djb

nope, the distance to my dentist is about 10k, climbing too, and the chance of my shifting getting stuck in one gear is pretty high when riding in urban brine salt combo that goes over bottom of bike, plus the unlikely chance of a flat--nope.
On top of it, I have a few work visits to do today also, so its just not worth the risk and time and energy spent, not to mention in the afternoon going down to -26c and real -40c windchill, if not more.
Just not worth it.
If it was my regular shortish 5.5 km commuter trip, I would do it, but not today.

Tourist in MSN

If I go anywhere today, it would probably be on foot, a walk for exercise. Am retired, so do not need to go to work. But not riding a bike anywhere either. Pasted from the forecast I pulled up a few hours ago (temps are Fahrenheit):I now live down in tropical South Wisconsin, but I grew up in Minnesota where it used to get really cold before global warming accelerated. When you spit outside and you hear your spit break into bits when it lands, that is when it is really cold and this cold snap is not even close to that.

prj71

Check out Liam Garner...

https://nowthisnews.com/news/teen-bi...erican-highway

VomitSpeed

Note to other 17 year olds: Check Liam's Tik-Tok for the new standard in teen cycletouring. Anything less than 2 continents is now underwhelming.

Note to everyone else: Perhaps you should reconsider how adventurous you really were when planning your first bike trip. Wimps!

Note about the weather: Liam apparently started in Alaska in August of 2021, which is around the usual (sensible) time most (albeit old) cycletourists start the trip to Ushuaia.

I wonder if Liam was inspired to carry the auto license plate by Iohan.

tcs

Back in 1970 the man, the legend Heinz Stücke rode through Whitehorse on his way to Prudhoe Bay.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz_St%C3%BCcke

djb

That's not his regular bike, the black one with the two sets of handlebars, and secondly, that goofy bike looks like it doesn't have any bar tape on the bare metal--which is a real no no in winter riding.
I've always put hockey tape on all of my brake levers, less cold transmitted to fingers resting on them. Makes a noticeable difference.

tcs

Inspiration: 'Competitive' touring: meh

B'yauling Toni, 18y.o., 'round the world:

https://cyclingmagazine.ca/sections/...20to%20Halifax.

tcs

Yeah, I can't explain this odd picture*, but his travel map & diary log the trip.

BTW, he rode several different bikes over his 50-year tour.




*Looks like a period Schwinn electro-forged somebody converted to fixed gear.

tcs

Gleb Travin, 1928.

https://www.adventurecycling.org/blo...of-the-arctic/

VomitSpeed

Indeed it does. He also appears to be wearing galoshes. That appears to be a working drilling rig in the background and an asphalt road. I found that picture in a 2020 Adventure Cyclist article about Heinz Stücke labelled "Alaska 1970". Maybe somebody knows something about the location. The North Slope Haul Road/Dalton Highway to Deadhorse (Prudhoe Bay) wasn't built until 1974. There is some asphalt up there.

VomitSpeed

Wow! Gleb Travin is the guy responsible for bikepacking! That is an amazing story. Bear grease for protecting his face from the cold - that seems like it would work. I use Swedish Frost Tape which kind of makes your face look like you are bandaged-up after losing a fight with a wolverine.

Tourist in MSN

You beat me to commenting on the lack of tape, but I was going to say that the cloth bar tape of that era would not add much for insulation.

In the early 1980s, I was camped in a small national park and there was a couple camped next to us that were bike touring. They were teachers and had the summer off. They both had cut foam from their insulated sleeping pads (probably ensolite?), and used duct tape to keep the foam on the bars. That was before cork tape and they were looking for less hand vibration.

I used to put cloth bar tape on my brake levers, mostly for better grip when my fingers were wet. But eventually decided it was not really necessary. If it was cold enough to want insulation, I would be wearing long finger gloves.

I did go for a 3 mile walk today, temp was 3 above (F), but so little wind it was almost pleasant.

mev

Impressive not only for weather but also across a region without normal roads in 1921.

