Jonathon94

Today has been one of our coldest days of the year here in my town. We have temperatures in the low 30's and decent enough winds. I had to go down the street to store earlier. The trip down there wasn't that bad (besides my fingers being so cold it hurt) but when I tried to head back up, hills that I could previously conquer without issues I was heavily breathing and having to take breaks. This really shocked me because while I am not super-fit, I am also not unfit. I am in Firefighting training and we do a lot of Physical Training every Tuesday and Thursday so running out air and actually having to take a break was a bit embarrassing to me.

So is this normal for everyone or just me? I keep hearing of people who do their morning commutes in the winter and I just don't understand how.

droy45

Well, its something you have to grow accustomed to. I have been doing this for over 35 years and in sub 0F temps and yes, it gets harder as the temps drop. It can be done, just pace yourself and don't over do it. You will get better at it as time goes on and the more experience you get. The air gets denser as it gets colder and your body has a harder time extracting oxygen from it and into your blood which makes you get winded somewhat faster.

Jonathon94

Would a mask in front of the face help with this?

pdlamb

Cold is one of those "Deal with it!" things. Accept that you'll slow down, and gear down (if you've got lower gears) to get up the hills. Proper clothing helps a lot, especially gloves. I'm the Imelda Marcos of cold-weather gloves; they all have a 10 degree (F) range), so you need a bunch to choose from, and then you have to choose wisely before heading out.

FenderTL5

So far the cold hasn't impeded me as much as precipitation. I haven't experienced extreme cold, yet anyway.
We've had several days in the mid 20s F.

Once I found the right combination of clothes the cold has been a non-issue - other than slowing the pace down a bit.
For me (so far) the real trick is simply keeping the wind off exposed skin. Above 30F even the $2 cotton garden gloves I picked up at the hardware store are sufficient for my hands. Below 30, or if there's precipitation, i'll use something more substantial.

locolobo13 

Me? Every year I go thru some adjustments. I think we are done, knock on wood, with our worst, 4 mornings in the mid 20s here. Wore gloves, beanie, hoodie & 4 layers. Actually was overdressed.

Still, I suffered dry skin problems. Backs of hands blotchie itchy and cracked, skin itchy in other places. Better now, lows in the 40s this morning. Lighter gloves, layers, etc.

As far as the mask goes.. When I was a motorcyclist, it did help. Nothing like feeling your teeth with your tongue the teeth felt cold or having the front of your face go numb.

I've never gotten the clothing just right. Every year there are days where I am both cold and sweating. My commute is just 5 mi or 20 min. I try my best and accept it.

droy45

I only wished I had some of your temps. I had -9F this morning and worse than that with the wind chill. LOL, I'm used to it so it wouldn't be fair to expose you to that extreme. 30's and 20's are my best riding times because of "no sweat" hooray!

droy45

Like you mentioned, in the low 30's, I think you will start to sweat with the mask. 30's and 20's are fairly easy to get used to. Try it a few more times then adjust as needed.

Steely Dan

having lived in the midwest for all 36 years of my life, cold is just something that i've become accustomed to over the years.

i think i also have a high natural blood circulation rate because i'm often very comfortable in setting when others complain of being chilly or cold.

having said all that, i do have my limits. i'm good down into the teens. lower than that, and the cold starts to bite uncomfortably, but i have nearly 15 miles to get to work in the morning, so distance definitely plays a role in the equation for me. super-cold for 1.5 miles is one thing, super-cold for 15 miles is quite another.



and the wind, my god don't get me started on the freaking wind.............. truly old man winter's most formidable weapon.

Jonathon94

lol low 30's is way too cold to most of us. I don't think I could live in a state that has colder air, I'd suffer. I still sweat a little bit but not too much. Another reason I was hoping for a mask is that the cold air in my throat doesn't feel good and breathing through my nose doesn't help out too much

MNBikeguy

I'm just guessing here, but it looks like breathing freezing air is a rare occurrence for you, which is causing problems acclimating. For this reason, an air warming mask may be of benefit.
For those of us used to colder temps, a mask would be stifling at 30 degrees.

Jonathon94

lol yeah freezing cold head winds are not fun.

droy45

Yeah, its because your not used to that temperature. I'm 53 years old and have lived in the cold all that time so its easier for me to commute in winter but I certainly understand your position. If you feel more comfortable with a mask, absolutely.

Jonathon94

lol yeah we usually have about three months max in which we have about below 35 degree weather. Everytime it hit's 60 degrees I think it's cold and then we hit these temperatures and it sucks.

xtrajack

[QUOTE=pdlamb;15170522]Cold is one of those "Deal with it!" things. Accept that you'll slow down, and gear down (if you've got lower gears) to get up the hills. Proper clothing helps a lot, especially gloves. I'm the Imelda Marcos of cold-weather gloves; they all have a 10 degree (F) range), so you need a bunch to choose from, and then you have to choose wisely before heading out.[/QUOTE]

I have like 8 or 9 pair of gloves.
I bring them all with me because the weather conditions can change quickly.

johnnyboy1

+1 to Proper clothing. 12F this morning, 1" snow overnight, but got 11 miles in for errand running.

