We are holed up in our travels on the Atlantic coast at a little French village called Montalivet.

We are getting the 50mph winds that are forecast for the British south coast.

We won't be leaving until Wednesday now... we figure there is no point in riding in windy, wet weather if we don't want to. The waves pounding the beach a couple of hundred yards away are mighty impressive.

interesting read, thanks for sharing.

since I don't commute anymore I can pick and choose which cold days to ride on. meaning, I'll do cold but I don't do rain; sleet or snow any more.

I recently got a set of layered treking/exercise gear. Two pairs of pants - one lighter and the other insulated with a water proofing layer. Two long sleeve shirts, A fall jacket, 2 rain/cold weather hard shell jackets. A pair of water proof cycling gloves, a face mask (probably need more when it gets really cold). Still looking for the right shoes though. The trainers and sandels I've been using won't cut it when we get sub zero (celcius) temperatures here. As for right now... loving the temperatures. :)

You know, I've re-read this thread, and have a different thought today. Autumn is nice, but winter? Well, it sucks.

Yup. winter is coming, we have switched from summer mode to fall mode, temps that a couple of months ago would have been in the high 20'sC are now in the mid to lower teens and over night it's been close to freezing, but hasn't crossed over that threshold yet. it's now definitely fall weather, we were supposed to have a cloudy day yesterday, with a slight chance of rain, it rained ALL day, I have a feeling with the great lakes in the 15-20C range, it may be a tough winter for snow, depending on which way the wind blows. A lot of our snow is lake effect, the wind blows across the lakes, picks up moisture from the warm lake, then when it crosses the colder land, it dumps as snow, I've seen where this can go on for days, and can accumulate over a metre before it's done. So, I do not ride outside in Winter, although I will have the mountain bike available if I "need" it.

Road bike is going into the basement on the trainer for the winter, this week sometime, Canadian Thanksgiving is a week Monday, but I only rode it once this year, so it's going down a few days early. I have not ridden much all year, under 100km since spring... So I need to get back to a training regimen, for next year. Baby is now old enough that she can sit up in a trailer, but I need to find one for cheap, maybe an experienced model....

Who uses chemical toe warmers in the cold(especially for rides lasting more than an hour or two)?

For the feet I use Sealskinz waterproof socks and toe covers. Ride down to 20F like that and although I can't say my feet are warm-They do not get the cold numb feel or the pain as they warm up.

And Use the sealskinz gloves aswell but they do not keep out the cold very well. But rain-which we seem to be getting a lot- and if you keep the extremities dry then they do not get too cold.

And nothing wrong with freezing cold hands if you know how to get corrective treatment on them. Few years ago called into my usual cafe to find the hands could not open the wallet. My mates thought it was just an excuse but there was a foreign waitress there that came from cold climes. She gave me a hand massage that took all the pain away almost instantly. She drew the line when Martyn- my ride partner- said his feet were like blocks of Ice.

I rode last year in the cold with wool socks and no-mesh shoes(using platform pedals on the comfort/hybrid)--even used double layered wool socks on cold days in the 20s days, especially the ride when it was 22ºF with a wind chill of 12º. Of course last Winter I only did 23 mile rides and now I ride 30, 35, 40 or more miles so I'm out a fair bit longer. I'm thinking on days when it's in the low 30s and in the 20s using toe warmers for the feet and maybe even the hands on the really low days. I have some gloves((two finger + thumb)mittens with another glove insert) for the days with the really cold temps.

+1 had enough of that winter riding when I was growing up in the UK. Now I don't ride if the temp is below 60F, which is rare, or if there is any chance of rain.

Its definately getting cooler now. My 4am rides are quite chilly if I stop wearing only 2 layers. Come winter its going to have be thermals, inner layer, light insulating coat, and a hardshell to keep the wind out. Still working on the shoes. My mesh shoes work ok now, but my feet are noticably cooler.

Last year in New England, we had a "non-winter", with mild temps and hardly any snow at all. It was great for cyclists, bad for ski bums. This year, I strongly suspect
that will not be so lucky. Hopefully, it will not be like the 2010-2011 winter, when we had so much snow that the snow piles all looked like scale models of
Mount Everest. It was cold too. The blasted stuff didn't even think about melting until the end of March. The only real good news about such a Winter, is that
ski resorts make good cash.

I just started riding this past spring -- so I haven't experienced a winter as a cyclist...

But, I did recently buy a hybrid with fenders and a rear rack & trunk to hold rain gear and excess layers -- and with some old ski clothing I have around -- I should be somewhat prepared for a little wet and a little cold...

But, the guy who sold me the hybrid (and a headlight) is an avid cyclist and he was singing the praises of riding the trails at night with a couple inches of snow on them... He made it sound REALLY beautiful -- almost spiritual... But, I might have to ease into that one...

Here's a picture of a group of us doing the frosty 200. It's a 200km brevet hosted by the randonnuers Ontario. I'm the guy in red in the middle with the reflective sash.

This was the hardest 200 I've done to date.

Wool, polypropylene, neoprene, gortex...I wore it all

I get cold just LOOKING at that picture...
... But actually I can see as that could be serious stuff. It doesn't look like there are too many places around to seek help from if you run into trouble. And, cycling long distance could be interesting as: first you overheat and sweat, then the sweat freezes and then...

Brrrr.....

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr ..... reminds me of living in Fargo, ND. My hats off to you!