Lebowski

we've got a warm spell now. it was in the -20's and now its in the positive 20's (Fahrenheit) it feels like summer.

wisconsin is so f'd up. in the span of 3 days it went from -30 degrees with windchill to 51 degrees. i went from wearing all kinds of crazy clothes and a pair of goggles to wearing shorts and a t shirt. the day after it was back down to 20f

Dangerous Dave

It's got colder here than before. It was 27 just before sunrise, rose to 35 and clouded over. Last winter was so mild that I've forgotten how unpleasant below freezing air feels on exposed skin. Tonight's low is 25, and tommorow's high is supposed to be 32, a once/ year occurence and the Met Office is saying the cold snap is likely to continue. I could have it worse. Some towns and villages further North in the Scottish Highlands had lows of 10 last night under high pressure causing cold air to sink into the valleys. Many of those towns didn't get above 25, with a lot of freezing fog. If that wasn't enough, sand is forecast to blow in off the coast, mixed with lying snow being picked up. The emergency services are basically preparing for a siege, and hospital admissions for respiratory infections are way up. These kind of temperatures probably have you laughing at our incompetence to handle them.
51 must feeling boiling to exercise in after weeks of subzero, with troughs of -20. I remember after a three week cool snap, temperatures progressively rose over a period of a week or so, up to a high of 65 with the sun one day. Even with 1.5 litres of water, a can of coke and a carton of apple juice, I had to be treated for dehydration after a 67 mile ride. I personally find temperatures over 55 unpleasant to cycle in. My comfort range is probably 40-55. 30-40 isn't too bad, but I hate bundling up.

tjspiel

Interesting.

With the right clothes, you don't need a lot of bulk to stay warm, even in subzero temps.

To me the worst is cold rain in the temp range you seem to favor

Dangerous Dave

30-40 is cold because I like to wear shorts, and hate trousers. Below 40 is when I absolutely must wear trousers. 40-48 is comfortable for me in shorts, sweatshirt and gloves, 48-55 in shorts and a t shirt. Above 55 demands a decent water supply, especially if it's hilly. Yes, I hate rain. Getting doused in shorts and t shirt in a heavy 50 degree shower is unpleasant, espeically as the temperature has often plummeted to 40-45 by the time it's done if it's abig shower. 55-60 degree+ rain is pleasant, as it keeps me cool, as long as I don't have to sit on someone's settee later in a wet t shirt. I went out today in 27, rising to 31 and overcast. the frost on the fields was beautiful, as well as the ice coating the trees, like a winter wonderland. There was some ice around, but not the slippery kind. For clothes, lycra trousers, 2 pairs socks, sweatshirt over a short sleeved jersey, 2 pairs gloves, scarf held in place by wearing the sweatshirt hood up (also protected my ears from the cold). Was a little hot on the climbs (took off scarf and wore hood down), but comfortable elsewhere. Of course, I carried extra clothes in case I broke down/ had to stop, plus waterproofs in case it snowed.

alanf

It's great to find out my friend and I are not the only loonies around that brave the cold.
He found that around -25 to -30 C his rear wheel would just freewheel suddenly and the gears wouldn't shift properly.
I found that at -30 c and below shifting was a luxury that occasionally worked. My old Trek scissorfinger gloves were the best. Goggles or at least large faired sunglasses are essential.

Dangerous Dave

We're not really loonies. As long as due care is taken, there shouldn't be any problems. I think we lead a much healthier lifestyle, because people in Winter (even in this country) soend too much time cooped up, and some people think I'm mad for wanting to cycle on a day when the high is in the 40's! Sometimes, they're the same people who think I'm mad for cycling when the high's in the 70's. I am not going to have my riding restricted to 50's and 60's, just because of what other's might think.
In the long run, we will have a much healthier c.v. system, be less likely to get Cancer or Arthritis, and have a much better mood/ work performance for our efforts. Our joints will be healthier even if we cycle in shorts at 45F (Yes I have got an agenda here). My brother's a doctor and says for vigorous exercise, you can safely wear shorts down to 40, especially as cycling produces a lot of leg heat.

