LittleBigMan

Don't forget to post your location and opinions of wimps in the South!

I said, "10 - 20." That's my wimp-out point, but I'm a little crazy, so don't count me out, ever! (Of course, it almost never gets that cold down here! )

My eyeballs cry on the downhills when it's cold. I'm not crying, but you knew that, didn't you?

Sorry! Here are the Celsius temperatures, as converted from Frigginheit, er, Fahrenheit:

50F to 60F / 10C to 15.5C
40F to 50F / 4.4C to 10C
30F to 40F / -1.1C to 4.4C
20F to 30F / -6.7C to -1.1C
10F to 20F / -12.2C to -6.7C
0F to 10F / -17.8C to -12.2C
Below this, there are no exact conversions, but I'd still like to meet your Mama!

gmason

I would rather cold than wet.

Cheers...Gary

fubar5

Cold is a figment of my imagination. It's not really cold, I just think it is. I will not allow the elements of nature to dominate my wild spirit. Therefore I know no cold.




But my hands, feet, eyes, and nose do!!!

MichaelW

Temperature alone is no guide to comfort, without taking into account humidity. Damp cold is much worse than dry cold.
The worst conditions I have ever cycled in is freezing rain. This water at freezing point. I was wearing non-breathable waterproofs and plastic bags over my socks, and managed to cycle without too many problems.

cyclezealot

A part of the reason we live here, is for perfect weather. Don't like it hot or cold. Can tolerate about 45 but, really prefer it over 60, jackets what are those for? Don't like heat either. Go inland it gets hot here. Won't cycle over 96. But inland heat is a dry heat, so I can take it that hot. Here almost every day of the year, it will get to at least 60 each day of the year. Perfect for cycling. Sorry.

Tom_The_Bikeman

I know it's cold when I have a lot of snow on my mustache. Other than that, it's just "do I use my spiked tires" or not.

My commute is Flawil<->St. Gallen in Switzerland. The coldest ride so far in 2002 was -15 C or so.

ride safely,
tt

MichaelW

Its weird that people associate riding a bike with wearing shorts and short sleeved jersey, whatever the whether. Most of the year I wear a windproof, some insulation and long trousers or leggings.
On many charity rides, I see the experienced riders packing their extra clothing, and novices hoping to complete the course in shorts and T shirt.

lotek 

Having lived in South Africa for 5 years
I find I have less tolerance for cold than
I did before. Last winter I could hardly stand
to be outside at 30 degrees F. I'm getting more
tolerant, resistant(?), but we don't have all that much
cold temps here in Dallas
(yeah right, its 16F this morning).


Marty

Richard D

What's with this Farenheit business?

I'll ride well below freezing, but since coming off not if there's a reasonable risk of ice.

Richard

purple hayes

Did you ride this morning LBM? I didn't, but I think it's mostly my lack of experience while riding in such low (20's) temps. Once I get better at knowing how to dress, I'll probably ride in the lower temps.

PH

lotek 

OK, here it is in Centigrade

"Having lived in South Africa for 5 years
I find I have less tolerance for cold than
I did before. Last winter I could hardly stand
to be outside at -1C. I'm getting more
tolerant, resistant(?), but we don't have all that much
cold temps here in Dallas
(yeah right, its -8C this morning). "

HAHA

Marty

fietser_ivana

Sorry, I am not going to answer a poll in frigging Fahrenheit.

I can give you answers in Celsius though.. or Kelvin if you're into physics.

It all depends on wind speed.. Yesterday we had a hurricane with gusts of wind of over 120km/hr. This feels a lot colder than a bit of wind.. they use a wind chill factor for these things.

But generally speaking if it is winter, a temperature below 5 degrees Celsius (278 K) feels cold.
If it is summer in a temperate region, a temperature below 16-17 degrees Celsius feels cold (289-290K)
When you're in the tropics, temperatures below 22C and perhaps even 25C may feel coolish.. (295-298K).

Once I made a bike trip of a bit over 100K at -20 C (253K) and I enjoyed it... now I wouldn't be able to toleratue such low temps i guess as I've started to enjoy hot temperatures more.. and am quite able to cycle decently at 35C and above (308K plus)

It is my firm belief that it is a rare person who can tolerate both high and low temperatures very well.. it is probably also true that the older you get, the more you can tolerate high temps..

