Modest personal record, please, no applause
 

I have been waiting for some time to set a personal temperature record, but, because of global warming, the opportunity has not presented itself. But today, I was able to ride to work at a temperature of -10 degrees (F) here in Minnesota (USA). Bicycle and clothing performed well.

years ago my friends and I always thought we were doing well to "ride the temperature" in the winter- anything less than 0F meant we got together at a pub and didn't ride. Now, like many in BF, I seek out those frigid days. Maybe I'll change it to anything below 0F ride the number of miles below zero- ie. -10F means 10 mile ride. anything above zero will have to be doubled.

You have set the bar. Congrats.

I would applaud ...

Good for you. :)

I chickened out. I find it very difficult to cover all exposed skin without fogging up my eyewear (always meant to get some double lensed ski goggles, but never did. I'm also a bit worried about bike performance. Maybe some judicious cleaning and lubing will help.

I got a ride in with my wife, will take the bus home later. We'll see how I do on Monday. I hate having wussed, especially since it is to myself that I wanted to prove the need to no longer make any excuses. :(


And on a 90F day?

Cheers to you!

Ambient temps haven't dropped below -1F here in my neck of the woods, but that wasn't an impossible trip. -10F might call for one more layer on the ol' leggies though! That's getting chilly.

that's really cold! i don't have the right gear for those kinds of temps. i've been pretty happy that i've been able to ride in the low 20's regularly. i think you owe yourself a little applause.

I would applaud if you'd have allowed!

I for one am applauding. Congratualtions, it's damn cold today! It takes some serious balls (not to mention clothing) to ride in this weather.

I'm jealous (sort of ;) I couldn't ride today due to family/children obligations, so my wife and I carpooled. Luckily we work near each other and at the same times.

See you out there next week!

oh oh :eek:

just checked the forecast and that cold front is due here next Tuesday!

The ocean will probably warm it up a notch or two but definitely in the zero range and well below with wind chill. I'm going to have to put my money where my mouth is- I hope it doesn't freeze shut!

applauding you with mittens on- that's why you can't hear it.

yeah, it's coming! supposed to bring with it a lot of wind as well.

Congratulations!!! Keep it up.

:beer: [it's not an applaud] :beer:

How about telling us how you achieved that?

Nice. I biked my coldest commute ever this week, 2F. It never gets colder than that.

I assume you mean the clothing. The motivation was partly due to the fact that the kid wanted to drive to school, partly due to my brother's comment once that he rode at 25 below, partly due to a new jacket I wanted to test, and mostly due to just wanting to see if I could do it.

Feet, inside out: Wool dress socks, cotton athletic socks, thick wool socks like for inside snow boots, waterproof insulated hiking boots from Payless Shoesource. My toes were getting just a bit cold at the end (6.3 miles). I might have stuffed in just a bit too much sock material for proper air space.

Legs, inside out: Cotton work pants (like Dockers, but not "Dockers"), heavy army surplus wool paratrooper pants with plastic wind shields sewn into the thighs. Legs were perfectly comfortable. (For those of you in Minneapolis, my pants were a gift many years ago, but I believe I saw some at some time in 2006 at American Surplus downtown on First Avenue North and Fourth Street.)

Torso, inside out: White cotton Tshirt, cotton button shirt (what I wear to work), heavy wool army surplus sweater, custom-made biking jacket of lime-green wind-blocking fleece. My brother made it for me for Christmas--one of a kind. The upper body felt just a bit cool until the end of the ride, with just a hint of perspiration. It reminded my of wearing a plastic bag for a glove--no wind gets in but it's cold anyway. However, I was not cool as in uncomfortable, and by the end of the 6.3 miles I wasn't cool at all. I think that I should replace that white Tshirt with some long-sleeve wicking underwear like skiers use. I think that would eliminate the feeling of perspiration and also add just a bit of warmth.

Head: A tube of fabric around the neck to seal up the neck of the jacket. A balaclava over the head. Ski goggles. Over the mouth and nose, a mask that covers the lower part of the face and fastens in back with velcro. I don't like the thing because it keeps slipping out of place, but it does cover the exposed skin. Finally, just in case, I put into the helmet a small rectangle of fleece just to slow heat loss through the top of the head. The head was generally fine, but there was just a tiny line of coldness somewhere near the top of the goggles, probably because there is a venting slit at the top, or possibly because the top edge of the goggles did not exactly meet the face opening of the balaclava. Nothing serious.

Hands, inside out: Hand-knitted wool mittens from my late aunt, hand-made fleece mitten liners, another hand-made liner of wind-blocking fleece, leather shells. Hands were fine except for the tips of the thumbs. I usually have to pull the thumbs in with the fingers a couple times on the trip to warm them up. I also stopped at the two-mile mark, at a grocery store, to straighten out the face mask, so the hands probably warmed up a bit there.

Last week we had a day of two degrees above, and I wore this outfit. I was nearly perfectly tuned; I lost heat as fast as I generated it and was neither hot nor cold, but just right.

Cheers - maybe I'll see you out on the road tonight. I was feeling pretty lonely on my ride in this morning.

What I find most frustrating about the extreme cold (besides how flipping long it takes to get dressed for it) is how slow it makes me. My heartrate was up around 170 just going 13mph, and it felt like my rear brake was rubbing, but of course it wasn't.

You're a better man than me. I'm currently waiting for my son to pick me up from work. Ho Hum.

Wow. :beer:

I suppose when it's 20 degrees outside you will consider it a heat wave. :rolleyes:

Good for you. :beer:

+1 I'll raise my spam guard and say...When it's super cold like that I've had great results with that tightly woven shirts/pants...terrible results with the knit cotton (like polos and undershirts). There I said it!

I think my personal record is about 45 degrees, because that's about how cold it gets here. Personally, not being a masochist, I'm perfectly comfortable wit the fact that I've never ridden my bike in sub-freezing weather.

Nicely done!

I'll just give you a golf clap then

Nice work swwhite, I don't live far from you and had the pleasure of experiencing the same temperature for my commute yesterday. I thought about wussing out but then I was reminded that a couple guys at work had bet that I wouldn't ride on Friday as they knew how cold it was going to be. Additionally, it was about -5 on Thursday, so near -10 didn't seem too much worse.

Well it wasn't a fast commute, and it sure wasn't the most enjoyable (~15 mph headwinds both ways), but when I arrived at work I was thrilled that I got there under my own power. Anyway, as a fellow Minnesota commuter, my hat is off to you. :)

Glad you won the bet. They were probably temporarily disappointed. Don't worry, those [usually overweight] jack *sses be watching the weather for the next 'entertaining' event.

Actually, two of them bet each other...So at least someone thought I would do it (besides myself). I'm not sure who was on which side, but I'm happy (?) to be a topic of discussion around the office.