You're not dressing warm enough.
30f + 10mph winds + 15mph bike == wind chill of 16F.

Your face might be red, but everything should be warm enough. You don't want hypothermia. The worst part is not the cold now, it's the years of sensitivity to cold to follow. I used to ride in the mornings without gloves and hands still hurt with the cold, even though that was decades ago.

What's the thermal everything you're wearing?

Hey, it's ok not to commute on some days. I elect not to commute when A. raining in AM, B. lightning is strongly forecast, C. Snow is falling, and D. snow is blocking lanes. Just try to commute at least 10 days a month and you'll be soo much stronger come spring.

I would give my left nut & part of the right one to have weather like that here! I love the hot weather

T.J.

I forgot to answer your basic question. How stay motivated:

1. cold/hot rides are an opportunity for me to fine tune my clothes package. I keep a record of comfort level at various temps and then create a cheat sheet of what to wear so I just look at my cheat sheet and grab what it says. Only problem with it is as get in better shape, I need to wear less.

2. feel better
-- lower pulse rate
-- more energy

3. save money
-- bike is 61.2% paid off. once paid off, then I can plan for new purchases.

4. save time
-- don't track this, thanks for the suggestion. I really should. It's about 5 hours a month that I save.

5. finally, drum roll, wife rewards the better conditioning.

Hmm. I don't want your left nut, and most especially don't want part of your right one. And this will qualify me for a chair at the College for the Bleedin' Obvious, but ... you should move!

[edit: Or learn to think like this guy, Fridtjof Nansen ]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi.../1c/Nansen.jpg

Thermal everything for me is;

Head
I have a Pearl Izumi lycra beanie that keeps my head fairly warm but most importantly, the ears close to my head and warm. My head isn;t cold but my face was frozen in a grimace for about an hour today

Upper body
I wear a wicking layer usually a coolmax tee but my favorite is a Nike ACG wicking turtle neck
I wear a cotton ski turtle neck on cool days but add a fleece pullover or a sweater on cold mornings
I wear a wind shell over top.
I've been wearing leather winter gloves as I only have fingerless cycling gloves.
My ski gloves are warm but too bulky to “feel” the levers.

Lower body
I wear riding shorts/bibs under a pair of sweat pants. Sometime I will wear a rain shell if it is really cold out to keep the wind from blowing right through.
I wear DeFeet Genius wool cycling socks when it is cold. I do not have booties for my feet and that is why I couldn’t feel my toes when I got in today. Do they make a big difference?

What changes to my clothing would you recommend?

T.J.

Umm... I meant my quick release skewer and the little nut on the right side! :D

T.J.

How do you stay motivated? Easy....

Bragging Rights. :D

;)

I don't. Between long days at work and early darkness... I don't commute. Part of my ride includes a chunk of freeway... and I am NOT going to do that in the dark. Period.

So I throw my bike in the car and ride at lunch.

Sad yes, but the high speeds on these roads just do not allow for a good mix of bike and car, in the dark.

I also have a consecutive bike-to-work-day streak -- currently over 500 -- that I'm trying to maintain. Basically, it's the same motivational tricks as AA.[/QUOTE]

500 :eek: That's awesome.. congrats

obviously I'm new at this.... :)

THis is the best time of year to commute here. I don't mind the darkness it's the heat that kills me.

T.J. This is based on my keeping a log last year and seeing what worked and what didn't work. You'll have to adjust for your age and comfort level. Again there is really no substitute for creating your own personal bikewear worksheet.

The way I did it was track 40 rides:
-- date
-- wind gusts, bike speed, temps which were converted to wind chill numbers
Experience:
Hands at start of ride felt cold/ok/hot
Hands at end of ride felt cold/ok/hot
body at start of ride felt cold/ok/hot
body at end of ride felt cold/ok/hot

It'll only get to windchill 20F here. For 20F and my old body, that means:
1. windbreaker
2. black diamond ice climbing gloves with inserts
3. fleece
4. bavaclava
5. goretek slip on pants over jeans

Assuming you are somewhat similar you need, in purchasing priority:
1. better gloves
2. better head covering
3. windproof pants
4. shoe covers or booties


At the very least you need gloves and head covering. If still not warm enough, add the others.

Here are some references for you:

-gloves
http://www.altrec.com/shop/detail/21675/17/
http://www.backcountry.com/store/BLD...ift-Glove.html
REI has mine, but probably can get better price
http://www.rei.com/product/47928400.htm

- head, fleece balaclava
http://www.rei.com/online/store/Prod...ry_rn=40003705

- windproof pants, probably goretex. Landsend makes some great one.
http://www.rei.com/online/store/Prod...ory_rn=4500843


-- for hard winter you'll also need shoe covers or bootines
http://www.rei.com/product/47562750....HP_CYCLING_TOC

dunno, i haven't biked through the winter yet. but if i do when the time comes i suspect my motivation will be based on the same principle as my favourite coffee mug. "eat a live toad first thing in the morning; then nothing worse can happen to you all day."

