jrickards

I found, last winter when riding in -10C (14F) or colder temps, even if the air temp was milder but the wind chill brought it to that or colder, my wedding tackle got extremely cold, red and sore, like we often suffer with toes and fingers (notice that I was not so bold as to call my wedding tackle an extremity, LOL). After some experimentation last year, I determined that if I wore a wind shell, the cold air was directed down the front of my body and trapped in my groin area and also directed up off my legs into my groin area. However, if I wore my old, long and oversized (I've lost weight in the last couple of years) snowboarding jacket which hangs down further in front of my groin area, I didn't suffer presumably because the wind was deflected away from there.

This year, I decided to try a different trick which is, when it is cold enough to worry about this, I am wearing tights over my shorts and I then put a 15x30cm (6x12in) piece of small bubble bubble-wrap lengthwise across my groin between my tights and shorts. It protects me so well that even yesterday (Oct 29) when it was -9C (16F) with a windchill of -17C (1F) (the wind chill was calculated assuming I'm travelling at 15kmh into the 10kmh wind despite the fact that there are numerous times when I'm travelling 25-40kmh), not only was I comfortable, I was actually very warm and quite sweaty across the front of my groin indicating that the heat my body is generating was not being dissipated by the cold air.

This experiment may be of use to others.

rumrunn6

interesting phrase. I knew a guy who had this complaint. I guess I didn't.

LexKing

I was not familiar with the phrase, but well done none the less. Adapt and overcome!

modernjess

Hey, a new euphemism for the day! Right on, Thank you.

It's a pretty common problem around here in the cold if you ask me and my riding friends. My solution is a Craft wind blocker brief. It helps a ton but, I like your method too there are may other DIY techniques out there. Im sure others will post theirs.

fietsbob

wind-block briefs have a center-panel of nylon dense woven in a jersey knit 'Y' front.

they've been sold for a long time..

the production is better when its cooler thats why it dangles.

alan s 

You didn't say whether you are male or female. As a male, can't see putting bubble wrap down there. I wear an extra pair of padded shorts, which provides sufficient protection.

Wilbur Bud

I bought cheap ski bibs for $20 and had the legs cut off and the elastic ankle seals moved up above the knee. More or less the same threshold of 15F before putting them on, otherwise it's too hot. Mid-leg sealing was important to me due to recumbent and legs/crotch forward.

jrickards

Male

I thought about that but I decided to try this first and I like it so I'll stick with it.

jrickards

Yeah, a recumbent rider would have the same issue, perhaps be more susceptible than I on a road or MT bike.

I thought about buying and wearing a pair of the longish style of MTB shorts over top as a wind blocker and then wear the shorts as intended in the summer but again, the bubble-wrap trick seemed to work.

erig007

I have tried the bubble wrap thing...it works but it's very noisy at least mine is.
Here are few more options:
-wool hat
-boxer made of garbage bag
-small towel
-some newspaper
-some cardboard
-small book, leaflet...
-hand warmer
-extra clothes
-jack strap
-carpet
-mouse pad
-electronic device that generate heat
-small bottle with hot liquid
-a piece of a big plastic bottle (coca cola, pepsi...)
-a piece of your child teddy bear that she/he love so much
-a piece of your last hunting trophy
-have you cut your hair recently?
-etc..

fietsbob

Electric Budgie warmer?

erig007

While i was googling for what it was since i have never heard of a budgie warmer before, i have found this:

portable heater
https://newlaunches.com/archives/sany...s_day_gift.php

provides around 5 hours of warming on a full charge

spivonious

Mine gets cold if it's under 25F or so, but then I just add long underwear to my outfit. My ride is only 30 minutes though...

RubeRad

haha! for those that don't know what a budgie is, it's a very small bird that was a pet fad I think in australia a while back. One of the (many!) nicknames for a speedo bathingsuit is a "budgie smuggler". (Not as funny as "plum smuggler" though. Or "banana hammock")

Good job OP for solving your problem. I've never had that problem myself, I guess I don't ride fast enough to get that much wind. It does get cold enough pre-dawn in San Diego that I sometimes get froze toes, and I'll sometimes ramp up to ski gloves, and wear a headband to keep ears warm, but I've never had an issue with the family jewels.

RubeRad

Another possibility similar to the electric budgie warmer, you can buy glove and sock warmers, little chemically-activated pads that give an hour or two of warmth and then die. They'll be in the ski or camping section of any sports store.

And my wife has a really cool reusable warmer; a plastic sac of liquid with an activator disk inside. Boil the sac and it stores the energy. Flex the activator disk and that kicks off whatever the chemical reaction is, you get warmth for an hour or so. We bought it quite a while ago, it was lost for at least a decade, and I found it a couple of months ago. Flexed the disk, and voila, heat! So that heat energy was sitting in there, stable, for all that time!

WonderMonkey

I think the issue is a lack of thermal mass. *I* do not have this issue.

* cough *

jrickards

Wow, it took 14 replies before someone suggested something like this!

Artkansas 

If my fingers would ascend into the relative warmth of my body, they wouldn't get cold either.