DataJunkie

5F is my coldest. Temps around here tend to bottom out around 15F with the occasional cold snap in the negatives or single digits. However, I rarely ride anymore when it is lower than 15F. It's just not something I am interested in anymore. Riding on a trainer is more my thing around those temps.

kenkayak

In Maine Bikeing from november to april is winter you can get any bad weather you can imagine freezing rain is the most chalengeing and I avoid it.//The temp. the last few days has not reached 20* and the days the wind wasnt howling were dry pleasent rideing today the wind howled from the north and you can't hear cars comming but I enjoyed my ride being well dressed for it./Kenkayak

Scheherezade 

It was up to 22F today, I was sweating like a pig with just street clothes and my winter jacket running errands.

alanf

I see a girl go by on my street on her Mountain bike in the snow/slush/ice with her dog on a leash. She has the leash in her hand on one side on the handlebar. I'm not sure whether I would be so bold.

Dangerous Dave

We have finally had an outrageously cold 22 on the South Coast of Britain! It happened yesterday morning at 7am. Yesterday's high was 34 and it became overcast. We had our first snow last night, and today the high is 37 with sleet showers, followed by a drop to 27. The shorts are at well at the back of the drawer, as we are expecting below freezing temperatures overnight and <40 degree highs for a while yet. We have a big anticyclone stationed over us drawing in air from the NE. 22 is the lowest temperature here since January 2003. One of my class mates commented that we rarely get much extreme weather and we get small doses of everything, although Brits like to moan about the weather all the time, and a serious amount of snow causes things to seize up.

alanf

Funny I always figured that you Brits used Celsius. I had to look up "anticyclone". We Canucks and Yanks call it a "high" as it is high air pressure.

Dangerous Dave

I do use Celsius mostly, but I choose to use Fahrenheit on this forum, as most of you are from Canada and America and so use Fahrenheit. Being a Physics student, I can quickly convert beween scales, e.g. our coldest so far is
-5.4C=22.28F. This morning was -4C=24.8F (second coldest morning this Winter). Up in Yorkshire, NE England, one frost hollow acheived -14C=6.8F. Now, that last one's cold even by a lot of your standards. I wonder if the Winter will turn out to be as cold as 1962/1963 was. I've studied some historic weather data for that Winter, and it was bad, with the average minimum temperature everywhere being -4 t0 -7C. My mum says she remembers a pathway being cut through the snow and it was taller than her. My dad was a schoolboy back then and he had a uniform where he wore short trousers, and he said his knees were freezing.

fenny

I live inland (at 6,000ft no less) and it helps that you get extreme cold, or you get heavy snow, but you never get both at the same time. Generally if it's below -15C then the air is all snowed out long before it reaches you.

My record this winter was about -24C, but I have the gear to do -40C if it ever happens. It's a lot easier than you think.

alanf

Canada has used Celsius since around the mid-seventies. I'm OK but I still say miles per gallon and my bike odo is miles. Old dogs have trouble with new tricks. : )

Dangerous Dave

Okay, I'll stick with Celsius then. We have had our -5.4C record breached and at 2.20am today, we had
-6.9C, which is the coldest for a long time. Just down the road, Bournemouth airport hit -10.3 (Sunny Bournemouth of all places). The airport is built on a local soft sand which loses heat easily. It had clouded over and warmed up to -1.3 by the time I got out though. I think the cold snap is set to finish soon. Only three more frosts to go, none of which are forecast for below -3C.

cyclezealot

Don't know what the rest of the club did. I was a wuss... At ride time it was 2 degrees Celsius... I went back to bed. It's only a couple weeks during December or January when such temperatures are possible..

zoro

In Montreal, Québec, -20 -30 is a common thing. You just gotta get used to it. Snow, also, lots of snow. Last year, more than 5 meters of snow fell. So, CX tires and a good multilayer coat system and you're good to rip. Snow is actually fun to ride in. Slush, though, sucks and f*** up your bike. Having a "real" winter bike here is a good investment.

buzzman

Probably my lowest temperature ride was about -10〫F, which in comparison to some of the posts in here sounds downright tropical. The Boston area occasionally gets very cold but the challenge here is the combination of cold, dampness and wind that we get in the winter.

