If you had to choose very hot temps or very cold temps to tour in, which would you choose? Why?

Cold.

Everyone has their physical limits at the ends of the spectrum. At some point it gets too hot to ride without overheating. At some point it gets to cold to ride without freezing your face, fingers or toes. I think it's somewhat personal. My wife does way better in the heat than I do. I don't tolerate the heat very well. So, I'd rather be at the cold end of the spectrum. I can dress in warm clothes and be comfortable on the bike down to about freezing. I can ride below freezing, but it doesn't have to get much colder then freezing before I would be distinctly uncomfortable. But, in general, I think I do better in cold than in hot.

Speedo

Hot, no question. I'm never in so much of a rush touring that I can't stop and cool down. I'd overdone it in the heat before to the point of getting pretty sick, but I'd still prefer flirting with heat exhaustion to riding in the cold with frozen toes, knowing that once I get off the bike it'll be my whole body freezing and it'll be even worse in the morning.

30F is where I'd consider it just too darn cold for a daytime temp, whereas I can handle over 100F so long as it's fairly dry heat. The humidity gets me

Hot and dry. I know the saying that you can always dress for the cold but nothing beats a nice hot, clear day for touring.
Somewhere between 20c/30c is optimal but no problem if it went up to +40c as it got on our last tour in Italy and Austria.
My wife and I just stop to cool down more often when it gets too hot.

Can do just fine 25 to about 95F. Outside that range, I'm looking for cover. 45 to 80 is perfect.

If you are properly equipped it doesn't matter. In either situation, if things get bad you get off the bike. Once you're not moving, more bad things can happen to you if it's cold. Been cold, been hot. Hot is definitely preferable.

I prefer temperate climates. I avoid tropical climates with heat and humidity. I can tolerate dry heat much better, but at the end of the day, I would prefer cold to heat. Very few people would prefer touring in -45 deg C.

So, to answer the question as it's put, neither.

Hot. No contest. Once i get cold, i have trouble warning back up and am completely done. I am best known in our cross state bike tour for the "guy with the blue lips" after riding in a cold driving rainstorm all day. A couple of well timed group hugs is all that kept me going that day. Misery.

I guess it depends on what one calls hot and what one calls cold. I'm good up to about 117F. Any hotter than that and I'd probably wait for evening. I detest anything that approaches cold weather. Even at 50F I have to bundle everything up and I still sometimes have problems. This is probably due to years of undiagnosed Celiacs disease, which can wreak havoc with peripheral circulation.

Bring on the heat!

hot...my digits overreact to downward core temperature fluctuation. so i have to overdress in the winter to stay hot not just warm. as soon as i get a little chilled, my toes will go numb.

Definitely hot is better for me.

Given an adequate amount of sunscreen, I can deal with heat to a bit over 100F by adjusting my schedule and workload. Sweating has a cooling effect.

When I'm cold, there's really nothing that solves the problem for me. Riding harder to keep warm generates sweat which makes me colder. It also increases the effective wind chill. I'll take the heat.

Not a big fan of Tropical diseases, or microbiological critters that thrive in those conditions ,
so I stay in moderate climates.

If we are talking a summer tour with some 30 F nights when at altitude and some 100+ F days in the desert, then heat is more likely to bother me.

If we are talking about actual winter touring in really cold weather, then I'll be either XC skiing, trail running, snowshoeing, backpacking, or at home. If I am on a bike at all in the winter when it is really cold it is likely to be a mountain bike and off road. In any case I prefer not to tour when it is consistently really cold. I can take a bit of cold on a long tour while at altitude. I will also tolerate some 100+ heat, but I try to minimize my exposure to either when possible.

On both the Trans America and the Sierra Cascades we had some of both. The cold tended to be tolerable mostly because it was for brief periods in specific places. The heat was worse because sometimes it was well over 100 F for longish periods.

BTW, I love sub freezing winter weather for snowshoeing, trail running etc. I am just not crazy about riding in it.

Hot. It's easier to cool off than to heat up. Hot requires much less equipment too. Even for moderately cool temperatures, you need more clothing, heavier gear (sleeping bag, pad, tent) and more calories to just maintain your body temperature. You also have to deal with wind chill in cold temperatures while wind cools you when it's hot.

I'm North European, and used to the cold (though not extreme cold), but I'd go for hot. Too often, wet goes with cold, and the amount of extra gear needed for the cold, not to mention the discomfort of setting up camp in the cold and wet, then trying to keep everything dry. I wouldn't mind crystal clear cold, mind you - minus temps with frost, but snow, rain, wind, sleet and cold. That makes my heart sink.

Hot. I tolerate heat better than I tolerate cold.

Aaron

Cold as you can always dress enough to fight the cold, but you can only undress so much to fight the heat.

But a disclaimer. If you get WET, you will not want to be cold as hypothermia is very very bad. And if you tour for any length of time, you will get wet.

I'll even add a 2nd disclaimer. It's very much possible to overheat in the cold, as people tend to over-dress for the cold. Riding in 30 degree temps with a heavy winter coat can make you overheat and can make you sweat. Then you are also in trouble with hypothermia if you are at a campsite when you undress for the day.

With all the gear talk in this forum, rarely does it get mentioned that ALWAYS having a dry set of clothes is an absolute must

gpsblake, I agree with everything you say.

I have experienced the heavy-duty clothing in cold weather resulting in profuse sweating. On one ride, I actually rung the sweat out of the jersey I wore after I stopped riding and had set up camp.

Fortunately, I also have learned to carry dry clothing. And I have learned that what's best for me in terms of wicking and warmth is a base layer of polypro, then merino then a jersey (if really cold) and then a windproof or waterproof jacket.

So, nancy sv, what's your preference and why the question?

I'm not really a fan of extremes in either direction, but I suppose I have more experience in dealing with the heat, so if I had to choose one, it would probably be that. That said, a dry heat is much easier to deal with than relentless humidity that lasts for months on end (I know that from experience too).

It's also worth noting that everything's relative. There's a good chance I've never experienced anything that would be considered extreme cold by some in this thread. The town I grew up in has had something like three snowfalls since 1965. And the place I live in now hasn't had snow since the last ice age, and probably not even then.

I have cycled in everything from -40C/F to +48C/118F, and it's all doable. However, I don't like cycling in either extreme. Given my choice, it would remain somewhere beween about 23C and 33C all year round.

I'd rather tour in the cold, but I'll do either as long as the freakin WIND stays calm.

Depends on how extreme. I'd rather ride in +40ºC than -40ºC. I've done a little riding around the city in -40 weather, and the bike is simply much harder to pedal at those temperatures - bearing lube is too thick - and the thickest gloves imaginable still seep heat from your fingers. I wouldn't dream of touring in that.

But I might also consider -10ºC to be "too cold," but would still be more pleasant than anything much over 30ºC. You can dress for the cold, and particularly when it's only a little cold, the exercise counteracts the effect. With hot, there's a point at which it's simply impossible to get more comfortable by adjusting clothing.

Civilized world and desert: heat. Nothing beats being totally open to a nice coastal California or Mojave sun in the summer, and even in nastier desert areas microbial/parasitic contamination is pretty rare.

The South, other third world areas, and tropical environments: cold. I don't need to deal with the South's mosquitoes or Missouri's ticks and the diseases they carry, not to mention all the digestive thrill-rides that proliferate in the heat in water treated by third-world sanitation tech. Plus, violent crime drops with cold weather, which is nice as these regions tend to have higher population density.