rumrunn6

reminds me of an episode in a Dunkin’s restroom w the hand dryer at my halfway point after 3 hrs riding in the cold. I was desperate. First time I may have used the chem warmers to get me back home. Ride home was only 1.5 hrs cuz I pumped up the tires and rode on the road that was plowed. Going the first half I was under inflated and rode thru the fresh snow 13 miles, on sidewalks & grass. Anyway the ride home was much better

Bowyn11

Winter is pretty harsh where I'm at. I'm located in SW Michigan and we already have had some snowy days hit us.

I didn't even know winter biking was a thing, I'm definitely going to do some more research on it!

gecho

I opted for a different kind of chemical toe warmer. I ditched the individual 7.4V battery packs for each boot and run both off a single higher voltage battery now. The controller with the "In Out" on it is the one I'm using for my boots, and the one above it is for my gloves. I mount it to the inside of my jacket with velcro and connect it to a USB-C battery with the cable on the right with a red end. Inside that red heat shrink is a little board with a USB-C connector that tells the battery to give it 9V instead of 5V. The controller didn't need 2 outputs as I ended up making a long Y cable to go to the bottom of my tights, then added cable guides inside the tights and a hole just above the top of my boots. With that change both my gloves and boots use the same kind of battery, so in a pinch I can switch them, plus I have a spare battery that can be used for either.

Its been unusually warm so far, so I've only used my boot heaters twice this year. I haven't even been bringing the battery with me lately.

noglider 

@rumrunn6, how do you know when to use the warmers in your shoes?

rumrunn6

might seem obvious & I can write something snarky, like when it gets cold. but it's a great question. let me think

this year I was reminded because I was out riding for about 1 1/2 hrs & when I got back to my car my toes were cold. I already put my barmitts on. a cpl hrs at 25 degrees means either wear my best winter cycling gloves or use barmitts. I carried 2 pair of gloves just in case I made the wrong choice. started w/ the good gloves & it was more than I needed but didn't switch. the next day was 35 degrees, started w/ thinner gloves but brought my better gloves in my trunk. finished the ride w/o switching

so as it's getting colder I'm gradually introducing my cold weather gear & doing a little trial & error

so now, if I go for another ride at 25 degrees I'll try the toe warmers. I know when it's super cold, like 17 degrees, I prefer the hand warmers taped to my socks/toes. especially if precipitation is happening


but we're not there yet

sorry, short answer, trial & error, I guess

noglider 

@rumrunn6, that's a perfect response, not snarky. It's hard to remember which clothes suit which conditions. I learned a trick here on BF. A guy said he kept a spreadsheet, so I do the same. I don't write in it often. I write the conditions and temperature, what I wore, and how well it worked out. It helps a little.

Thanks.

rumrunn6

I've seen those. I'm impressed! I'm not that organized. for me I think much of it comes down to finding stuff & doing laundry. meaning when I want to go for a ride, what can I find to wear? & if I've ridden recently, there's usually some folded laundry from my last ride, which I never put away. so I just grab it again. if it's a little warmer or colder than my last ride, I leave something off or scrounge around until I can find a little something extra

Bob Ross

Thread Drift: Your quote reminded me of one of my favorite cycling experiences ever. January 1993, I'm living in Boston MA, it starts snowing -- heavily -- one night, and my best friend who lives less than two miles away says "Come on over, we're having a party." So I don my winter jacket and grab my Peugeot rigid MTB, and I start riding the <2 miles to his place.

Did I mention it was snowing heavily?

In the time it took me to get from my front door, where the snow was already about 6" deep, to the first traffic light a quarter mile away, the accumulation had doubled. Seriously.

And as I continued pedalling in this ever-deepening white fluff I was admittedly shocked at how quickly it continued to accumulate. I swear to god there was 16-18" inches of snow on the ground when I finally arrived at my buddy's place ~20 minutes later.

Anyhow, the part that your quote reminded me of was: On three separate occasions during this short frigid commute, a driver in a car pulled up next to me, rolled down the passenger-side window, and shouted "YOU'RE CRAZY!!!"
Three different drivers.

Ah, memories...

noglider 

@Bob Ross, that happened to me twice.

I took an epic walkabout at the age of 20. I left college, my job, my apartment and took my bike to Europe to wander with no itinerary. I started in September. In early December in the south of England, it snowed where it rarely snows. The region was stranded. I decided to go back home to the US. I was in Stratford Upon Avon, Shakespeare's town. I waited a day for things to stabilize. The next day, I rode to Oxford. It was still cold, and there were snow banks on the roadsides. I rode 50 without stopping, and my cold feet were killing me. I double my wool socks which made my shoes too tight and didn't make me warmer. I took the train to London and then had to cross the city on my bike loaded with panniers etc. The streets had not been plowed, and traffic was snarled, and I slipped and slid with my laden bike. A man in a "lorry" ducked his head down to say, "You're mad, you know." Imagine this in a heavy London accent. If I had lifted my head to him, I would have fallen, so I just yelled, "I know."

More recently, NYC had a snowfall so big that the mayor declared an emergency and said no one may drive. Everyone took off from work, so I decided to try my bike with my brand new studded tires. They didn't help at all, because they're ice tires, not snow tires. When I put my foot down on the pedal, I fell over on my side. It didn't hurt because the snow was a big cushion. A man standing outside his workplace smoking a cigarette watched me try foolishly. He didn't speak English, but he had to say something. He yelled, "Bike!" Imagine this in a Chinese accent.