Random11

Today was the coldest day I've ever been out cycling. It was 25 degrees when I left; 30 when I got back. Living in (north) Florida, temps don't get too extreme, and I've never decided not to go riding because it was too hot or too cold. After today's ride, my new thought is: If it's below freezing, I'm not riding. My core stayed warm (lots of layers) but even though I was wearing heavy gloves, my hands and feet got really cold, to the point where my fingers were disfunctional. I had to get my wife to unfasten my helmet strap when I got home because my fingers weren't working. I know that people ride in temps like this, but I don't see how. Maybe if I had heated socks and gloves, I could do it. Cold weather riders, any secrets to share?

Steve B.

I once did road rides at 25. I was good for maybe 45 min. Then as I got older I found my comfort threshold on the road is 35 deg., but 15-20 on a mt. bike where theres no wind. Today was a no-go in NY as it never hit 15 and had a 25-35 W wind. Nope.

Rolla

Living in the southern U.S., there are just too many nice days to justify recreational riding when it's much below 40º.
It's 30 today, but we're supposed to be in the 70s again by Wednesday. 🌞

stardognine

When your feet get cold, just walk awhile. That gets the blood flowing way better than just pedaling.

When your fingers get cold, stop & put your thumb & fingers all together, inside your gloves. When you do that enough over the years, you can actually ride like that too. Just go slow, to make sure you can still apply the brakes when needed. 😉

It's been getting down into the low-30s F for awhile now, here in Sacramento, and I still need to do that, with insulated Gore-tex ski gloves. Riding a bike anywhere below 50 F is a whole nother ball game. 40 F & less, you have to start thinking more. 😉

jon c. 

Too cold for most in north Florida. I saw one person riding yesterday when it was in the high 30s and I was impressed with his dedication.

I doubt anyone was riding today, but I'm not sure. It never got above 34 so I never left the house,

Random11

I'm the OP, also in Tallahassee, Jon. At least one person was riding today (me), but I didn't see anyone else out. I ride around Killearn, because that's where I live, and normally see lots of other riders on Shamrock on a Saturday, but nobody today. And in hindsight, you're right. It was too cold! But I'll probably ride tomorrow as it's forecast to get up around 40 in the afternoon. I'm overly compulsive about riding every day (not saying that's a good thing).

fooferdoggie 

it does not usually get much below 30 here in portland but this week. it was 22 at The house I bundled up my electric gloves turned on full before I started. my garage lock was frozen and I got cold hands getting that taken care of. my Garmin and the radar were out all night and they were acting up. the lowest temp I hit on the way to work was 17 and back from work it got to 17 again. I had waterproof socks on and ,my normal smart wool and simulated keen shoes. put my rain pants over my waterproof insulated pants. but I made a mistake I have my thin base layer Always wear and a poly tee shirt and a sweater. should have left the tee off and a thin gore-tex jacket body was plenty warm the gloves wouldn't to have been enough if I had to double the distance.

Troul 

2°F , not going to even check the wind speed. Stayed inside.

buck1973

If it's under 30, I wear ski gloves. I have bar end shifters. Not sure how well they would work with brifters since they're really thick. I wear lined riding boots. Mine are Giro, but 45North are probably better quality. I also wear thick wool socks and if under 20, add neoprene shoe covers.

3alarmer 

https://www.instructables.com/Bike-W...or-Your-Hands/

elcruxio

For gloves I use downhill ski gloves. For shoes I use proper winter riding boots (45nrth wölvhammers). You can't hack cycling shoes even with covers. If there's holes going through the sole or if the sole is too thin and uninsulated, it won't work.

If you live in florida you might just not have what it takes to stay warm properly. I don't mean you're not tough enough. I mean you're no acclimated enough. It takes a few weeks of regular cold exposure to acclimate your apidose tissue and other systems to cope with cold properly.

But if you keep at it, keep your arms and legs warm to keep your hands and feet warm.

Random11

I rode the same ride again today (about 80 minutes on the road) and felt good. But it was 40 degrees today. Before, I figured if I dressed warmly I could ride in any temperature. My experience yesterday showed me that the cold weather cycling gear I have is insufficient protection when the temperature drops below freezing. Sub-freezing temperatures are very rare here, so I think the best thing for me is to forego riding in sub-freezing temperatures rather than trying to prepare myself to ride in them. I thought I would be able to ride in the cold yesterday with no problem because I've always been able to handle cold days before. But yesterday may have been 10 degrees colder than any day I've cycled before, so I learned something about my ability to tolerate cold weather on my bike. I did finish my ride yesterday as planned, but I would not do it again under the same conditions.

wolfchild

The secret is proper winter gloves or mittens and proper insulated winter boots. I prefer non-cycling specific stuff because majority of cycling apparel isn't designed for riding out in the cold for an extended period of time. In my experience with riding in very cold weather , thin glove liners and a pair of mittens over them are the only thing that works for keeping hands warm on a long cold ride. As for shoes, I use pinned MTB platform pedals and insulated winter boots with thick wool socks.

LarrySellerz

Someone I ride with uses latex gloves under their cycling gloves. When I used to ride in the snow, mittens were always much warmer than gloves. Layers of socks on the feet. Keep your fingers, toes, and ears happy and you’re good to go.

