Well this is quite death and destructiony
Originally Posted by
Miele Man
The biggest boogaboo in winter riding is dressing TOO WARMLY before heading out. Old military Arctic Warfare Training adage = "SWEATING KILLS!" Avoid sweating, wear layers and breathable jacket or windshell that can be EASILY unzipped with your gloved or mittened hands. You do not want to bare your hands if you don't have to especially with gloves as it takes a long time for the fingers to warm up again. I wear wool inner and a windproof shell on my hands. i also drss my lower bodfy in layers with a wind pants over everything when it's really cold.
While it's true that sweating in the winter is not optimal, the more common outcome with too many clothes in the winter is going to mean that you're going to be rather wet at your destination. "Sweating kills" is only really relevant when you absolutely have no chance of getting to shelter and/or warmth for anytime soon. So we're talking about a long range scout or whatever. Staying within civilization or even within miles of civilization is fine for testing out gear.
Layering up and using a shell is the optimal choice, but what we do for basic everyday riding is we use ordinary clothes underneath (jeans, button down shirt, merino sweater etc) and downhill skiing clothes on the top (jacket, pants). Then you'll always be presentable since you can just take off the padded warm top layer. Then you'll just have to fit your speed to your sweating.
About that bare hand thing. When mountain biking I'm frequently forced to take off all gloves especially when climbing long uphills since gloves just get too hot. I usually have double layer gloves with a thin base layer and a shell glove but sometimes I need to take off even the base layer. When you're that hot it really doesn't take long for the hands to warm up again. The coldest I've taken my gloves off was -20F I think.
Your area low temperature plus windchill PLUS RIDING SPEED INTO THE WIND can lead to very dangerous windchill temperatures wherein frostbite can occur in mere minutes or LESS. If you do ride in such extremes then every bit of exposed skin should be covered. I use a blaclava and a face mask.
Weeelll.... Yeah. depending at what temps. I'd say covering your whole face and even nose comes relevant for me at maybe -40 or colder. Today was -15F and I had my mouth and nose out the whole 2.5 hour ride. And it was a road ride so the windchill was there.
Depending on what area of the skin we're talking about and how accustomed you are one can manage with exposed skin. Ears are usually very sensitive, but cheeks and nose are quite individual. But it's pretty easy to know when skin is getting too cold as it hurts before it does.
Sunglasses or TINTED goggles with UVA and UVB protection are a good idea on sunny days but also on cloudy or overcast days. This is really important if you ride when there is little contrast. That's when you can get snowblindness which is VERY painful.
Snowblindness is actually a sunburn inside the eye. In low contrast but bright conditions like an overcast day with snow the iris in the pupil EXPANDS to let in more light in an effort to make out details. What's actually needed is less light. If you ever get caught out in such conditions without sunglasses or tinted goggles a piece of cardboard with a slit in it can be used to prevent snowblindness.
These are good ideas. I mentioned in the other topic that I don't use goggles, but I converted and bought 100% enduro goggles which are clear but still have 100% UV protection.
If you are out riding and yoy start to get too cold if you can find any kind of newspaper you can put sheets of it under a layer of clothing where the cold part of your body is -,except your hands.
or just go and get a coffee or something. And then ride home and think about new clothing options.
If you ever start shivering pay VERY close attention to it. When you stop shivering make ABSOLUTELY SURE it's because you have warmed up. Getting cold, not warming andf then stopping shivering is a WARNING SIGN THAT YOU'RE SLIPPING INTO SEVERE HYPOTHERMIA and it can kill you very quickly after that.
I mean, yeah... This is technically true but very unlikely to happen on a normal bike ride if you're not severely under prepared, as in wet t-shirt in the freezing temps or whatever. I've never heard of anyone getting that cold when exercising and the situation hasn't been a medical emergency of some other kind beforehand.
I keep a saddle bag on my bicycle in winter with an extra layer of clothing in it that is large enough to go whatever I'm wearing. Even the extra socks are WAY oversize so than go on OVER my shoes. Two plastic bags are carried for emergency shoe covers to keep those extra socks dry on the shoes as well as to block the wind. You can carry another 2 bags to go over your hands but remember they can be a bit slippery on the brake levers.
I usually just carry a pair of extra thick old german mittens (too warm for even -40, they're ridiculously warm) to warm up my hands if things get bad. Fingers can go bad quick, as can toes so those are the things I prepare for. I really need to get some heat packs I can fit into my shoes.
BTW, if you ever get caught in deep snow, if you let most of the air out of your MTB tires (pressure around 15psi) you'll get amazing grip in that snow.
The ONLY deep snow I have a hard time with is that sticky 'packing snow' that snowballs and snowmen get made from.
If only this worked, but sadly even 2.5" wide mtb tires cannot float on powder if it's deep enough. Actually, no, they can't float, but they can spin in the snow if the snow is not deep enough. A fatbike would be nice so I could ride snowmobile routes but even deep power is apparently too loose for a fatbike.
You'll be better walking your bike rather than trying to ride it in too deep snow.
Cold is just cold. It's not rocket science. I've lived my whole life at or near the arctic circle so for me cold is just a very casual thing. The only times I actually really think about what to wear is when going for a longer road ride in the really cold weather, or when going for a multi hour XC ski trip, or when going for a multi hour MTB ride in the extremes.
So far I haven't faced a weather too cold for riding.