I well known in the local community for my ability to ride in the cold (and I'm nothing compared with some of the folks I know). I'll ride in -30F/-35C (air temp), and I've done 50 and 100 mile rides in the rain/snow/slush with temps around freezing.
I can ride all day in the cold. But, like many have posted, getting stopped in these conditions can be a problem. I've had a mechanical a few times in the sub-zero temps, and walked 3-4 miles to get back to the house; and I've been lucky to have Frau Toad drive to find me and get me home. For these winter rides, I'm taking tools, tubes, pump, and chemical hand warmers to make sure my fingers can do the work in the cold.
FWIW, I've been planning/training for the
Arrowhead 135 for a while, being able to solve a mechanical in the dark and coldest temps you can imagine is a critical skill for this event (like survival-critical) ... and I think I'll finally have the gear I need for next year. My biggest key to success is a bulletproof bike that I know I can trust, and my Pugsley has been that bike. The only times it's failed me was that one winter when I thought I could make my Marge Lite rims tubeless, they are not tubeless compatible, but I've never had flat with tubes.
Here's some shameless self-promotion:
This is from the 2017 Almanzo 100 with temps just above freezing and rain/sleet all day. This course has three support stops on course, I blew straight through the first one, the second (mile 66) is a camp site with a shelter and a fire ... we stopped long enough to use a toilet and refill bottles, many riders were ending their day here with the warmth and shelter. My little group kept our break short and got back on the road. We stopped again, very briefly for the third stop ... I was cooling off too quickly without shelter at this stop to stay more than a minute. The Toad is on the right of the pic with the drop-bar fatbike.
The 2018 Filthy 50 (AKA The Filthiest 50) snow/slush with temps below freezing. I didn't stop once on this ride, and I was feeling the cold ... hard to get the muscles to fire. This ride had many riders turn around after 5 miles to ride back to the start, they just couldn't warm up. Yes, my right hand is bare, the glove is in my jacket, I rode without my glove for many miles to make it easier to get food.
On January 2020, Minneapolis had a polar vortex with air temps nearly -30F (this is not windchill). I did a 90 minute training ride and saw commuters out riding and bumped into a buddy. I made a point to keep it close to home on well populated routes incase anything went wrong.