I was thinking of Hiromasa Andow as an example of a winter cyclist. - https://www.tim.hi-ho.ne.jp/andow/sib...t/report6.html He cycled from Murmansk (September 1st 2002) to Magadan (May 6th 2003). Waiting the middle of Lake Baikal to freeze so he could cross and then travelling on ice roads such as this one - https://gentlemanadventurer.travellerspoint.com/201/
He followed this up two winters later with this trip - https://www.tim.hi-ho.ne.jp/andow/far...ishreport.html

tcs

By whatever road or lack of same, his travels map indicates his first trip there was in 1970.

tcs

ubiquitous vinyl

djb

even I remember the super super thin shiny bar "tape" from that time, didn't do a darn thing for comfort. The cloth stuff at the time wasn't much better really.
I have some ESI bartape that is noticeably more comfortable than other brands that I have on other bikes, but I do find the price of some "high end" bar tape to be rather surprisingly expensive, so I tend to get good stuff on sale now and then, and have double wrapped also.

djb

I do notice a difference, and first started doing it in the late fall when I would start wearing thin gloves, and the tape did help. I also have experience from getting really cold hands and fingers from handling tripods and whatnot in the cold, and in extreme cold, even with thicker gloves I don't like touching bare metal, so another reason to do this to my cold weather bikes, commuter, winter commuter and fatbike. Plus I have the hockey tape, so its around and doesnt take long to do.

VomitSpeed

That map seems to indicate he rode his bike from Winnipeg to Edmonton to Anchorage where he flew from Anchorage to Prudhoe Bay to Fairbanks and back to Anchorage where he must have left his bike. There was no road to Prudhoe Bay at the time.

The map also says he went from Dawson City, Yukon (in 1970 connected by road to Whitehorse) and somehow to Inuvik (the Dempster Highway from Dawson City to Inuvik was not completed until 1978). Those route lines are not completely accurate but it looks like he did a flight from Inuvik to Norman Wells or Colville Lake to Edmonton. Who knows. Maybe he did that Dempster Highway trip after the Dempster Highway was built and the line colours are wrong. Inuvik seems to have a blurry 2000 under it.

Tourist in MSN

You are Canadian, of course you have hockey tape.

Several years ago you could order bar tape from Asia on Ebay for an extremely low price, they called it cork but at that price I assume it has no cork in it. I bought a lifetime supply. It had no adhesive, you needed to buy some two way tape at an office supply store for it. Have that on all of my drop bar bikes.

One of the joints on my thumbs get really sore where it contacts a kayak paddle, so I started using padded handlebar tape on kayak paddles, not only does it feel much better on my thumb joints, but in cold wet conditions, it has much better grip. I have my second paddle strapped on the foredeck on my kayak in the photo, the bar tape has a yellow and black pattern.




I still have handlebar tape on the brake levers on one of my bikes. This is my medium duty touring bike. The tape was black at one time, but a lot of sun turned it gray.

djb

smart idea on the kayak paddle contact area. I get the angle of better grip when cold and wet.
Even though I do not play hockey, it's easy to find rolls of hockey tape, and the fabric aspect of it is great for tactileness, and it does toughen up over time and doesnt get weird/sticky like duct tape or electric tape over time, and is fairly easily cut off with an exacto if needed. Mine also turns grey over time.
Ye old winter commuter, this tape must be ten years old, maybe more, and on the tubbybike, this is maybe a year and a half.

djb

ps, was -29c, -20f earlier this morning, has warmed up to -26c or -15f
still not riding today....

Tourist in MSN

I have not seen any hockey tape close up since I was in high school. Your photos make me wonder if the vintage cloth tape we used to use for handlebars (Velox?) and hockey tape are the same thing?

djb

you know, I was thinking the same thing either yesterday or today when this topic came up. They certainly look similar dont they and from my recollection of the old cloth tape on me and my friends bikes back then, I suspect that they aren't that far off from one another.

balto charlie

I can't blame ya.
I actually got outside for walk. Cold but no wind. Yesterday felt much colder due to the wind. I actually brewed a beer outside midday