The best laid plans...
We all know the story. Had a great trip mapped out for this summer. Spent tons of time on the route. Thought the wife was on board, but alas at the last moment, ie the day before, she made things difficult and I went on a three day instead.
Now that she has physically seen me survive a short trip in high heat, she has consented to the trip next summer. A successful marriage takes broad shoulders to handle disappointments, but also requires a can do attitude to find a way to get things done that is agreeable to both parties.
Here's to next year!

How was your three day trip?

Fabulous, simply fabulous. First time I used rail trails, first time I stealth camped, first time solo. Loved every minute of the ride, met great people, and bathed in a nice cool river. Temps in the 90's, high humidity, and slept like a rock. Was planning on doing another one this past week, but lately the ol' right knee has been troublesome. Not on the bike, but when I walk, however, if the temps recover in the month of September, I will take another short trip.
Really looking forward to next summer.

Recover? It’s not supposed to reach 80 in Philly for the next 10 days, Planning to roll an overnighter tomorrow.

Glad to hear you had a great time and yes, there is always next year. We just spent 6 delightful days touring in southern Wisconsin last week in order to grab some cooler temperatures. The trails were wonderful and the backroads were scenic though when you come off the trails, you will spend much of your day either climbing or coasting. For us September through mid October are prime touring weeks as generally things are cooling down and fairly dry, and so we still have a couple of rides planned but yep, already thinking about next year.

I really do wish I could acclimate to the cooler temps of fall. Overnight lows of 40 degrees is fine, however waking up and riding in 45-60 degree temps is just too much. I do prefer 80-90 degree temps! Not as easy to sleep, but if the ride is long enough, sleep comes regardless.

I had a low of around 60 last night. High of around 76. Zero humidity. This weekend is going to be great in the SEPA/S. Jersey area. Just wish everywhere wasn’t going to be so crowded.

I’m planning to ride across PA starting 9/12. Hope the weather cooperates.

The right clothing helps for cool weather riding.



Photo was taken near noon, I had switched to short finger gloves instead of long finger gloves. Still wearing a long sleeve jacket over a long sleeve jersey. Sometimes when it is chillier, I also wear a neck gaiter. For a month I never took the rain cover off my helmet, kept it on to keep the wind off my noggin on this trip. Sometimes wore a fleece earband on that trip, other times a thin fleece skullcap. Those are convertible long pants or shorts that I am wearing in the photo, zip off the legs to convert to shorts. If your toes get chilly because you have well vented bike shoes, you can put a plastic bag over your socks on the front half of your foot to keep the wind from blowing on your skin.

Only part of it is acclimating for the cold, the other half of getting ready is preparing for the cold with the right clothing and equipment. There were a few days on this trip with the above photo where I wore my down vest on my bike for the first few miles until I was warmed up. And there were a few days where I wore my rain pants for part of the day, not for rain but for the cold wind, the rain pants were breathable so I did not get wet when wearing them in cold weather.

When I buy helmets, I make sure that the suspension part of it will expand so that I can wear a fleece ear band or fleece skullcap without any difficulty. And the helmet suspension is tight enough without that extra insulating layer.

There are gloves out there that have an extra cover that goes over the fingers, to help cut the wind from being a hassle on your fingers. I have a few pair of them. The mitten cover will fit into a small pocket on the back for when the cover is not needed. That said, they are not that common.

Yep... That's a real change. Especially down here in the South where we dont have access to up North clothing. A few years ago I did a personal detailed log of what I wear under what conditions. After doing this all winter I then put a table together of what to wear under what conditions. It could be a little silly having to do this but I now suffer with CRS, "Can't Remember Ship".

One of the most effective pieces of clothing I have is a Big Thin Breathable Nylon Anorak Windbreaker that packs small...

Proper clothing is for sure critical. I have a ton of experience with cool to freezing temp riding as I had no car for nearly 20 years here in the frozen tundra of the north. Below zero temps and a blizzard was unable to stop me.
Today I am retired and have a car. I don't need to relive my youth! lol
This is why I can't acclimate to the cool temps: Burn out. Did it and can't to do it again.

For riding near home (not touring), in spring and fall I often was not quite sure what to wear, and started keeping notes on what worked, what did not. I now have a text file on my computer in five degree (F) increments of what to wear from 20 degrees (F) up to 55 for bicycling. I won't paste it here because it is very specific to what I own, it would not be helpful to someone else.

Also have a second list in that text file for hiking, snowshoeing or cross country skiing from 0 (F) up to 35.

Where is the "tundra of the north"?

I grew up in Minneapolis half a century ago, back before global warming cut three weeks out of their winter. The coldest thermometer I have ever seen with my own eyes was one that read minus 36. That was in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, I broke the wood frame on one of my Alaskan snowshoes on that trip.

I live in Madison Wisc, down here there is not much opportunity for winter camping, as we rarely have enough snow that will last more than a week to do any ski or snowshoe camping. But I keep telling myself I need to do some of that again.

You could try riding in Central TX. We seem to have the opposite issue...July/August full of overnight lows in the mid 70s and daytime highs in the mid/upper 90s with medium "muggy" humidity (and this is a "cooler year" than say 2023).

There is hype about a "cold front" coming that might even result in first daytime high less than 90F in a while.

What I've learned in Austin is that touring season is not when the days are long but instead January to May at start of the year (with March/April best) and late September to December at end of the year (with October/November best). I was out on a weekend overnight trip 8 weekends in a row at start of the year and essentially no weekends since June. Madagascar in August was cooler than I anticipated (overnight low 50s daytime high 60s/low 70s) and it was a wonderful break...

I spent 8 winters in Fort Collins CO w/o owning a car and commuted to work by bike, though it was five miles so not extreme.