Ivana, the metric fundamentalist..

John E

I find it interesting that temperature is perhaps the most difficult metric conversion for Americans to make intuitively. Here are a few easily-remembered key reference points:
convergence point: -40C = -40F
water freezes: 0C = 32F
cool 10C = 50F
room temperature 20C = 68F
warm/hot 30C = 86F
body temperature 37C = 98.6F



For the record, I live within a km of the Pacific Ocean, in one of the world's more benign climates. Temperatures below freezing are very unusual, as are temperatures above 95F = 35C. At temperatures several degrees above freezing, my fingers, toes, and sinuses start to hurt.

The Founding Fathers of the U.S. could have saved the world alot of expense if they had followed Ben Franklin's recommendation to adopt French, rather than British, weights and measures. The bicycle industry remains part of the problem: in a quasi-metric world, ISO adopted the English (1.375"x24TPI) BB thread standard, instead of the Swiss (35mm x 1Tpmm), and the British handlebar stem diameter (7/8"=22.2mm) instead of the French (22.0mm), because of the installed base.

AlphaGeek

Being a southerner, I define cold as anything under 30 degrees, but I'll ride down to about 10 before wimping out! My blood's done thinned out in the heat of the summer, so that I resemble the "popsicle on a bike" if it's below 30!

While I admire you hearty souls who brave the artic temps, I also think you're CRAZY! (The very definition of cyclist.)

RonH

I believe this poll was prompted by the extreme cold that we had in the South today. I believe much of the country had cold weather and will again tomorrow.

I wimped out and said 30-40.

And like Fubar, it's my hands, feet, eyes, and nose that get REALLY cold! Plus my arms and legs.

roadbuzz

Below 20 will have me commuting by car. 20-30 will have me riding the brakes down hills, to reduce the bite from wind. Above 30, it's all good.

stumpjumper

The temperature is pretty much meaningless, its the ammount of snow or ice that deterrs me.

Writing from dayton ohio, where it was almost 60 and sunny yesterday, rained overnite, and now its 25 with high winds and 1-2 inches of snow today.

G-d, I hate Ohio.

stumpjumper

its oddly fitting that my 200th post was a curse on the great state of ohio.

bikerider

I said 'below 0' (F). As was stated, wind chill is the more important factor as the temperature decreases. The coldest I have ridden in (most of the day as a bike courier) was -30 C with a wind chill of -40.

LittleBigMan

Purple Hayes, other people asked me this at work and I told them I could have, but I didn't feel like it!

Harry

Cold is Dublin when the breeze (hurricane) is blowing up the Liffey. It's damp and cold and miserable. Make the teeth chatter. The cold gets into your bones and you never heat up.

I believe it's worse when the wind comes howling in from the atlantic on the west coast of the country. Galway is hard but the Aran Islands are worse. That's cold.

i have skies in temperatures of -30 and it wasn't like the genuine Irish cold.

That's why we have whiskey and Guinness.

Cold ???

Steele-Bike

I usually call in the reinforcements (i.e. car) when the temps drop below 0 F. More times than not, when temps are that low, icy conditions are also present. Such as this mornings low of 5, along with a good layer of ice after yesterdays snow fall. As soon as the ice melts from the shoulder of the highway, I will be back on the bike...hopefully tomorrow. And since my commute is only 5 miles, I can tolerate fairly cold temps.

Teresa

<whining>

TODAY is too cold! It's 21 degrees F with the windchill, and though I really want to go out, I know that I don't have the right cold weather gear to do so. It's been so nice with temps more than 30 since I started at the beginning of January, and I haven't bothered to buy any more winter clothing. I really want to get out of my office!!!

</whining>

MadCat

I think the coldest I've ever had to ride in is -29c for about 15 minutes. Lately the coldest I've had to deal with is -20c with a windchill around -25c. It's not so bad as long as you ride like hell to keep your body warm.
Ideal winter conditions for me is -10c. At that temp, there's no slush. I can't stand rideing in slush. Also, at -10 I don't get too over-heated in my winter cycling clothes and I don't have to wear so many layers that I feel like Kenny from southpark.

DnvrFox

And how is it riding in the smoke from those brush fires?