One thing that crossed my mind was to keep a blog of your more interesting commutes. Might not get much readership but it can be a way to keep yourself motivated. You know, you're trudging through a heavy snowstorm, you can't see more than a few feet in front of you, you're freezing your butt off, and you still have 3 miles to go. Could make for interesting reading on days when you feel like it can't get any worse. Just go read your blog LOL.

Hey, thanks for taking the time to give me your insight. I'll put a log together this weekend. We don;t have REI here in Canada but MEC (mountain Equipment co-op) is pretty close. I definatly need new gloves.

Do shoe covers/booties keep your feet warm?

T.J.

Best riding weather of the year for Northern California. Plus, it's the start of Pie Season. Pumpkin, apple, pear, pecan....

Having a maritime climate helps, even when it got down to 18F last winter, it was only a week or so until we were back above freezing. For motivation I have a couple of cycling buddies at work, so we encourage each other. Pumpkin & Pecan pie! Yum, we may have a new motivator this year.

TJ;
I wear a full face balaclava under the helmet; you can cinch it up when it gets colder out. I bought mine at MArk's Work Wearhouse.

I wear a polyproylene turtleneck that I bought at MWW as well. Over top of that I wear a proper winter riding jacket that I got at CAmpione cycles - It is warm and really makes a difference. You have a Campione in CAlgary.

Good gloves that come up high enough to ensure no skin exposed between the sleeve and glove. X-Country ski gloves work well.

Neoprene full shoe covers are a must. If it really cold outside go to Wal-MArt and get some of those Hot-Shots that they sell for hunters and the like, you throw them in the top of your boot and you'll be trying to get your socks off before you get to work.

In winter I use a pair of Nike fleece lined warm up pants and if really cold or wet I will throw a pair of rain pants over top. Got my Nike's at Sport MArt.

That's all you'll need.

There are many motivational factors including time, money, health, fun, congestion, misanthropy before 9am and so on, but the biggest motivational is not cycliing.

About once every couple of months, for some reason or other I end up having to take the bus to work, including today. As you sit on that bus crawling along, even in a dedicated bus lane, cyclists whizz past. As the obese sweat machine tries to engulf me in their armpit I can't help but think, that should be me, I could be at work by now and it makes the blood boil. That painful memory of that feeling is what keeps me riding every day that I can.

the air is never fresher than it is now... u gotta be kiddin me...

anyway TJ sounds like you need a balaclava, ski gloves, and booties. that'll u do good.

the key to keeping comfortable is warming up those parts that get the coldest first.. i find my chest area is usually more than warm enough; it's the extremeties that need protection.

The "bragging rights" factor mentioned above is what will keep me going for yet another couple of weeks. But the other advices were great too.

I will not however bike in snow, somehow I can't picture myself staying upright for too long. So from somtime soon into march or if I'm unlucky april, I'll be stuck indoors.

I live in SF where we don't really have much of a winter, and I don't have a car.

What a funny name for your "male organs" :D

Now about the motivation, my commute is really short, so for me it only starts to get interresting with the ice and snow. Like this morning was the first "slippery" commute, it rained last evening and then we had frost during the night and light snowfall this morning. The interresting part is that I still have the slicks on. I didn't fall, but hit the stem with my knee once quite hard when preventing a fall.

Sounds like everyone is in agreement on the new clothes you need. I don't know about shoe covers. It only gets down to 20F here, and I haven't needed them. But I'm thinking of adding a pair this year. I'll see how cold it gets in Jan/Feb. Key is to keep the core warm else the body robs heat from the hands and feet to stay warm. Once you've had frostbite or a reduction in circulation in hands and feet you'll probably be more sensitive to cold there.

Long answer, oh well. Short answer- with other clothing additions, yes.

Hey, TJ you are not alone. I am also commuting in Calgary. I bought a pair of those lobster finger nanoo nanoo gloves at MEC I also bought a shirt and pants for winter. I have not worn the cycling tights yet but the shirt is almost too warm for the weather we have been having.

I just started commuting so I have been allowing myself one rest day per week, usually Thursdays. So I missed the rainy, snowy weather yesterday. I am sure I will run into some later. I plan to commute for as long as I can. I just moved to Calgary from Lloydminster. I have heard people here ride bikes all winter so I am kind of psyched to ride in the winter. Check out Icebike.com for more advice on winter riding.