Roody

It's certainly not a common temperature anywhere that people actually live. Here in southern Michigan, it doesn't even go down to zero every year. -20 is near record--maybe once in a generation. I don't think it's ever been near minus 60, even in our upper peninsula.

You get used to it. If you're smart, you'll buy good gear and enjoy being outdoors in all types of weather. If you're stupid, you'll just drive a car and complain about how cold it is running from the parking lot to the door, maybe jumping over slush puddles in your little leather loafers. I would have more trouble in the heat you described.

Rollfast

I can only hope we don't have another Snowpocalyse like last winter, I could always ride one winter bike until that season...absolute MURDER.

tandempower

Now I can't remember whether the -60 I once heard about was a wind-chill temperature; probably so. So with good gear, I could walk/hike/bike all day without getting too cold?

elocs

Frankly I cannot understand why anybody in their right mind would ever choose to walk/hike/bike all day in -60 temperatures unless it was a dire emergency. Of course you would get too cold going out for that long. Just because somebody is capable of going out for awhile in such dangerous and life threatening cold temperatures doesn't mean that it should be casually done all day.

tandempower

Because I like to walk/hike/bike. It's a pastime. I was just wondering if it would be comfortable in those low temperatures given the appropriate gear/clothing. If not, I would like to know how long one could comfortably walk/bike/hike at such temperatures before going into a heated area to warm up.

elocs

The trouble is that going out all day if life threatening temperatures, hot or cold, without a very, very good reason is not a pastime, it's a death wish. It's the "all day" part that's a non-starter. You could be comfortable for awhile and then survivable for awhile longer and then without finding shelter and a place to find warmth you will be neither.

tandempower

Generally I plan hikes and bike rides according to what's doable. In hot, sunny weather, for example, I know I can walk all day in a hat if I am walking through a shady forested/treed path if I carry sufficient drinking water. I would like to know how many hours I could spend walking in extreme cold as well, provided I had the right clothing/gear. Of course I wouldn't want to take a path that would prevent me from getting back before dying or getting frostbite. It's not like I would have a tauntaun to sleep in if night fell before I could get back. (btw, I am joking about the tauntaun, just to be clear since some posters here will accuse me of confusing fictional movies with reality)

wipekitty

Sooo....does anybody bike more when it's wet/frosty/cold? Maybe those of you who dislike the heat?

I was talking to a few people at work today who were commenting on how "nice" it was last weekend - highs in the low 40s F!

Machka 

No ... I dislike cold. Very much. Anything under about 18C is too cold for me.

Sure I still cycle when it is below that, but it's just not pleasant.

wipekitty

This shouldn't surprise me at this point, but it always does. I think I tend to assume that people who have lived in cold climates actually like the cold!

Although my transportation miles stay the same, my recreational miles go way down. I'm trying to toughen up a bit more this year...but it's hard. 18C, though, sounds delightful! Our fall this year seemed to go straight from super hot to cold rain.

badger1

Not "more", but provided conditions are dry(ish), I'm fine with temperatures down to -5C; that's about my cut-off.

I don't like cold/winters -- in fact I detest 'winter': Canadian left-coaster transplanted to central Canada. But I love cycling more than I dislike the cold here, so I've adapted out of necessity.

Machka 

I lived in cold climates because that's where my parents lived ... and their parents lived ...
It wasn't my choice!
And then, of course, I went to school there and got jobs there ...
But first chance I got, I moved to Australia.

My grandparents moved to southern BC (where it is a quite a bit warmer than the prairies) when they were in their late 60s ... and my parents did the same thing in their late 60s. So I guess, they moved to a warmer climate first chance they got too.

When we move back to Canada, which will happen eventually, I doubt we'll go to the coldest parts of Canada where I grew up. We'll be looking at southern BC too.

Meanwhile we're in Australia ... however, we're in the far, far south where it is cool. A little too cool for me. I'd be much happier if the overall temp was another 10C higher year round.


And yes, 18C does sound nice. It's spring here, so many one day soon it will get to 18C for more than a few seconds. I think it did hit 18C today, for a few seconds, but tomorrow they're predicting snow down to 700 metres ... again.

baldilocks

Not more, but hopefully not too much less. I don't like heavy rain when it's cold and or black ice. But because I've ice skated almost all my life, cold weather equals good ice. So I like the cold. Hoping to safely bike thru winters as long as I'm alive.

elocs

I actually had seriously considered emigrating to Australia in 1975 when I graduated from the university. Back then they would still reimburse you for your passage if you stayed for 5 years. But a girl and life got in the way but I've always wondered what my life would have been like had I gone to Australia.

elocs

The Fall can be a nice time to bike with temps in the 40s and low humidity because eve if you are a little chilly when you start out you soon warm up.
There is difficulty and peril in riding in the winter with all of the ice and snow up north. I've always considered the biggest danger is if you ride on the streets, even in a bike lane, and you slip and fall you could in a heartbeat end up under the wheels of a car. My advantage with my bike is that while seated I can put my feet flat on the ground.
In fact, my feet are my auxiliary braking method in a pinch. I can remember last year I was coming down an overpass on the sidewalk and it was slippery with patches of ice so as I coasted down I simply put my feet down and skated to the bottom.
Speaking of skating, and you mentioned it too, my first full time job out of college was working for my city's Park Department and in the winter I would flood skating rinks. There used to be an outdoor skating rink in every neighborhood but now there are only a couple. When I was a kid here ice skating was the social thing to do because you went to meet all the other kids and your friends. I got to work for a couple of winters as the skating attendant at the rink I went to as a kid.

