One more excuse to skip riding when it's cold
 

So it's cold out, do you take an outdoor ride or stay indoors?

Well, if you're looking for excuses to stay cozy and warm indoors, cold weather reportedly can:

• cause heart attacks
• damage your lungs

This is from an article by Dr. Mirkin, Exercising in Cold Weather:

• causes your body to produce adrenalin which constricts your arteries and raises your blood pressure
• thickens your blood and makes it more likely to clot
• causes the liver to make more fibrinogen that increases clotting
• raises cholesterol levels
• may reduce your body temperature, which weakens your heart muscle
• may induce exercise-induced asthma

My cardiologist loves that I ride but cautioned me about riding outdoors in the cold weather. He said it can actually do more harm to my heart than good.
Once the temps drop, I move indoors on the trainer. I've had one heart attack already, not looking forward to any more.

How do the Scandinavian/Nordic people manage to not die?

I go to the gym and ride a stationary bike/class or do something else. The gym always has good scenery. :D

Precisely why, during this time of year, I drive my Hummer a half a mile to my warm. cozy local bar to watch football. Preferably the team with the best record in the NFL.

any idea what they consider 'cold'? I rode in 40F weather last week and was fine, except the tips of my fingers froze almost immediately. Thicker gloves would probably solve the issue.

Cold weather is also bad for your Hummer. You should let it warm up for 15 minutes before you drive to the bar, and leave it running while you're there.

For me there is cold and there is cold/wet. In places with high humidity, the humidity compounds the temperature.

What temperature is considered "cold"? In So Cal, anything less than 50, and the natives are bundled up with thick jackets. In MN, that's t-shirt weather.

Whatever. They can pry my bike from my cold dead fingers.

Challenge is one thing. Strain is something else. Damage, beyond that.

Can sometimes be hard to know which is which, with a given activity. One nice thing about conditioning and fitness, though, is that (in general) it helps raise one's threshold and guards against such threats better than if one is less fit.

Back in the day, I used to run distances. Often quite hard. But in the colder times of the year, it'd be with appropriate clothing only, and it'd be at a pace and intensity more-suited to the situation. While at the time I'd never heard of cold weather being any more of a threat to heart, lungs or anything else, it made sense that the added stresses cold could impose would, at some point, be an unwarranted risk. And so I'd typically ratchet-down the intensity on such days. If for no other reason than avoiding the icy-cold part of the impact on the lungs, cardio-heavy that running is. Nicely, such overall fitness stood me in good stead during back-country hiking, ocean swimming and a host of other outdoor activities in less-than-hospitable conditions. I doubt I'd have survived half of the bad days, on such excursions, had I not been that fit and trained in anticipation of such days.

Pros and cons, as with anything we do.

My daughter is a freshman in college and plays in the band. I've been to 4 games this year.
50's, sunny but windy.
50s, rainy/windy.
40s, sunny and windy.
60, overcast and windy.
I couldn't get the clothing right. I was cold at every one of them wishing I was watching on TV. The wind is what makes it hard to dress for.

It's the wind. I hate the wind. Especially when I'm on a bike....unless it's a tailwind. It's never a tailwind.

What part of the world is your daughter's school?

The 50s, rain game was brutal. It was a 3:30 start. We had to stay for the after game performance. By that time, it was cold! The daughter is a James Madison University MRD in Harrisonburg VA. If you want to march in the band in college, JMU is one of, if not the best places to go. The band is going to Italy this year to perform for the Pope. ESPN Game Day has been there twice when they were an FCS school. They were thinking about going there again this year, but Appy State lost the week or two before the JMU game.

Things are relative. Back in my 50’s I’d go out on dawn patrol with our teenage sons and their friends. There would be frost on the roofs.

Those days are gone, but it was so weird for the water, in the dead of winter, to be warmer than the sand.

John

I sweat a lot, so the only thing that keeps me home is the risk of having to stop (for a puncture, especially). After the first 5-7 minutes of the ride, I'm warmed up, but I know I have to keep pedaling or the sweat will freeze on me. In the cold, an uphill, just ahead, can be a welcome sight. I breathe slowly, to keep the air warm in my nasal passages, upper lungs. This gets back to what Clyde1820 was saying about limiting the intensity. (I'll add duration to that equation).
Moreover, if I was to experience a mechanical difficulty that I could not remedy, I'd be walking back whatever distance I rode, because I do not carry any wireless devices.

I will say this like in any situation do things in moderation and know your limits. If it is colder than maybe don't go as hard but saying it is harmful is silly because there are tons of winter sports and activities that people do and thrive on.

Just be aware of your own body and if you don't feel comfortable being outside don't and if you do, do it, you will be OK.

You are too funny. There is nothing wrong exercising in cold weather.

I think it's pretty obvious that these factors are going to affect some people pretty badly and others pretty much not at all. I've noticed that as I developed some health issues in the last couple years that are directly related to the issues on that list, I was a lot less enthusiastic about riding in sub-50 degree weather. Having seen this article, I now think my body was telling me something, and I should listen to it rather than trying tp "tough it out".

Heh. When I did Cycle Oregon in 2002 we camped on a cattle ranch in eastern OR the first night. I was in the beer garden when it was probably upper 40s. People used to that weather were sitting around in shorts, sandals and mid weight tops. Didn’t seem to phase them at all. Being from the east coast, I thought they were nuts. That night it got below freezing. When I awoke, there was ice on my tent poles and fly.

The article is absolute nonsense...and BTW we just had a thread about a guy who died on his indoor trainer.

One of the funniest things I saw when living in So. Cal. was someone putting a dog sweater on their Malamute when it dipped below 50°. It was probably the only time that the dog actually would have been comfortable.

Cold is an illusion that plays tricks on human mind and prevents them from getting outdoors and enjoying life....I live in Canada and I have never yet encountered a temperature that was too cold to ride.

As I read the article, it seems that cold weather is dangerous to people who already have heart or lung problems. I've always exercised in winter.... skiing, both alpine and x/c, snowshoeing, skating, pond hockey when I was young, etc. As far as biking in cold weather, a few years ago minus 10 Celsius or 14 Fahrenheit, was my limit. Now it's about 0 Celsius, or freezing.

Dress warmly.

I have been riding bicycles, skating and skiing in the winter for well more than a half century and I’m going to continue to as long as I can.

It appears that some here did not read the article. Specifically, the Tips for Outdoor Exercise in Cold Weather:

And the My Recommendations section:

Seems to be pretty sensible, reasonable, and science-based advice.