Hypno Toad

What is the widest range of temps you've ridden in. I'd like to focus on air temp, but feel free to embellish with windchill or heat index if you must, but the *winner* is based on air temp range.

Both rides are just west of Minneapolis:
102F (air temp) - June 7, 2011 10 miles home from work - I enjoyed a tailwind pushing, but not much airflow to cool you down.
-28F (air temp) - January 30, 2019 13 miles training ride for Arrowhead 135 - I wasn't the only one out riding that morning, including bumping into a buddy on his way to work.

Total range 130F

* since I'm in the US and we hate the metric system, I'm using temp in F ... plus it will give the biggest number for the range

San Rensho 

many years ago when I was in college I used to commute to school, about 3 miles. I had to go to a final exam at 8 in the morning .thermometer was 20 below zero and width wind chill it was 70 degrees below zero. There were warnings that exposed flesh will freeze in 5 minutes

Hypno Toad

Not to be too picky ... but -20F would take gale force winds to get near -70F windchill

Windchill calculate:
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/html/w...lbody_txt.html

But with -20F and 15 mph winds, you're in the frostbite in 10 minutes category of the chart:
https://www.weather.gov/safety/cold-wind-chill-chart
(I feel think these calculations changed back in the '90s ... )

I've been entertained by people that haven't lived in the North (and a few that have lived up here their whole life); they believe that frost bite is a certainty in 10 minutes, based on the linked chart. I've spent 90 minutes with exposed skin in conditions that should cause frost bite in 10 minutes, the key is keeping the engine hot and quality core layers.

Flip Flop Rider

cold = low 30's
hot = around 100. 90's here all summer

indyfabz

We had several days of 100+ temps crossing the country in 1999 in IA, IL and IN. One such days was a century. (One night IN In the forecast low was 85.) Those days were made worse by high humidity. Heatwave finally broke the day we crossed into OH.

Don't know what my coldest ride has been. I do remember leaving a hotel to ride to the start of an organized event. The air temp was 34. I did cross the North Cascades Highway in the snow. The first 16 miles of the descent were miserable. I had to stop and put my hands down my shorts to take the freeze off.

Oh yeah...The second morning of Cycle Oregon in 2007 is was below freezing when I started out from La Pine. I had a good deal of ice on the tent fly when I woke up that morning.

cyccommute 

Can't give you specific dates but I've ridden at 105°F in Denver but going up the Alpowa Summit in eastern Washington seemed far hotter at 103°F (August 2005). Lot of black basalt radiating heat makes for a very hot ride.

Coldest...again exact date but it was in 2012...was 0°F.

We can experience wild temperature swings here in Denver. I've had days of riding to work in the mid-teens and riding how in the 60°s. I've also had days where I started at nearly 50°F in the morning and ended at 20°. It's hard to plan for those kinds of days.

Riveting

Cold = 5 F (for a 35 minute dry commute) where nose breathing makes the moisture in your nostrils frozen and crunchy. I can't imagine -20F
Hot = ~104 F (in Denver where we routinely get single digit humidity, which makes the heat bearable, if not pleasant, not like in the Boston area, where 98 %RH makes an 85 F ride downright nasty).

I've also experienced the big temp swings in Denver, starting out at 20 F at 7am, and hitting 65 F at noon. It's tough to dress for that, unless you have a seat post bag for your winter bibs and winter jacket, which I didn't, but I do now.

Hypno Toad

We have wild-swings in common. When doing some research, I came across this stat for Minnesota: Largest single-day change 71 °F (39 °C) April 3, 1982 (I likely biked to school that day, but I hadn't started my Excel file for ride data yet )

Back before I had a home office, spring commutes were challenging ... having enough space in the bag for all the gear I needed for the morning ride and didn't need for the afternoon ride

79pmooney

-5F years ago commuting 12 miles into Boston, Warmed as I went in except - the first two miles were gentle downhill. Cold! (Every morning of that work week. My no car days.) 105 or lightly higher ~10 years ago here in Portland. Another 12 mile commute. Riding through NW Portland on the way home mid afternoon (I got off work at 2:30) I rode down a smaller street between to larger buildings. Felt like I rode into an opening oven door. A wave of heat. You could almost see it.

So a measly 110F total.

Edit: Frostbite - I never wore anything over my face. Everything I tried caused my glasses to fog. Never felt like I was anywhere near frostbite. Now, wooden feet were a regular feature of cold rides but I long ago got used to the concept skating on ponds in the old school skates we laced up tight! After we were done, we'd sit on a 10F stone, put our feet in 10F boots and hobble home on blocks we could not feel. (And kept all our socks on when we got home! Warm those puppies slowly or else!)

