ericmerg1

So yesterday I rode at 16 degrees and was fine for ~25 miles before my toes chilled, today it's -3 and I decided that it's going to be too danged cold (took a few riding friends to talk me out of it). so is there a line where you guys just say it's too danged cold.

edit: I went out riding anyway, only did 9 miles though

corrado33

No. I commute on my bike. My bike and I do better in the extreme cold than my cars do.

FrozenK

Anything colder than -10F and it is hard to have fun. Other than to say "I rode in -15F" weather.

Leebo

Below 20 F becomes less fun for me with way more prep. Not That I haven't pedaled colder. I don't want stupid cold to become dangerous. But then again, I mt bike year round too.

nripin

i rode in this morning at 5f and had to break icicles from the balaclava (chuckle)!

PaulRivers

Colder than...0f I think? There's a point where any exposed skin can get frostbike in a few minutes - keep in mind that you're biking into the wind so assume at least a 15mph wind. Can you get around that? Definitely - but it requires more planning and clothing to make sure everything is always covered. The face area around the mask is the biggest potential problem area. Also annoying is how bike jacket manufacturers like to make bike jackets short in the front.

I get hesitant to bike below about 15f, it just gets so cold it's not as much fun. I've done it, but since I have a car anyways I mostly just take the car.

We've had some amazing weather here in Minnesota so far this winter, but it look like on Sunday we have a 4 days of deep freeze (high of 0f, low of -5f). Just planning on driving for that stretch.

Daniel4

These first two days back to work were a little harder, not because of the cold but because I was loading my pack with clothing and towels for the office for a start of another year. Makes it easier for me to rotate my clothes if some of it is there already.

The only line for me is if we get a dump of fresh snow overnight that is too high to pedal through. Last winter it was 5inches. But this fall I got a new fat bike, I am ordering new studded tires and will see how high of fresh snow it can do. Plowing through snow works up a sweat so low temperatures won't be a concern unless there's mechanical failures due to the temperature.

TriDanny47

Fresh snow deeper than 5-6 inches, temp below -10F, or glare ice from a major freezing rain event.

bikemig 

Cold doesn't stop me but my commute to work is only 3 miles each way. Ice may stop me. My city doesn't believe in plowing the streets too often (no doubt we don't pay enough in property taxes or something) and some winters my route to work becomes a sheet of gnarly ice. At that point, I start to drive.

Miele Man

I commuted year round in Toronto Canada and that often meant riding when it was snowing or the roads were icy. Even without studded tires where I am now I can ride my MTB up a hill when most cars get stopped about halfway up and start sliding back down. You should see the looks the drivers give me when I ride past them.

The biggest boogaboo in winter riding is dressing TOO WARMLY before heading out. Old military Arctic Warfare Training adage = "SWEATING KILLS!" Avoid sweating, wear layers and breathable jacket or windshell that can be EASILY unzipped with your gloved or mittened hands. You do not want to bare your hands if you don't have to especially with gloves as it takes a long time for the fingers to warm up again. I wear wool inner and a windproof shell on my hands. i also drss my lower bodfy in layers with a wind pants over everything when it's really cold.

Your area low temperature plus windchill PLUS RIDING SPEED INTO THE WIND can lead to very dangerous windchill temperatures wherein frostbite can occur in mere minutes or LESS. If you do ride in such extremes then every bit of exposed skin should be covered. I use a blaclava and a face mask.

Sunglasses or TINTED goggles with UVA and UVB protection are a good idea on sunny days but also on cloudy or overcast days. This is really important if you ride when there is little contrast. That's when you can get snowblindness which is VERY painful.

Snowblindness is actually a sunburn inside the eye. In low contrast but bright conditions like an overcast day with snow the iris in the pupil EXPANDS to let in more light in an effort to make out details. What's actually needed is less light. If you ever get caught out in such conditions without sunglasses or tinted goggles a piece of cardboard with a slit in it can be used to prevent snowblindness.

If you are out riding and yoy start to get too cold if you can find any kind of newspaper you can put sheets of it under a layer of clothing where the cold part of your body is -,except your hands.

If you ever start shivering pay VERY close attention to it. When you stop shivering make ABSOLUTELY SURE it's because you have warmed up. Getting cold, not warming andf then stopping shivering is a WARNING SIGN THAT YOU'RE SLIPPING INTO SEVERE HYPOTHERMIA and it can kill you very quickly after that.