The "dry cold" that I'll often encounter when I back country XC ski may be a lower temperature than many of my commutes in Boston but I'm usually very comfortable skiing. I can get pretty chilled at a higher temperature when it's wet here in Boston if I'm not prepared. And nothing worse than wet feet and hands at anything below 32〫F.

Closed Office

I had to make an 18 mile trip last winter at -34 C. I was thinking by the time I
got back that I could pull some ice cream out of the freezer and it would warm
me up. It would have to be at least warmer than I felt.

On the positive side, everything so far this winter has seemed mild by comparison.
I don't like anything over my face, and just have regular pants, no other layers for
my legs, but I have a lot of layers over the rest of me. Including a Russian type of
winter cap with flaps that tie down under the chin, and a toque under that. 2 pairs
of mitts, one inside the other. Of course those arrangements are just for the colder
trips.

Dangerous Dave

We're having insane swings in temperature. It peaked at 7.8C (46F) at midday (a 14.7C rise in thirty four hours) and is now 6C (43F). It feels pleasant again. Today was only forecast to be 3C (37.4F) and foggy, but we've had sun instead. Cloud kept the temperature up over freezing last night. We're forecast to have 10C (50F) on Monday after a mild night on Sunday, so I'll be airing my lower legs. Today could have been all right for shorts if it hadn't be 2C (35.6F) when I left home. After several days where it barely got over freezing and was dank, and well below at night, cycling home from the library at 1.4C (34.5F) felt warm, and all I had on for the two mile ride was jeans, shirt, hoodie, gloves and hat. The night before, I'd used a balaclava and worn a waterproof jacket even though it wasn't snowing-just cold.
-6.9C (20F) was the coldest temperature in my city since 1996, and in some rural frost hollows -12C (10F) had been touched on. Though we don't get quite the extremes you get in Canada, our crap weather comes in the form of wet, windy weather. When it's 45F with a 40 mph wind and heavy rain, it can be as bad as a much lower temperature.

asmallsol

Just went out for my coldest ride yet. It was -4*F. I only did 10 miles total. Roads were completely iced over, and no sand on the road. Got to love studded tires. Really wasn't that bad.

Funny thing was, I was talking to one of my LBS owner and he thought I was crazy for riding this late in the year, and at night to boot. (Keep in mind I am far northern UP of Michigan).

alanf

A buddy of mine worked in the Arctic in the military. Temps there were savage in the winter. He told me that their routine was to stop working periodically and then go to their work buddy and look over the other guys face for the telltale whiteish waxy look that indicates frostbite. If they saw it, the routine was to immediately use the hands to warm it up.

Frostbite is bad news as the skin weakens and then it can be very tender and painful years afterward. It will also freeze again a lot more easily, presumably because the skin is damaged. A friend and one of my daughters got a bit of it on their face.

On a bike where there is always a big windchill factor, it doesn't hurt to be mindful of it. What I do is either run my hand over my face feeling for numb spots every now and then, or I move my face around (push my lips and cheek one way then the other, left and right, up and down) feeling for areas where the skin feels weird or numb. The best is to run your fingers over the face.

TRaffic Jammer

I'll be riding home in an hour.... -37C with the windchill.
Done the face check as described above. You almost never feel frostbite developing.

alanf

We have the same storm you have. Not nice in a car must be very exciting on a bike in these winds.