Allegheny Jet

Some of my buddies swear by Hot Hands brand toe warmers. I use toe covers when it's <40 and neoprene Gators when it's <33 degrees. I always wear thick wool socks on cold days. I will also pack an extra pr of winter gloves in my jacket when doing intervals. Usually the first pr is soaked from sweat and I switch gloves for the ride back home and WD.

Hermes

I use the toe warmers that are used by skiers for the colder temperatures. They work well in the cycling shoe and I typically put them over the top of the toes. Usually, I wait until it warms up.

Red Rider

I didn't mean for this to be a training ride, but evidently it was, since I kept my HR under 150, and froze on the downhills and got my HR up avoiding the ice. Legs hate me now, given yesterday's fastest 5 mi. run ever.

nacler22

Thanx Ajet,

My shoes are too tight for anything thicker than Defeet wool socks. May try the extra gloves trick though. First I"ll try some thin glove liners, they used to do the trick in back in my skiing days.

shovelhd

2:45 of low tempo in 38 degrees and fog. HTFU you buncha west coast weenies.

revchuck 

Dang, shovelhd, I thought I was the only one with fenders. Your bike turned out dirtier than mine did this weekend - not much slush down here for some reason.

AzTallRider

We're in our coldest spell since 1988 here: lows in the 20's; highs around 40. I left all the hose bibs running a bit last night and when I walked the dog this morning there was ice around them, and any gutter water was frozen all around the neighborhood. Saturday's race was in the mid to high 30's, but I doubt I would have noticed if an icicle was hanging off my nose - too pumped up.

shovelhd

That's my CX/commuter bike. I kept the pack on because that's where the battery for the lights is stored. Not only did I not want to subject the Felt to those conditions, there was no way I was going to ride in that fog without marker lights. At times the visibility was less than 50 meters, which is about two seconds on some of those roads. That's where a 3W taillight comes in handy.

chasm54

Went out today to do two hours at tempo, and could barely finish the workout because of the wind. Crosswinds strong enough to have me fighting the bike. Nonetheless, I was disappointed with my performance, I was shattered at the end of what should have been a moderate session. Then I looked at the wind speed. Gusting to 80kph/50 mph. Umm, OK.

VanceMac

Just out of curiosity, Shovel, what kind of tires do you run on the commuter in conditions like that?

Managed some decent training despite a head cold all week. Looking forward to turning the dial another notch this week, as well as finally returning to the track after 1 month away.

shovelhd

Vittoria Zaffiro 700x25

revchuck 

It's not unusual for the temperature to be the same as the dew point at sunrise here, so fog is common. Headlight, tail light, shoe covers and fenders. Even so, I often end up soaked without any rain, and it doesn't take long.

Cleave

Red, with over 2K ft of climbing, what was it supposed to be?

It was at least that cold at the start of both of this weekend's training rides. However, there was no snow and no fog (for a change this winter).

Been using this bike for training a lot more than any other winter since I got it a few years ago:



Rain bikes need maintenance every so often too. Please disregard the background.

Cleave

See you on Tuesday?

Cleave

Had a good weekend of training. Felt a bit blocked on Saturday. Not sure if it was from a hard interval and motor game workout on Thursday or from wearing too much clothing on my legs -- heavy knickers and light fleece tights. I was feeling kind of like the Bill Cosby jokes about wearing 5 pairs of corduroy pants. At least I was warm. A lot of hard efforts on the hills during our club ride yesterday and my legs are definitely sore today. Good thing one of our club's sponsors is having a foam roller teaching session tonight. Now I can figure out how to properly use this thing.

VanceMac

Aye. But stay away from me with that cracked frame!

AzTallRider

I had a Sunday group ride on the schedule, but had too much home-stuff to do, and ended up with just over an hour of simulated group riding solo in the late afternoon. Rest day today.

Hermes

Interesting use of the term blocked. When I trained with the Russians, they were always concerned with fixed gear riding blocking muscles. If I rode at the track, I had to come into the gym later and ride the rollers on my road bike. I always felt the opposite after a track workout. My legs felt great on the road bike. I do know of one SoCal rider who rode exclusively at the track and when he tried to ride his road bike, it was terrible.

sarals 

Cleave, it's hard to disregard that background! A white Bianchi? Named "Roger"?

sarals 

Point taken!

I admitted to Ex this morning that I felt I'd been sandbagging. I was supposed to do an Early Bird crit yesterday and then couldn't make it, plus I bailed on the SMR ride Saturday "because I was C O L D". Wah-wah. So, with my tail between my legs, I went to spin this morning and tried to kill it and myself. Got to VO2 max on the spin bike - 156BPM, and THAT HURT. Still mad at myself (the other gals noticed it, too - "Sara, you're awfully quiet today"), I went to strength training and worked hard there, too. Now I'm going to get on the Look and do more damage. I need to work off that unused race energy. And loose four pounds. Still.

Esteban58

Well, as a charter member of the WCW, at least I can say that I didn't miss any days... Waiting for the black ice and frost to depart seems *smart* to me...

Hermes

I did not want to even think why the bike was named Roger. It was too disturbing.

AzTallRider

Well, it sure looks like it's in a chop shop, so maybe he hasn't gotten around to removing the identifying markings after the theft.

sarals 

sarals 

Ah! Saris heart rate strap just came. Ex, be prepared to receive full data. Shovel, I think GC will be happy now, too.