain comes down as snow at the higher elevations (above 800 metres usually), and occasionally sleet in the valley where I am. Even though the rain is welcome here, everyone is starting to get a bit weary of it.


I wonder how people got by through that recent time with regard to the heating. I came back with a serious cold from my winter stay in Australia. In general, I find it easiest to get sick, from low temperatures, in the areas that are primarily hot, where people skim on provisions for cold temperatures. Currently, when I go in winter to a place that is normally hot, I pack a sleeping bag, even if I am going to stay indoors.



The more arid areas of Victoria are generally either pasture land for cattle and sheep or cereal crop land, much like Saskatchewan.


Indeed, I drove through many of those. However, I also drove for kilometers in-between inhabited areas, surrounded by what meets the definition of a desert.



I suspect that much of what you call the "extensive forests" are gone now ... the area where we live was destroyed by the bushfire this past February. The pastures in the valley here look green, lush, and lovely now, but what trees remain are black.


I am very sorry. Of course, the news of the fires were everywhere, but from typical news it is often hard to deduce the practical extent of the damage. One would hope that the nature recovers, but historically that has not always the case, particularly with the vegetation giving way to desert.



Earlier you mentioned Wilson Promontory with pristine forest full of ferns and otherwise ... it's not so much like that anymore.


Are you sure? The Promontory seemed to be a bit isolated patch of forest and extremely humid. If it indeed got damaged that would have been a real shame on the part of actions of humanity, i.e. in terms of the climate shift. I recall claims that the Promontory survived as a continuous forest eco-system, with no reforestation, over the last 100 million years or so. That was apparently why it had such an abundance of primitive plants, with ferns of the tree type. I was unaware, before I got there, that such a place existed on Earth.



Australia is a huge country full of lots of different climates and weather patterns.

Sure, but some are more predominant than other.

Prior to that I spent 42 years living in the Canadian Prairies. I spent 11 of those years living in the far north of Alberta where I experienced temps down to -50C, and I spent 13 of those years living in Winnipeg where the -40C/F is combined with a wind to drop the windchills down to as low as about -60C. And the remainder of those years have been in various other ever-so-slightly warmer areas of the prairies ... like Central Alberta and Regina. Quite a way to learn about frostbites ...


This is misleading, you have to be careful because -50C in Alberta isn't going to chill you as badly as the same number in Newfoundland,Toronto or Montreal. The main issue being the relative humidity differences.


"Feeling colder" is sensory perception that may or may not have any relation to measurable variables. In addition, it is important to specify "How cold is cold?"-- 30 F vs. 50 F or -30 F vs. +30 F. It makes a big difference. Moisture produced by the body permeates clothing from the inside out. If the relative humidity is high that moisture will condense in the fibers of the sweater, coat, parka, etc. This would compromise the insulating value of the covering, because liquid water certainly conducts heat better than vapor and insulating clothes depend upon "dead air spaces" to provide insulation." (http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/wea00/wea00133.htm)

Anyway, i'm betting it was "cold" but, I just wanted to point out that people should come up with their own acceptable temperature ranges given the conditions.

My base was in Geelong, west of Melbourne, and the primary purpose was visiting family, incidentally another branch of the same I have in Alberta. However, I could not sit still for long on my fingers and I started to drift in various directions in a rental car.

Geelong's not a bad area ... sort of the gateway to the Great Ocean Road and Grampians. I think it is warmer down that way because of the ocean, although when I rode the Great Southern Randonnee in 2004, we encountered some very chilly and wet weather ... the Roaring 40s brought it in. They've been known to have snow on that event, so I guess I was fortunate in that regard. :D



Did you choose that area as reminding you Canada or did you end up there by accident? Does the snow tend to be wet or mushy or does it get drier? I lived for a while in California and the skiing was there but mostly wet, OK but not as enjoyable as somewhere else. Regarding other places where there is a principal skiing, you can ski e.g. on Mt. Etna, but then not every year. The snow you may get may be old and compacted, harsh on the skin if you fall.

I wonder how people got by through that recent time with regard to the heating. I came back with a serious cold from my winter stay in Australia. In general, I find it easiest to get sick, from low temperatures, in the areas that are primarily hot, where people skim on provisions for cold temperatures. Currently, when I go in winter to a place that is normally hot, I pack a sleeping bag, even if I am going to stay indoors.

My husband, an Australian, works here as an orchardist ... so I came over to be with him.

The snow tends to be a bit mushy ... but it seems to come every year and seems to attract a lot of people out to ski etc.

Here's the website for one of the local mtns: http://www.mtbuller.com.au/Summer/
And another: http://www.lakemountainresort.com.au/

And we don't have heating in our place ... or power, or much in the way of running water ....
My husband's place was burned out, as was the power grid here, and we're in temporary accommodations. Our heat has come from a fireplace which keeps the temperature around 15C inside, for the past 4 months, so we have been lucky. There were some who spent the winter living in camping situations.




I am very sorry. Of course, the news of the fires were everywhere, but from typical news it is often hard to deduce the practical extent of the damage. One would hope that the nature recovers, but historically that has not always the case, particularly with the vegetation giving way to desert.

Are you sure? The Promontory seemed to be a bit isolated patch of forest and extremely humid. If it indeed got damaged that would have been a real shame on the part of actions of humanity, i.e. in terms of the climate shift. I recall claims that the Promontory survived as a continuous forest eco-system, with no reforestation, over the last 100 million years or so. That was apparently why it had such an abundance of primitive plants, with ferns of the tree type. I was unaware, before I got there, that such a place existed on Earth.

