shafter

I've read a lot about the cycling season being over, and people getting their winter bikes.

Well, I'm here to say that here in North Texas the season is Just Beginning. The temperature has dropped below 90,a north wind is blowing, and i can ride without worrying about heatstroke!

Some say winter is their off season. For me the off season is summer, and the real season has just started.

DaveQ24

I'm in the lower Great Lakes. I go all year. "The Season" is purely psychological - unless the climate is so extreme it becomes a question of physical safety, like heatstroke in Texas - with the level of hardware and gear available, anyone can go year-round virtually anywhere - check out the guys from Alaska on Winter Cycling.

You just have to be willing to adapt, experiment, and find what works for you. In my own case, because I've had iron deficiency anemia for years and am always cold, winter sports of all kinds - I also cross country ski, snowshoe, and even run - mean learning how to keep warm and dry enough at the same time to be comfortable. For me, technology has really helped, including battery heated clothing, boots, and gloves.

I long thought that the prime season in the warmest parts of the US - the coastal plain from NC to Texas, the desert Southwest, and Cali - would basically be October through March/April. So, Happy Cycling !

rydabent

Any cycling below 60 degrees is not fit for man or beast. The only way to ride is in a t-shirt and shorts.

shafter

Yep, that's about right! Though normally we can start in mid-September and end in about May, at least where I am.

That's not to say no one rides in the summer; it is just requires a lot more planning and adaptation. Not to mention it is Supremely Unpleasant.

shafter

I'd almost say the opposite! Maybe above 80 though.

Milton Keynes

All I can say is the weather this past week has been nice & cool, clear skies, not too windy, and perfect cycling weather.

...and I've been stuck at work.

Well, I did do my usual morning rides, but that doesn't seem to count. Riding around town is not the same as getting out on the road and riding 40 miles.

DaveQ24

You haven't lived until you've been out at 6 am in a 15 mph wind, air temp of 12 degrees, with lake effect snow squalls and a windchill of something like -10 and done 25 miles on a fat bike - with a stop at Bigby Coffee for a hot chocolate! Some of my most memorable rides have been in wretched conditions.

Retro Grouch 

Early in my running career somebody told me that, if you never took a season off, the weather never got too bad to run. If you took some time off, however, it got hard to start back up in cold weather. I was able to follow that advice for a few years running in both hot weather and cold. (We have both in Missouri.)

I've never seriously tried following that advice bicycling. Just this morning I was pondering how I was going to keep up my activity points this winter. I'm riding a trike now so ice shouldn't be a problem. Maybe this will be the year that I keep riding through the winter. I'll need to figure out what clothes to wear.

canklecat

Yup, Texas in autumn is perfect cycling weather. Enjoying more long rides now. Late August wasn't bad either, although the hotter months were an interesting challenge to test my conditioning with some midday rides.

DaveQ24

Retro Grouch - you should try it. I would think the stability factor of a trike is very high, so that's a plus. And someone out there probably makes studded tires that will fit. Clothing isn't really that hard to figure out - start out with winter athletic gear you already own that meets the basic requiements - warm, won't trap moisture, and moves easily in the critical places - then experiment and see what works.

It takes some trial and error - believe me, I've had many rides - all year 'round - when I've either removed clothing and stuffed it in my backpack or into a trunk bag, or when I've made a stop at some 24 hour big box and bought another layer because I planned wrong - or the weather changed in a way I hadn't anticipated. If you're 55 miles from home and freezing, whatever you can buy at Wal-mart at 4 AM to warm you up is a godsend.

bulldog1935

Here in s. Texas, I rode solid through the summer - averaged over 100 mi/wk, and my best week was 155.
Just had our first fall morning. I was out at 54 degrees this morning, layers, knickers and a windbreaker.
And yes, it will be like this all winter, and we're going to get stronger every week.

prtyich

Best moment riding was the first week of January a few years back; was riding in a park and the temperature was 2 degrees fahrenheit and I passed a guy jogging wearing a wife-beater t-shirt and 1980s gym shorts with the stripe on the outline, probably in his 50s. I was the only cyclist, and he was one of two joggers that I saw - I was quite impressed with his being out there, and wearing what he was, a truly committed athete.

As long as the ground is not icy/wet, I will ride - you can dress for low temperatures, and one of the best things about it is that the bike paths are far less crowded in the colder months.

jefnvk

I wear short sleeves and shorts when it is in the 50s

But seriously, given the choice of one or the other, I'd much rather ride sub-60 than above-60.

BlazingPedals

The problem with winter is, there's a lot less daylight. Around here, they'll kill you for riding in the dark -- lights or no. It's like a get-out-of-jail-free card for the motorist.

fietsbob

There are the Migratory retirees descending on the southern border states, as we speak, and others who manage,
to Own More than 1 house. they alternate between seasonally..

One of my good friends retired from the Austin TX FD.
He comes up and wrenches in the LBS during the Busy Summer season, here.

He headed south, again in the Recent weeks, Motor home with his bike tools aboard. .




./.

bulldog1935

The Texas Riviera

DaveQ24

I've run in weather like that, but I'm heavily layered. It's all in what you're comfortable in.

DaveQ24

Very pretty, bulldog1935. Photoshop out the palms and replace them with maples or oaks and it could be anywhere on the Great Lakes.

bulldog1935

I've been there in January - there's ice.

Retro Grouch 

Yeah, I'm thinking this might be the winter to try that.

Shoes and legwear are the big things for me to think about. Actually, the shoes issue isn't too bad. I might even switch over to platform pedals so that I can use my winter boots. I've had difficulty finding legwear that's warm yet doesn't snag on my chainring.

Retro Grouch 

While training for a spring marathon I've done some 10 mile runs in the Chicago area in temperatures down to -30. The trick, believe it or not, is to wear a jock.

Yendor72

Look at cross country skiing type clothes to prevent the pant legs from being snagged, or if you are wearing boots tuck the pants in.

I'm looking at some winter cycling boots myself, so dang expensive!Then again my cycling shoes were not cheap either.

swampboy62

I'm a 'hot metabolism' person - I wear shorts and t-shirt to mtb as long as it's above freezing. Once it gets below 30 I add a nylon shell and possibly polypro longjohns (if it's below 20 degrees).

But in temps below 50 degrees I alway carry an emergency layer of warm polypro in my pack, in case I break another leg or something. Don't want to die of hypothermia if I have to lay on the ground waiting for rescue.

Steve Z

DaveQ24

Makes sense from a physiological standpoint. Probably TMI, but I just wear the modern-day equivalent, compression shorts.

DaveQ24

I wouldn't ride clipped in in the winter - just too much potential there for problems. I basically ride almost exclusively in "repurposed" non-cycling winter boots. My favorite ones have been high-top hikers from Salomon with the elastic lacing system - no dangling laces to snag in the chain. Really cold is my Columbia heated boots, or battery heated insoles in regular boots.

For legwear, unless again really cold, 0 or below "real-feel" temperature, I still wear baggy Mt Bike type shorts with cycling liner over a thermal base layer - my favorite to date is Under Armour base 4.0, second favorite is Columbia Omniheat baselayer. Below Zero, I wear Columbia ski pants. Never had any issues with anything snagging except for some billowy nylon shell cheap track pants I wore in moderate cold a few times - until I learned better.