Roody

I have no idea about -60? Has it ever even gotten that cold in the continental U.S.? Those kind of temps are usually found in the Arctic and Antarctica, or at very high altitudes--not in places where people actually live.

Personally, I've done a lot of winter camping in temps around 10 or 20 degrees above zero. That's pretty invigorating, but enjoyable for a couple days or so. I have been on long hikes and bike rides (literally hundreds of times) in temps and wind chills around zero. Two or three hours at those temps are very nice. Then slip into a warm place for a while and head back out into it. Remember, if you're riding a bike, you always have a wind chill to contend with, even if it's a calm day. Once you get below zero (wind chill or air temp) you have to start thinking about frostbite on exposed skin. But why would you have exposed skin when it's that cold?

I get pretty grumpy and restless when I'm indoors too long. Unless I'm sick, I'm out in the weather 365 days a year. If I worry about anything, it's slipping and falling on the ice. When you're young, your bones are strong and flexible like willow branches. At my age, they're starting to get more like candy canes.

(Note: All temps are Fahrenheit.)

Roody

Criminy, what kind of climate are you talking about? Neptune in November? Millions of people enjoy recreation in the winter weather of North America, and they aren't dropping like flies, as your post suggests. In fact, they're probably healthier than the people huddled by the fireplace with the thermostat set at 78 degrees!

Hell, people even spend thousands of dollars to spend the whole day skiing in the Rockies or the Alps They seem to have a good time and they don't even drop dead.

tandempower

Thanks for the details. So does the 'exposed skin' warning about frostbite also apply to the face when the rest of you is so bundled up you're radiating heat out through your face? I find that in reasonably high temps (high by the standards you're talking about here**, it makes a big difference to my face how warm my body and head are. Could I start thinking about a face mask with breathing tube routed through my clothing to warm the air at some point below 0F?

Mobile 155

Thinking about it I live where we rarely have bad weather. More than likely I can ride my bike 350 days a year or more. However I don't do bad weather. If it is raining I can wait till tomorrow. If it is too windy I can wait till tomorrow. Too much fog? I will wait till later in the day. The only public transportation I use is the Taxi or Light rail. So if I have to go out in bad weather I drive, all 11 to 20 days a year.

I will add that if I don't like the weather where I live I move. It isn't as hard as some people think.

elocs

You may not have realized it when you wrote that ^^^but it comes across as being particularly arrogant and displays a lack of understanding for the lives of regular people who as the saying goes live lives of quiet desperation and cannot simply get up and move because they don't like the climate where they are.

Machka 

Machka 

Having lived most of my life where it gets really cold in winter (11 years in northern Alberta and 13 years Winnipeg + many years in other equally cold places) ... I have never, ever had to use a face mask with a breathing tube.

When I did live in those areas, I was active outside ... cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, cycling etc.

Mobile 155

It wasn't meant that way because I have been doing it all of my life. Taking a look of my life even as a kid I cannot remember how many times my friends I thought I would be close to forever moved away never to be heard from again. In fact as many times as I have picked up and moved it seems as if I am still below average for our society. I moved out of the house shortly after getting out of high school. I worked full time while I was in college and lived like any student at the time, hand to mouth, month to month. Not desperate maybe but anxious about the future. But I learned early security doesn't come because of where you live. It comes from taking chances and making choices. (In my case anyway.) I have been car free. I have been under employed. So I know how hard life can get. Still I think if what where you are is making life desperate staying where you are more than likely isn't going to make things better. Once again from my perspective. I have always admired Machka's willingness to move halfway around the world to get a new start. I don't disrespect those that cannot break free. One of my best friends is still living in the house he grew up in. But that being said he travels all over now and is thinking of selling and moving as well. It is just hard to understand, for me, what keeps people in one place when we have so many interesting places to see in this country, or out of it as it might be.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...-person-moves/

I haven't gotten the impression that quiet desperation was a prerequisite for LCF of going car light. Many have stated that people can live a normal life without being tied to a car.

Mark Stone

I'm very lucky to live in a Southwest desert city (El Paso) where the differences between seasons is minimal. The primary weather issue here is wind, but that's why God created gears lol

Machka 

I also have been on the move my entire life. My reaction to one of the first lines in the link you posted ("A person in the United States is expected to move 11.4 times in his lifetime.") was ... is that all?? A few months ago, I added up the number of times I've moved and it came to 26 or 27 times. I'm 50, so on average, I move about every 2 years. Obviously since I have remained in a few places longer than that, at other times, I'm moving every few months.

I too have lived in all sorts of different conditions ... location, housing-type, economic, etc. etc.

The one thing I simply do not have any concept of is "home". Not in the sense that many of my friends and family think of "home". "Home" for me is wherever I happen to be at the time ... could be a B&B where we're spending a few days when we've put all our stuff into storage and are wandering around the world ... could be a place we've rented which we're in for a whole 3 years!!

And as for your last comment ... when I was car free, I was doing quite well for myself. Living quite comfortably!