I keep a saddle bag on my bicycle in winter with an extra layer of clothing in it that is large enough to go whatever I'm wearing. Even the extra socks are WAY oversize so than go on OVER my shoes. Two plastic bags are carried for emergency shoe covers to keep those extra socks dry on the shoes as well as to block the wind. You can carry another 2 bags to go over your hands but remember they can be a bit slippery on the brake levers.

Happy riding, take precautions, no the limits, stay safe but enjoy your winter riding.

BTW, if you ever get caught in deep snow, if you let most of the air out of your MTB tires (pressure around 15psi) you'll get amazing grip in that snow.

The ONLY deep snow I have a hard time with is that sticky 'packing snow' that snowballs and snowmen get made from.

A couple of times I undid the center bolt on my fromt fender and slif the fender down UNDER my front tire and securted it there so it was like a ski. That let me get through some surprisingle deep snow. i've considered building a detachable ski for the front wheel.

Cheers

BobbyG

After missing out on too much winter commuting the previous two years due to having only road tires and wetter winters, last winter I pushed my cold threshold back down to -12F from -23 where it had crept up to over the years. This winter I had an extra bike and bought studded snow tires and have been riding consistently (and LOVING the snow and ice) until last week when the temps hit single digits. Also 3 or 4 inches of snow would be my limit, I think. My problem is fingers below 15F. Actually, just my thumbs. I went to mittens and that has been working, but my thumbs still get cold, I think due to the pressure on my hands limiting circulation.

dh024

Snowy roads will force me to find another way to commute to work, but the cold usually doesn't stop me. It rarely gets colder than -30C here in Calgary, and that's my rough limit. Anything colder than that, and I find I have to bundle up in too many layers to enjoy the ride. There is definitely an art to finding the right clothing to enjoy being outside in the cold, so it may be that I just don't have that experience yet on those really cold days.

Daniel4

Ha, ha. Good overall post but I can’t help from commenting about this. What those drivers have on their minds may not be what we may think. They’re saying to themselves how crazy that cyclist is to be riding in this weather.

Machka 

When I lived in Canada (Winnipeg), I commuted down to -40C/F and cycled longer distances down to about -32C or so. I don't know if it is still up on my website (I'm slowly restructuring my website) but my coldest century (100 miles in one day) started at -32C and got up to a nice balmy -25C or so.

Now I live in Australia and find myself complaining when the temperature gets close to 0C.

elcruxio

Well this is quite death and destructiony

While it's true that sweating in the winter is not optimal, the more common outcome with too many clothes in the winter is going to mean that you're going to be rather wet at your destination. "Sweating kills" is only really relevant when you absolutely have no chance of getting to shelter and/or warmth for anytime soon. So we're talking about a long range scout or whatever. Staying within civilization or even within miles of civilization is fine for testing out gear.

Layering up and using a shell is the optimal choice, but what we do for basic everyday riding is we use ordinary clothes underneath (jeans, button down shirt, merino sweater etc) and downhill skiing clothes on the top (jacket, pants). Then you'll always be presentable since you can just take off the padded warm top layer. Then you'll just have to fit your speed to your sweating.

About that bare hand thing. When mountain biking I'm frequently forced to take off all gloves especially when climbing long uphills since gloves just get too hot. I usually have double layer gloves with a thin base layer and a shell glove but sometimes I need to take off even the base layer. When you're that hot it really doesn't take long for the hands to warm up again. The coldest I've taken my gloves off was -20F I think.

Weeelll.... Yeah. depending at what temps. I'd say covering your whole face and even nose comes relevant for me at maybe -40 or colder. Today was -15F and I had my mouth and nose out the whole 2.5 hour ride. And it was a road ride so the windchill was there.

Depending on what area of the skin we're talking about and how accustomed you are one can manage with exposed skin. Ears are usually very sensitive, but cheeks and nose are quite individual. But it's pretty easy to know when skin is getting too cold as it hurts before it does.

These are good ideas. I mentioned in the other topic that I don't use goggles, but I converted and bought 100% enduro goggles which are clear but still have 100% UV protection.

or just go and get a coffee or something. And then ride home and think about new clothing options.

I mean, yeah... This is technically true but very unlikely to happen on a normal bike ride if you're not severely under prepared, as in wet t-shirt in the freezing temps or whatever. I've never heard of anyone getting that cold when exercising and the situation hasn't been a medical emergency of some other kind beforehand.