Lombard

This is it. Fingers and toes are my limiting factor. My heated socks keep me riding down to freezing. Below that, I'm off the bike and chasing the snow for Nordic ski opportunities. Funny how my toes get cold biking, but not skiing.

elcruxio

Typically XC ski shoes have much better insulation (neoprene etc) than winter cycling shoes. For some reason cycling shoes are trying to be too much like ordinary shoes to be all that useful. I can only wear very thin socks in my ski shoes and I've never had frozen toes even in -30C.

There's also a smaller slab of heat sucking steel in ski shoes and it's typically more removed from the foot.

And perhaps most importantly, you use your foot when skiing keeping the blood pumping. In cycling the foot is pretty much static.

Lombard

I think the last item here is mainly the explanation.

stardognine

At least it's clearing up. 🙄😉 This fog was WAY worse last night & this morning. I took this pic around 10:00 AM this morning, on the I-80 bike path, between Sacramento & Davis.

terrymorse 

Yes, there's no sunshine, and it's pretty chilly (relative to what we're used to).

But on the bright side, at least the air quality is good.

*checks AQI map*

Never mind.



from purpleair.com

PDKL45

We had 5F on Christmas eve, here north of Seoul, and I was out there growing eyelash icicles for my early Festive 500 kms. I have a cheap pair of gloves from the LBS that I was wearing, and for the first time ever, my hands stayed dry in them. Normally they turn into micro saunas and your hands are swimming, but warm, at 20-30F. I often use softshell fleece gloves from Decathlon, like this morning on my Festive 500 commute, that are cooler, but dry inside at 20-30F. I have Northwave winter boots (MTB SPD clipless) that are sort of okay; it's my one weak spot in my winter gear. I wear double socks and things are okay at 20-30F, but that 5F morning was brutal.

We had a heavy band of snow roll through and the high pressure system that was pushing it along hung around after it, dropping temperatures through the floor and freezing the bloody snow in place. Down in Seoul the local city wards have mainly done a good job of clearing, but some *cough* Dobong Gu *cough* have large sections of bike path that are unrideable. I guess their snow removal budget was picked over earlier in the year for flood clean up, the cash ran out and now we have half a foot of churned up dry snow lying around up there on the main north-south bike path in Seoul. Get past there, though, and Dongdaemun Gu's path is like normal. Really frustrating TBH. Uijeongbu paths have thin openings separated by snow ridges, thawed and frozen into ruts. You need goggles if you have that sort of thing near you, because if you're wearing a lycra face mask below your fleece balaclava/tube scarves, the condensation from your breath will hit the glasses and freeze in place. Closed goggles are okay/a bit better. To avoid the worst of the ice/slick packed snow, you need to see where you're going.

DorkDisk

Its been 5-15F here in NYC. I rode about four citibikes every day for the past four days for 10-20 minutes each and had a dismal time with them. Clothing wise I was fine, but full coverage was necessary and the wind did blow off a hat somewhere between the 42nd and 34th.

But the bikes, they were all frozen. The seatposts were all stuck. Some would creak as they barely turned, but the others wouldn't even do that. It had rained the night before and it was like 6F. I found one with a workable seat height (another advantage of being [M] 5-10). The gears were frozen stiff and the bike was stuck in high gear.

The next bike was worse, the brakes would drag so it was brutal getting around to find another bike. They were all the same and at least this one had the right seat height, so off I go from 52nd to Rivington with a draggy rear brake and high gear. Going back was the same.

The next day started off poorly with a bike that didn't shift and had the rear brake on and the seat slammed down but I eventually scored with one thawed out in front of the Google building; this one had a seatpost that worked, the new large quick releases, and the brakes were not frozen. The gears even worked, it was a Christmas miracle.

The next day the bikes were all frozen again, nothing worked -- seatpost, brakes, gears. So off I went again grinding my knees into paste. Luckily the brakes on these bikes are so bad that once you get rolling it is not too bad, like climbing the whole time.

Today is going to hit low 30s but mostly stay in the 20s so I'm hoping for more functional bikes.

Beats walking.

Lombard

In those conditions, I would opt for walking or the subway.

noimagination

Being from the Florida coast, this may be relevant to you considering how humid it can get: if it's below freezing and misty/foggy, that's a hard no go. You really, really don't need to be riding when the moisture in the air could freeze on the roads. Who knows if you'll ever need this advice, but there it is.

Also, you're right that cycling in the cold is mainly just a matter of having the right gear. However, be prepared (a) to pay attention to your body and head home if you start to get too cold anywhere on your body (frostbite and hypothermia are real things); (b) to go more slowly and carefully, don't get surprised by an icy patch or a patch of road salt that you could slide out on; (c) to experience lower speeds given a particular level of effort, due to a combination of factors (denser air = more air resistance; more/looser clothing = more air resistance; colder air affects muscle contraction; colder air can cause mild restriction of your airway (bronchioles) meaning you're not utilizing as much O2 per breath; thickening of lubes (wheel bearings; chain; etc.) increasing power losses due to friction; etc.).

rsbob 

Used to ride when it was below freezing until a guy slowly passed me on his bike and got about 20’ in front of me and his bike promptly slid out from under him and he hit the deck. Felt it wasn’t worth breaking a collar bone. Yeah, I’m a wuss and proud of it.

Lombard

A healthy, sane, alive and non-injured wuss. Nothing wrong with that.