djb

I've yet to use them, but I generally pick and choose my winter riding days and its nearly always in daylight, so I can see clearly what I'm going over.

Cyclist0108

When I was in college, in Maine, I decided to test the thermal rating on my sleeping bag by taking it out to the top of a local hill one night in February, where I slept, completely exposed. The air was so cold my nostrils stuck together, but it went ok until about 5:00 am when the wind kicked in.

I thought that was one of the stupidest things I could do, but your video has inspired me ...

Thanks for posting.

jefnvk

People are free to do as they wish, but riding at night, without lights, without a tent, and seemingly without proper clothing at -5F is something I'd never do, and I love winter sports.

Hope you recover quickly though!

Tourist in MSN

I always try to make camp before it gets dark too.

But I have never bike toured in winter, although I have bike toured a few times when it was below freezing in the morning. I just can't get enthusiastic about the concept of wanting to ride a bike over snow and ice in the winter on the way to a camping spot. And a winter sleeping bag takes a lot of volume. My thick down parka that I would wear in the campsite takes a lot of volume when packed. All your gear in winter gets heavier and bigger. Fortunately you can get good air matresses now, the thicker thermarest pads that were good enough for winter were thick and heavy too. Even though my winter sleeping bag was down for light weight, it weighed almost five pounds.

When I lived in Minnesota and winter camped, we never used a tent, almost always used a tarp to keep fresh snow off of us. Tent would hold the moisture in, and most tents did not have good enough ventilation to keep our stuff dried out. But a tarp did not hold the moisture in as much. We would use a space blanket as a ground sheet, but I think it only made us feel warmer, unlikely that it helped make our sleeping bags warmer.

Refreshing

When I used to live car-free I used studded tires in the winter but now that I get to choose when I want to ride outside I find studded tires are complete overkill, especially on gravel. Patches of ice on top of a gravel road are quite easy to navigate relative 2 what happens during an ice storm when you're riding in a bike lane and cannot maneuver around the ice patches. I can't imagine how much it would suck to ride even 50 miles with a set of studded tires. I hated them 95% of the time and the other 5% they were my best friend. Haha!

raceboy

HerrKaLeun

This was a great adventure - now that you survived to tell. You sure now have an impressive story to tell for the rest of your life.

reppans

djb

any one else remember that National Geographic shot from I think a piece on Australia, and the photo was to illustrate how aussies have a high amount of skin cancer, and the shot was of a guy taken from the side who was putting on his prosthetic nose into the Sphinx like squared off hole in his face.....very memorable shot.

black humour aside (oh geez, theres another frostbite reference) I hope your skin is ok, most of us have had bits of skin come off ends of ears , Canadians eh, and while it might be a bit sensitive, it should be ok.
Balaclava, put one on your shopping list.

Leebo

New England rider here. Ride around ice patches? Hmmm. And the stuff you cant see under the snow? For me, winter riding means studded tires. YRMV. I have three sets, they work really well when needed. Commuting and off road on the fat bike. Winter touring? Jus not my cup of tea.

Gypsy1

Thanks for your Adventure! I'm not one to enjoy the cold but currently live in SD... Bike all year and after this past winter, I'm leaving. Reading the tips and insights are very helpful though... Get back out there (plan, do, review, repeat). That Bivy looked familiar, Marine issued?

Darth Lefty 

rumrunn6

the rock solid frozen face mask!

Revoltingest

Suggestions based upon snowboarding & bike commuting as low as windy -5F....
- Wear good ski goggles over your glasses (as others have said).
- Handlebar pogies offer more warmth & dexterity. In days of yore, I'd modify
snowmobile pogies to fit my bikes. Nowadays you can buy bike specific ones.
- I modified my balaclava with a velcroed fabric bridge from the nose to eyebrow area.
This allows adjusting how much skin is exposed, & it covers skin between my eyes.
(It took some fiddle'n around to get it to feel right.)
- I also added a breath deflector to the balaclava's nose opening so
the moist air goes downward, avoiding eyewear condensation.
- Sweaty feet? Spray antiperspirant on them.
- Chocolate & bacon. Gotta be warm & well fed to enjoy it.

Awl

Best of luck with your nose.

Honestly backpacking and cycling are two different monsters in winter. Hiking, especially with a nice weight behind you, makes you work out more muscles than pedaling. So it at least feels warmer for awhile after you stop.