Andy_K 

Your body adapts to the climate you live in. When I lived in western Maryland, it had to get down around 0°F before I thought it was really cold. Now, having lived in NW Oregon for 17 years, it starts to feel really cold at around 35°F. So when people who live in places with actual winter talk about how they handle cold temperatures, you need to adjust the scale a bit to translate it to what you might experience. That said, as others have mentioned, there are certain objective physical changes that slow you down in cold weather in addition to whatever physiological response your body has.

In the summer, my average speed gets up to the 17-18 mph range. Right now, in the middle of a relative cold spell (25-35°F) I've been having to work hard to reach a 15 mph average. Part of that is that for various reasons my fitness improves in the summer, but part is definitely the cold weather working against me.

tarwheel 

I like cold weather and much prefer riding in cold temperatures to hot, humid weather. Your problem might be acclimation or inadequate clothing. The more you are outside in the cold, the better your body adjusts to it. I spent a winter in Northern New Hampshire when I was in college, and people were going around in t-shirts and shorts when we had a thaw in late January and the temperatures hit the upper 30s after weeks of below-zero temps. Clothing also makes a huge difference, although it's often more of a problem if you wear too much gear rather than not enough. If you dress too warmly while cycling, you sweat more and that makes you colder.

That said, it also possible that you have asthma that is induced by cold weather and/or exercise. It can happen.

noglider 

I found it useful to pay careful attention to where, on my body, I'm cold. Then I can make clothing choices that make a difference.

I have a gigantic scarf, 14 feet long, yes, really. I wrap it around my face and neck several times, and I drape it over my chest. I can make it loose or tight, as needed.

I tried a face mask, but my breath went upwards and fogged my glasses, so that's no good for me.

My hands get cold more easily than anything else, and that has been my big limitation lately. I just bought a pair of gigantic, serious mittens. I hope they help. They're big on me, on purpose, so I can wear gloves under them.

I also have shoes that are too big, also on purpose, so I can put extra socks on, or they may have room for me to wear my neoprene socks.

fietsbob

It's the Influenza that knocks Me down. this years strain H3N2..


VA flu shot [like US Spending for War preparation] was for the last one, H1N1..

ItsJustMe

Low 30s? That's practically shorts weather.

I slow down but it doesn't make me significantly weaker. My commutes take an extra 5 to 10 minutes. I think it's the extra clothing to interfere with my movement and to catch the headwinds, plus the fact that headwinds are more consistent and stronger in the winter here.

TWOWheel2

+1 to the asthma comment and actually to your entire post. Last year I started commuting the second week of Jan and even though it was a mild winter last year I had issues with breathing in the cold. It was not as much a problem while ridding but when I would stop I would cough for 30min or more. This was due to my lungs not being used to the cold and I had a lot of mucus form so I would cough. It went away after a week or two of ridding in the cold. Just keep ridding and don't get discouraged by slower speeds or slight discomfort. You will learn something new every time you ride in the cold and adjust your clothing, riding style, etc based on the temperature, wind, and road conditions.

Keep it up!

shepherdsflock

Considering it is winter and it sounds like you're not accustomed to riding in winter, I'm going to guess you haven't rode your bike in a while. It's probably been sitting for a month or two. Maybe your tires were low from sitting in storage and you didn't top them off. That would certainly make the trip more strenuous. I don't find winter riding to be substantially more difficult than any other time of the year. The added mechanical resistance of hub grease being cold contributes a little bit, but for the most part it doesn't take much more energy to ride a bike when it's cold. I'm going to guess what you experience was low tire pressure combined with not being conditioned for cycling after being off the bike for a while. Stop doing something, even for a couple of weeks, and you'll notice that when you start back up it kicks your butt even though it was easy before you stopped.

RGNY

i was a three season cyclist until two years ago. i used to think that 45-50F was cold. now i regularly ride down to 0F.

again, the right gear. dress to avoid sweat. and realizing that it will only be "bad" for about the first 10min. winter riding really helps with the HTFU training.

biggest difficulty i've had is eyewear. i've had to give up glasses/goggles for a neoprene facemask. luckily, as mentioned above, the mask funneled warm exhalation to my eyes to keep my eyelashes from sticking together. tried all the anti-fog advice on BF and nothing works, so i go without.

erig007

You didn't try all the anti-fog advices on this forum because a few solutions make it physically impossible for the exhaled air to reach the eyes i gave one solution myself which is used in some arctic expeditions and saw a few more solutions on this forum which should reach the same results.
I gave a corrective solution which should be combined with the other solutions. Some goggles used by the military with a real integrated fan
https://www.smithoptics.ca/products/#...bo+Fan+Series/

The preventive solution i gave was to cut a flexible plastic sheet the size of your face. Cut holes for your eyes and put the sheet on your face directly under the goggles
In some arctic expeditions they sew the sheet directly to the bottom of the goggles (above the mouth).
In both case the exhaled air simply can't reach the eyes directly if done properly.

Another solution i saw on this forum was to use a mask respirator without filter and add tubes to move the exhaled breath away and warm the incoming air. (Not sure on this one)