Ben

bpcyclist

18 F last year for a three-hour ride of misery. Not used to that here in the Pacific Northwest. And also maybe 103F about two summers ago, also here in town. Both were awful.

livedarklions

Really cold and really hot, but I kind of feel better not knowing the exact temperature in those conditions. I've definitely ridden in over 100 degrees in New Orleans, but don't think I've ever ridden below zero F.

caloso

28F. That's about as cold as gets here and people start freaking out about their citrus trees freezing.
110F. I did a 70 mile road race in that heat. I went through at least 10 bottles. I'll never do that again.

rumrunn6

dunno but reminds me it affects my water consumption. last summer did a long ride on a hot day & barely made it w/ 2 bottles. went back a month later w 3 bottles & just managed to finish 1 bottle over the same distance

Slightspeed

I've done several rides starting mid 30s. The biggest swing was 41° to mid 90s on Wildflower Century in Atascadero, CA. I call the 2011 Lighthouse Century, my "double century" 100 miles in over 100°, highest I saw was 104°, but I heard 108° too.

Pasadena vintage ride last year, showing 104°. Sure glad to hear that global warming is just a "Chinese hoax", otherwise I'd be worried.🤡

55murray

I've done -20 F on the commute to work a few years back, it is only 3.5 miles. I've probably only done low 90s as a high, I almost never ride in the heat of day.

atwl77

Hypno Toad

Rando through hell?

atwl77

Absolutely. Also, trying to descend 1400m while kitted out in warm weather clothing at 9-10°C wasn't fun either

Hypno Toad

WOW! Hardcore!

mercator

I guess I can play.
Coldest is a normal Calgary winter day -18, not fun but it's a dry cold, right?
Hottest ride, +104 near Malaga Spain in August. I was staying up in the mountains so it was easy and cool riding down to the coast but I had to call for a ride home.

Hypno Toad

I did some bad math ... we have a close second with 122*

First posted new leader thinking this was 132* - time to call it a day

wolfchild

Coldest rides I ever did was minus -23 Celsius ( -9F) but it felt colder because of windchill….Hottest ride I ever did was 32 Celsius but it felt like 40+++ because of humidity. These are extremes of temperature which we get around here every few years, it's not like that all the time.

downtube42

The record low in Indianapolis is -27, in '94. I didn't ride that day, but I did commute to work at -15. That's air temperature, none of that wimpy a$$ windchill calculation.
Later I moved to San Angelo, TX, where I did at 10 mile TT with the local cycling group, and it topped out at 118F.

132F range.

GIven the choice of the two, I'd take -15 because it is possible to protect onesself from the cold but there's not a thing you can do to avoid the heat except stay indoors, which most of west Texas does. But my choice has been to move to the PNW, where neither extreme is likely. I can take 40F and rain all day and night - and sometimes I do.

DrIsotope

The hot day was wayyyyyy worse than the cold one. Because once I got into that heat, it never let up. I dunno how Strava figures the 109ºF average, as the thermometer never dropped below 112º.
Even at 109º, that's over the course of two and a half hours... from miles 100 through 140. Brutal. This ride wasn't the hottest-- I apparently saw a short bit of 122º last year. But the pictured heat
went on and on and on. My hands shook for maybe three hours after the ride was over.

The cold was short, but agonizing. I didn't even have tights. I wore summer bibs and wool socks. I stretched a $2 knit beanie over my helmet. I got frostburn on my thighs. It was to ride to the rim
of the Grand Canyon at sunrise-- which was a brilliant idea-- forgetting that the Grand Canyon is at like 7,000ft, and I was doing it in March... not as brilliant. I stood in the water in the hotel shower
for almost thirty minutes before I could feel my feet again.

downtube42

At the start of a 4 day ride in Washington state, the ride organizer said do NOT drop your warm weather gear at one of the overnights, I don't care how hot it gets in western Washington because it WILL be cold coming back through the Cascades. Needless to say, a few guys ditched their tights and jackets after a couple of scorcher days.

I'm all about the rando love, but at the top of the pass looking at tens of miles of descent into a chilly headwind, there was no way in heck I'm giving up my tights, jacket, rain pants, gloves, shoe covers, and beanie to scared-a$$ looking guys in lycra. I carried that crap for nearly 700 miles. They lived, they just weren't happy about it for a while.