DropBarFan

Virginia rider here who finds the post rather surprising, I'd have thought staying warm while sleeping the hard part. I've biked (not camped) at 0° F & the thing that struck me was how chilly it got when I stopped for a few minutes even though I had a ton of clothes on. I have a similar balaclava that I've used while skiing, it doesn't seem to add that much warmth. I would have ditched the bike helmet & perhaps worn one of those hunting hats with the ear flaps & a long scarf for the face. Also, how about a dyno hub light?

Tourist in MSN

Sleeping in a warm sleeping bag really is pretty easy in winter. Getting into it and getting out of it is the hard part. In the late 70s I bought a down sleeping bag rated at 40 below. Almost five pounds. But that particular bag I doubt that it would be good below about minus 20 (F). The company that made it went out of business in the late 70s, that was how a poor college student like me could afford such a luxury, I bought several items at their liquidation sale, some of which I still use. But a down bag compresses quite effectively, especially under your weight. On one of my winter camping trips we could compare who had the best sleeping pads by how much depression was left in the snow in the morning under our bags, the worse your pads were the more snow melted under you. The worst part is getting out of the bag and getting dressed.

The trouble I have biking or skiing or snowshoeing in winter is moisture control, parts of me will be freezing and parts of me will be sweating. Sweat built up in your gear destroys the insulation value and when it starts to evaporate it gets colder from evaporative cooling. Even biking in winter, there will be times I take my gloves and mittens off to try to shed excess heat so I do not sweat as much. If you go for a couple hour long bike ride, not much of a problem if you have moisture built up in your clothing as it can dry out inside. But winter camping, moisture buildup in your clothing is a much bigger problem as there is no convenient way to get rid of it.

DropBarFan

Well there's that vapor barrier clothing idea though it sounds sort of like sleeping in a wetsuit. I don't have a winter tent but always assumed that for very cold temps the idea was to have all vents closed...is it better to have at least one vent open to prevent excess humidity?

& yes, I've never liked getting over-heated in winter. I see a lot of bikers that wear tights that go under the shorts...I like the ones that go over the shorts...that way one can remove the tights (in public) without any fuss. Also, the less one sweats, the less washing required. Heh, it can't be too easy to wash clothes when temp is -5° F.

Tourist in MSN

Vapor barrier liners, not sure if I have seen much discussion on them for clothing. But they have been used for longer trips in sleeping bags. I think after a week long snowshoeing trip I did in the UP of Michigan, my sleeping bag (down) weighed a couple extra pounds from moisture buildup in it. And when I got home and the bag came indooors and thawed out, it was pretty damp. I did not use a vapor barrier liner.

Even when you are sleeping, your skin gives off moisture. That moisture migrates in vapor phase through the sleeping bag insulation. The inner part of the bag is near your skin temperature but the outside of the bag is the air temperature surrounding the bag. Thus, in winter, some of the bag insulation is above freezing, some of the bag is below. As the moisture in vapor phase that your body gives off migrates through the bag, when that moisture gets to the part of the insulation were the insulation is below freezing, most of that moisture will turn into ice crystals and stay in the bag. WInter camping, I kept my long underwear on but I did not wear most of my other layers in the bag at night. If those layers were damp, that would be come extra moisture that migrates into the bag insulation.

Somewhere in storage I have a vapor barrier liner, but I think I only used it a few times. It has been quite a few years since i winter camped.

It has been years since I read Steger and Schurke's book from their (and a couple of others) dog sled trip to the north pole, so my memory could be off but I think that some of their sleeping bags weighed 40 pounds with ice buildup. Either they did not use vapor barrier liners or they did not work as they should have. That is why northern houses are built with a vapor barrier liner on the inside of the wall, to keep moisture from getting inside the insulation in the wall during winter.

But in my opinion you don't want to consider using a vapor barrier liner in your sleeping bag unless you are out for more than a week and a half or more. Shorter trips, I do not think it necessary as the moisture buildup will not be that bad.

Vents in a tent, I think it all depends on the wind. When the inside ceiling of your tent starts to grow lots of ice crystals, you might want to open a few vents. I never winter camped in windy areas, so on that I am quite ignorant, we always camped in forest where there was good natural wind break. And we usually camped under a tarp, so no moisture buildup.