Much of this area won't recover, or at least not any time soon ... the heat of the fire was too intense. And yes, the Prom was burnt in the fires too. The greenies were partly to blame for the whole thing ... lobbying against controlled burns in this area, and all the way down into the Prom. They say this whole area had the greatest fuel load on the planet prior to that fire ... and it was the 5th worst fire in recorded history. Of course the +45C temps during the week prior to Black Saturday didn't help.

This shows a map of the fire affected area in Wilson's Prom: http://www.parkweb.vic.gov.au/1park_display.cfm?park=217

As for the practical extent of the fire ... 173 dead and 2000+ homeless, plus something like 145,000 hectares burnt.

This is misleading, you have to be careful because -50C in Alberta isn't going to chill you as badly as the same number in Newfoundland,Toronto or Montreal. The main issue being the relative humidity differences.



-50C is a very dry cold because any moisture in the air is frozen into ice fog. Not just ice fog at intersections, which places like Toronto, Winnipeg, etc. experience, but ice fog everywhere.

And yes, humidity plays a big role ... over the past 4 months I've been living in 0C to about 10C temps outside (and 15C inside), with relatively high humidity levels, and I've been an ice cube compared to being in some colder, but drier temps.


EDIT: But I will add this. There's a particular pain involved in exposing skin when temps get down around-30C and colder that I've never experienced in somewhat warmer temps no matter what the humidity level. If you've never experienced those temps, it's hard to describe. If you pull off a glove or mitt in order to make an adjustment to something, within minutes your exposed hand will be in almost unbelievable incredible agony. Imagine someone stabbing your hand with thousands of hot needles. That's probably close. I'm not sure why that happens ... probably something to do with the blood vessels.

If you are out in those sorts of temperatures, I would recommend getting a pair of mini-gloves and putting them on under heavier mitts. The double layer helps in general, and if you do have to adjust something, you can leave the mini-gloves on and they'll buy you a little bit of time before the agony sets in.



But as I explain in this thread: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=592087 ... you've got to get out and experience the temps in order to become climatized to them. Your bicycle will hold up in quite chilly temps ... you've just got to get your body used to whatever you'll experience.

Geelong's not a bad area ... sort of the gateway to the Great Ocean Road and Grampians. I think it is warmer down that way because of the ocean, although when I rode the Great Southern Randonnee in 2004, we encountered some very chilly and wet weather ... the Roaring 40s brought it in. They've been known to have snow on that event, so I guess I was fortunate in that regard. :D


Unfortunately, I had no chance to bike during my visit. My only bike-related activity ended up being an unsuccessful expedition to a bike store in Melbourne, that I failed to find under the address taken from the web.




My husband, an Australian, works here as an orchardist ... so I came over to be with him.


I wonder how the fire affected his work.



Here's the website for one of the local mtns: http://www.mtbuller.com.au/Summer/
And another: http://www.lakemountainresort.com.au/


The second one appears still closed down to visitors.



And we don't have heating in our place ... or power, or much in the way of running water ....
My husband's place was burned out, as was the power grid here, and we're in temporary accommodations. Our heat has come from a fireplace which keeps the temperature around 15C inside, for the past 4 months, so we have been lucky. There were some who spent the winter living in camping situations.


I am sorry. How do you connect to the internet then?




Much of this area won't recover, or at least not any time soon ... the heat of the fire was too intense. And yes, the Prom was burnt in the fires too. The greenies were partly to blame for the whole thing ... lobbying against controlled burns in this area, and all the way down into the Prom. They say this whole area had the greatest fuel load on the planet prior to that fire ... and it was the 5th worst fire in recorded history. Of course the +45C temps during the week prior to Black Saturday didn't help.


Indeed, a thoughtless clinging to ideology hurts fur animals and climate as well.



This shows a map of the fire affected area in Wilson's Prom: http://www.parkweb.vic.gov.au/1park_display.cfm?park=217


Wow, it says that 50% of the park has burnt out. This is awful.



As for the practical extent of the fire ... 173 dead and 2000+ homeless, plus something like 145,000 hectares burnt.

I am very sorry.

Unfortunately, I had no chance to bike during my visit. My only bike-related activity ended up being an unsuccessful expedition to a bike store in Melbourne, that I failed to find under the address taken from the web.

I wonder how the fire affected his work.

The second one appears still closed down to visitors.

I am sorry. How do you connect to the internet then?

Indeed, a thoughtless clinging to ideology hurts fur animals and climate as well.

Wow, it says that 50% of the park has burnt out. This is awful.

I am very sorry.

The bicycle shops in Melbourne do seem to move around a bit.

Lake Mountain was open for skiing ... the main chalet survived the fire but everything else there was burnt down. So they had limited facilities.

The orchard here mainly survived the fire because of the types of trees (imported rather than native) and because of irrigation. They did lose most of the buildings, a lot of the equipment, the irrigation system, the entire power grid, and some parts of the orchard. Rowan has been helping with the rebuilding process. Lots of work!

We have a 1 KW generator to give us limited power, and we're working on setting up solar. Although with all the rain, solar has been a bit of a pointless exercise so far. We can run our laptops and some lighting, but not much else. As for the internet itself, we're on wireless broadband. Although we're very remote, we're actually quite close to a mobile tower.

Some Australian photos ... including our place: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14302884@N04/collections/72157602419256784/

And thank you.

I have had this problem, I am attacking it this weekend with the IceBike strategy
http://www.icebike.org/Equipment/freehub.htm

We will see how it goes. I am pretty optimistic though, since this guy winterizes hubs for a living.