I usually just carry a pair of extra thick old german mittens (too warm for even -40, they're ridiculously warm) to warm up my hands if things get bad. Fingers can go bad quick, as can toes so those are the things I prepare for. I really need to get some heat packs I can fit into my shoes.


If only this worked, but sadly even 2.5" wide mtb tires cannot float on powder if it's deep enough. Actually, no, they can't float, but they can spin in the snow if the snow is not deep enough. A fatbike would be nice so I could ride snowmobile routes but even deep power is apparently too loose for a fatbike.

You'll be better walking your bike rather than trying to ride it in too deep snow.

Cold is just cold. It's not rocket science. I've lived my whole life at or near the arctic circle so for me cold is just a very casual thing. The only times I actually really think about what to wear is when going for a longer road ride in the really cold weather, or when going for a multi hour XC ski trip, or when going for a multi hour MTB ride in the extremes.

So far I haven't faced a weather too cold for riding.

noglider 

Everyone's limit is different, and conditioning and skill are big factors.

Last winter, my limit was about 15ºF. My commute is 14 miles long, and it takes over an hour. Exposure that long gets painful. This winter, I bought better clothes, so I hope to increase my tolerance for hour-long exposure. NYC is a very windy city, and my route is right next to the Hudson River, so whatever the weather department reports as the temperature and wind speed is not true for me.

My only incentives for pushing my limit are to have fun and to feel badass. I really don't need to do it. My other way of commuting is to walk 15 minutes to the subway, ride the subway, and then walk 5 minutes to work. And the subway works almost perfectly in bad weather, so it's really a very sensible way of travel in bad weather. But reading all these super badass Canadians and Minnesotans here about how they ride in -40º weather makes me want to push my own limit.

Riveting

Did you ever make the ski? I imagined you holding the front brake closed with a rubber band, and attaching the ski with tie wraps (or velcro straps) around the tire/rim? Was balancing easy?

Riveting

This made me smile since I did a century that was 50 degrees (F) warmer than your temps, and I felt like a (very cold) badass!

Alligator

I'll ride in any temperature, but when it's below -10 F I'll limit the distance. It starts to get a little hard at that temperature.

Arcanum

Not in terms of temperature. I can bundle up to be reasonably comfortable at -15F, and generally need to at least a few times every year. What happens more is that the distance I'm willing to go for nonessential activities (I don't have a car) tends to shrink with snow and darkness.

V73

I haven't hit a temp limit yet, but last year I had to take a number of days off due to deep snow or mechanical failure. That was also my very first year winter cycling, so I hope to do better this winter. Of course, it hasn't gotten below 20ºF yet and there's no snow on the ground, so I'm assuming I'll eventually get a winter...

jfowler85

The only time I do not ride, this year at least, is when there is standing water on the roads. Primarily because I haven't installed fenders yet on the newest bike and cleaning the consequent grit out of every part gets old. Otherwise, I rode all of last winter which routinely saw temperatures below 0f. This year is much more mild, hence the comment about water on the roads. In fact, it is supposed to pour all day tomorrow...again...so it looks like I'll be in the car.

Plimogz

Yeah, the unplowed line by the side of road, under the ice and snow, forcing me to ride too far into the lane, constantly worrying about jerks who will pass with an impatient acceleration and less than 2 foots' clearance... That keeps me local, more than anything else.

Otherwise I have clothes and boots and gloves good enough for down to about -25° C. And while I do not feel like I could currently manage prolonged -30° C (before wind chill), that would be remedied, easily enough, by nicer pair of boots. It is all down to the clothes, I think.

The funny bit, however, is that because I own decent enough face and hand wind protection, and plenty of woolen hats, shirts, tights and socks, with good studded tires to boot, but do not own any proper rain gear, I would much rather do sunny and snowy -20°C than near-freezing rainy.

Jim from Boston

The most strident objections about winter cycling I receive from people who know me are the concerns for the driver themselves, not only because we delay them, but particularly for fear they might hit me.

Most comments though are, "You didn't ride your bike today, did you?" Anticipation of that question is for me a motivation to ride. On a couple of occasions, including yesterday at 8° F, my wife (a former cyclist herself) has chided me, "You just want to ride today so you can write about it on Bike Forums."

Jim from Boston

A favorite post of mine about winter cycling was this reply to "When does Hardcore become Stupid?"

So when I get ribbed about winter riding, my best reply is that "I'm hardcore, but not stupid."