-6 in Lincoln when I got to work this morning. Wasn't bad, I actually got a little sweaty. I did cheat and use chemical warmers on my hands; until they started burning my hands (they're the safe air activated kind too!).

It was unusual today though. Only 5mph winds. Wednesday was -20 wind shield with positive temperatures.

yeah, -7F in Columbus, Ohio right now...1am and thats a "feels like" -25F with windchill.
About to leave campus and roll home on my commuter only to come back in the a.m. with 3F

We have snow though, so it makes it all worth it. Finally got to put my knobbies on.

We're seeing the same 20-30 degrees below zero (that's Fahrenheit and actual temperature, windchill has been around or exceeding -40F for the past few nights) here in Eastern Iowa as our neighbors up north in Minneapolis.

Hasn't stopped me from riding, I just upgraded my cold weather gear a bit - picked up ski googles (these things ROCK, I am going to keep wearing them), a super warm/wind proof full hood, and a pair of microfleece glove liners. I've enjoyed riding in this weather - if only for the challenge and bragging rights - but I will be very pleased when this cold spell ends this weekend and we have "sub-tropical" temperatures of 30* next week.

How far do you ride? Those temperatures are amazing. One definition on a recent cold weather post is that a cold weather ride is one on which your water bottle freezes, which would account for both time (distance) and temperature.

Jim, I don't have to go too far... a little over 2.5 miles. I don't carry a water bottle during the winter, so I don't know if it would freeze. I imagine at that temp it would probably be partially frozen, but not entirely.

My wife put her foot down this morning and said I was not riding. I froze my kiester off in the car, but at -10 last night I was toasty. I'm not sure if the -18 this morning would have been a significant departure from that, but when the wife puts her foot down like that, I'm smart enough to know that its in my best interests to cave to her will.

My wife has gone running with me at -18 so she doesn't put her foot down over stuff like this. In fact she shows a remarkable lack of concern.

Hmmm...

It doesn't take much to freeze a water bottle shut. To freeze it solid would take a while.

The few strands of wet hair sticking out from under my cap froze last night before I managed to walk the 10 feet of sidewalk separating the door to the "Y" and the parking lot.

I carry a bottle of Poland Springs carbonated water and it froze solid on a 14 mile commute, about one hour and fifteen minutes, between my start at 8 degrees and my finish at -9. My exhaled breath frosted over on my balaclava and headphones; but I always defer to you riders in Minnesota (and upper New England, upstate New York, upper Midwest, Canada, Alaska...).

I rode this morning in Chicago, and other than some cold hands and feet, stayed pretty warm. My rear derailleur didn't want to shift at first, though. It was only -15F in the city.

Last night was worse, heading straight west into the 19mph wind with -6 temps. Sucked the energy right out of me! I had trouble mustering up enough strength to finish the last mile (of 6).

When a co-worker tells me about wind chill, I reply "Wind chill is for wimps." When I look at the temperatures in the morning, I choose my gear according to the temperature only, since I figure that just riding the bike will produce a wind chill, and that effect will be determined by wind direction and speed, so I just "go with the flow." In the summer, in the 80's and 90's, wind chill is our friend ;-)

wow, i don't know how you gals/guys handle weather like that... or how a city even runs under such conditions?

and i thought it was chilly here..

I note you post from capitol hill. In a PM to a Virginia resident about winter riding I wrote:

I find that remark by JeffS ambiguous. Does JeffS cringe because he hates wind chill, or because other cyclists are whining about it?

My guess is that most cyclists ought to be covering all skin and wearing wind-proof clothing. If this is the case, then the wind chill is irrelevant, since no skin is exposed to the wind.

It doesn't bother me, but I don't pay much attention to wind chill. To me, the wind is important because it may take me longer to get to my destination, meaning more time in the cold. The wind chill itself though is never anything that I pay attention to.

-6 degrees wasn't that bad, really, over my 6 mile route.

I wore insulated boot over regular socks, then long johns and work pants. Two stocking caps, plus another with the top cut open to wear around my neck like a balaclava. A couple sweatshirts under a mid-weight parka, and then a pair of good mitten-top half gloves with a chemical warmer in each. My biggest problem has always been that I sweat during the ride in, then wind up cold once I'm off the bike.

I think paying attention as the weather has gotten steadily colder has helped, as I've pretty well figured what I will need to wear depending on the temperature and the wind. I haven't driven to work since July, and I doubt I will ever have to because of weather.

i did my regular 5-mile commute on thursday, -12F, windchill -28F at 5:30am.
temps were about the same at 3pm for the ride home. i ended up ducttaping
"grabber" brand hand warmers and large leather welding gloves over the toes
of my boots. toes froze in the morning, were toasty in the afternoon. also,
my xenon strobes died after 10 minutes or so outside, but came back to life after
being inside for a while. led blinkies kept working. never had a derailler freeze up,
maybe its the wax-based chain lube i use. im looking forward to mondays relative
heatwave, supposed to be in the 20's, hafta dig up my sunscreen.

Interesting solution to cold feet. That (cold feet) is the limiting factor for my commutes. I bought some shoe covers but they didn't MTB shoes I bought to commute in. May try some vapor barrier socks (bread bags).

I haven't commuted since last Monday. I also got cold hands but I've been putting a gore tex shell mitten over my lobster gloves and carrying hand warmers. My personal record is 8 degrees but I'm looking to go for a new record this year!

;^)

I'm sitting here in the Berkshires at 9:16 am, and it's 24 whole degrees! It's almost enough to make me run around outside naked. The weather.com map shows a bunch of purple in the midwest, which I'm sure we'll be encountering in a day or two, but it's no biggie -- it's still January, all right, but we're probably through the worst of it. Probably. Did I just jinx us?

Do you guys notice any difference behavior from your bikes at these temps? Like stiffer rolling, other moving parts that don't pivot well, etc? Once it gets below a certain temperature, can you really tell a difference when it's any colder if properly dressed?

I have never noticed any difference, except that my shifting sometimes gets a little sluggish. Since I replaced my rear derailler cable a few weeks back, that hasn't really been a problem though. The one that was on there was the original junk from the factory, was pretty rusty and some strands were broken, and the housing was worn and had gotten a lot of water in it and frozen a lot. I replaced the cable and housing, using teflon coated cable. Shifts are smooth again.

The problems I have are with break pads wearing much more quickly, and the rest is probably more to do with road grime and salt. Salt water gets in the rear derailleur housing and causes the cable and housing to rust, preventing good shifts. Also hard to keep chains clean. It probably becomes more crucial to keep things lubed well (silicond spray is good, just have to use it more frequently). When the temp drops that low, my legs don't work as well either. Maybe it's just me, but it takes more effort than in the summer. I'm thinking about a mountain bike for wet and snow, the kind with the cable routed down the back instead of along the bottom.