I had a similar type list though with larger increments -10F/10F/30F/50F each had their own choices. I also set up a bike with studded tires to ride days I needed to go across snow/ice packed roads. The -10F did happen a few times though fortunately not often. From that list/experience I can find ways to comfortably tour down to ~20F but not really lower than that.

I am now in West Michigan where for about 4 weeks it gets for sure cold in January/February. Weak car batteries show their faults kind of cold. 20 to sub zero temps with wind chills that are lower yet. Up to last December I worked outdoors, and am fairly hearty. No more, thank goodness!
As for cold temp kit, I had a hand knit wool sweater I picked up from Scotland, made in a little old lady's house (looked like a very nice old school cottage to me) back in the early 80's. Wore that thing for about 35 years. It was warm on the coldest of days, and warm yet cool on the chilly days. Worn with a wind shell it served me well. Insulated jeans worked well when on foot, but on the bicycle it was once again wool underwear with wind pants.
In the coldest conditions I had problems keeping the feet warm, mainly due to wind chill. Once I switched over to platform pedals the problem was solved because the shoes worn were insulated hiking shoes. Hands protected by any number of mittens and gloves, or combination of the two always worked.

Concur on shoes. Below freezing, I switch to hiking shoes or hiking boots. Most of my bikes have pedals with platform one side, SPD cleats on the other side. But I usually cut off the biking at 20 above (F), colder than that and I would rather do something else.

I don't recommend commuting in the extremes that I did, suspect long term wear and tear on the joints is negative. Economically it was necessary for the first 10 years, however after that it was simply what I did. At age 50 the body didn't take the severe cold well, thus it stopped.

How many days off for leave do you get in the states?, if you are working here in Oz ( I am Retired), minimum holidays you get are 4 weeks, up to 6 weeks depending on what job you do. I have heard you only get a weeks off for holidays in the US, is this true, and if it is that is vey unfair.

In the US the government does not dictate compensation for work performed. It is determined by negotiation between employee and employer. In my lifetime I took 4 vacations of 1 week in length. That was my choice, and am fine with it. Didn't leave much time for touring, however I got in some weekend overnighters, and on holidays such as memorial day, I was able to get in an overnighter or two.
Now that I am retired I have the time, just need to work on the wife to get over the worry part. Will likely go south for a month and live out of a tent on my bike, if I can convince the good woman that I will be fine!

In the US, the government does not have laws requiring minimum amounts of vacation. Instead it is between the employer and employee. It varies widely, though I've found jobs requiring more education might average slightly more, vacation amounts might go up slightly with time in a position. Two weeks of vacation to start would not be uncommon - but there is a lot of variation.

In my current company, people start with three weeks and I've been long enough to get closer to five weeks. What I find strange is there are people who don't necessarily use all the vacation they are allowed which I take as more of a cultural phenomenon.

However when it comes to touring, I've been fortunate to take seven long trips totaling more than five years time for extended bike tours (including a one year long trip where I spent 8 months/19491 km perimeter of Australia and other places). That trip and several others I did with a "leave of absence". My longest trip of 18 month to cycle across the Americas I did quitting my job and bring rehired by the same company on return.

Agree with TiHabanaro.

Basically the employer decides what to provide for paid time off to employees. Most employers that want to have a stable workforce will offer some of the US Govt recognized holidays as paid time off. And most employers will offer some paid time off for illness. Most employers offer some paid time off for vacation. Vast majority of employers have a specific list of benefits for all employees, if a job applicant feels that is not good enough, that applicant is free to withdraw their application. A small number of employers may have a couple of plans that differ for different classifications of employees, such employers often have a large number of employees in an occupation(s) that often have collective bargaining agreements.

Before I retired, I never took a vacation longer than one week and adjacent weekends. But for a while I did work for an employer that allowed more consecutive paid time off, I could have had several consecutive weeks if I managed to plan far enough ahead for that.

There isn't always next year. Don't wanna bum you out but you might discover at some point that you are physically unable to tour. I began a westbound TransAm the year after my retirement and we had to scuttle that for a couple of reasons, and a decade later I'm less able than before. Do your touring while you can, where you can.

We just got back from a 4 weeks trip, 1100km in Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo and Albania. + 900km in Puglia Italia to compensate the hard work done in the Balkans flat beautiful rolling and great food! My wife loved the "compensation" in Italy. There was also some climbing 22700m

Gosh I'm the exact opposite, in 80s is where my biking energy really starts to fade, worse in 90s. 45 is a bit cold but fine for me if dry, though my eyes water a lot as my sunglasses don't wrap around. This summer has been the best in at least 10 years, close to 20. Temps in the 70s, overcast in 60s I liked even better as I don't need long sleeves or sunscreen for my shorter rides, low humidity. Typical summer draught, little rain. A big change from recent years in Seattle where we had 115F a few years ago, this year was like the long-ago past in this area.

Oh and I grew up in MI. My dad went south NOV-APR for decades after retiring. I hate the temps and humidity in the south. Had to go to FLA one August, stepped out of the airport at 06:00 a.m. and the humidity was like hitting a wall. I miss real winters, but at least here I can go to the mountains if I want snow.

Yes I am normally a cool/cold weather tourer, and mainly camp in the colder weather, but his year, it will be at the very beginning of summer because, I have just started back touring again after a 4 yr break, so I need the extra training I can get between now and then and also, their are two other elderly gents like myself, that don't camp in cold weather, let alone ride in that weather coming along with me.

Summers here are generally bloody hot, hoping not this year, if so, will be only riding from 6.30 am till 10am, then from 6.30pm in the evening during daylight saving until 8.30pm at night, it is only an approx a 500km tour, as the other old blokes coming with me, havent ridden since they were in their 40's. We will be lucky if we do more then 65km a day, as two of us are bringing our dogs along, both retired Service Dogs.