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#1
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A winter ride
Those of you in New York and New England (and probably Tennessee Titans
fans as well) know what kind of weather they're talking about for today. Not all-time record low, but probably a record low for the date, and possibly a record lowest daily high. When I got up this morning it was about -2°F, and by 10:00 it had warmed up to a toasty zero. My family had been bugging me last night to go out and get ice cream, but I refused. However I decided today might be a good day for a winter ride just to see how I fared, and to get the ice cream without having to worry about it melting on the way home. So went through my ski clothes trying to figure out what would be about right to keep my face, hands and feet warm without making my torso sweat. For my hands, I ended up with a pair of Pearl Izumi full-finger cool-weather cycling gloves under a pair of heavy leather fleece-lined mittens. On my head I put a silk balaclava mask with a foam rubber-like half-face mask over it, and my helmet on top. Then a regular cotton t-shirt and turtle neck, and my regular winter coat with a liner which can be zipped separately. On my legs I had a pair of sweat pants under a pair of insulated nylon warmup pants. My feet had a pair of thin UnderArmor socks underneath some heavy ski socks. Once I started moving, I tried the shifters to be sure everything was working, and that I could control them ok with the mittens on. Shifting the Tiagra STI's with heavy mittens was a little clumsy, but acceptable as long as I was a little careful. The front shifted a little stiff but still worked ok, since I only expected to need to shift it once. Then I headed out. To be sure I didn't work up a sweat, I went up the hill from my house in the granny (30x23), and kept my cadence down to around 70, but I still ended up fogging my glasses. So I took off the half-mask and pulled down the opening in the balaclava to below my mouth. The bike came with an 11-32 cassette, but I had swapped it out for an Ultegra 11-23 a month ago to get some closer gears for racing, and because I never needed the 30x32 or 30x28 gears. Going to the store was with the wind (not a whole lot of it; maybe 5 - 10 mph), and I was able to maintain about 15 mph with little effort at a lower-than-normal cadence. I quickly found myself starting to get excessively warm, so I unzipped the outer coat about half-way, and that seemed to work well. Loading up to head home from the store, I had to rearrange things a bit because I was heading into the wind. I needed the half-mask to keep my cheekbones from feeling like they were going to freeze, and my forehead above my eyebrows felt like it was going to no matter what I did. By the time I got home, the thermometer on the house was registering about 6°F, but I was sweating pretty good even with both the outer coat and the liner zipped halfway down from riding into the wind, and my toes were cold. So I still have a bit to learn about what to wear to keep from sweating, and need to figure out something to keep my toes warm. Other interesting lessons learned: My Specialized SpeedZone pro computer doesn't register the temperature when it gets down around zero (the manual says what the minimum it will register is, but I don't remember off the top of my head), and the LCD display is a bit slow to update, but seems to work fine otherwise. No problems like others have reported with blank displays or inaccurate readings on other brands of computers. My new seat (Specialized BG2 Sport) is great, and works well with non-biking clothes. The cutout gave enough room for the crotch seams of my two pairs of pants so that I had no problems with pressure points or chafing. It was a short ride, though, so that might change with more time in the saddle. -- Dave Kerber Fight spam: remove the ns_ from the return address before replying! REAL programmers write self-modifying code. |
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#2
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A winter ride
I give you alot of credit. I rode earlier this week when it was 5F above
but at -8F (upstate NY) this am, I headed for the trainer in the heated garage. What did you wear for shoes? What kind of UnderArmour socks? I can stay warm enough to ride even at zero, but haven't found anything to keep my feet warm "David Kerber" wrote in message ... Those of you in New York and New England (and probably Tennessee Titans fans as well) know what kind of weather they're talking about for today. Not all-time record low, but probably a record low for the date, and possibly a record lowest daily high. When I got up this morning it was about -2°F, and by 10:00 it had warmed up to a toasty zero. My family had been bugging me last night to go out and get ice cream, but I refused. However I decided today might be a good day for a winter ride just to see how I fared, and to get the ice cream without having to worry about it melting on the way home. So went through my ski clothes trying to figure out what would be about right to keep my face, hands and feet warm without making my torso sweat. For my hands, I ended up with a pair of Pearl Izumi full-finger cool-weather cycling gloves under a pair of heavy leather fleece-lined mittens. On my head I put a silk balaclava mask with a foam rubber-like half-face mask over it, and my helmet on top. Then a regular cotton t-shirt and turtle neck, and my regular winter coat with a liner which can be zipped separately. On my legs I had a pair of sweat pants under a pair of insulated nylon warmup pants. My feet had a pair of thin UnderArmor socks underneath some heavy ski socks. Once I started moving, I tried the shifters to be sure everything was working, and that I could control them ok with the mittens on. Shifting the Tiagra STI's with heavy mittens was a little clumsy, but acceptable as long as I was a little careful. The front shifted a little stiff but still worked ok, since I only expected to need to shift it once. Then I headed out. To be sure I didn't work up a sweat, I went up the hill from my house in the granny (30x23), and kept my cadence down to around 70, but I still ended up fogging my glasses. So I took off the half-mask and pulled down the opening in the balaclava to below my mouth. The bike came with an 11-32 cassette, but I had swapped it out for an Ultegra 11-23 a month ago to get some closer gears for racing, and because I never needed the 30x32 or 30x28 gears. Going to the store was with the wind (not a whole lot of it; maybe 5 - 10 mph), and I was able to maintain about 15 mph with little effort at a lower-than-normal cadence. I quickly found myself starting to get excessively warm, so I unzipped the outer coat about half-way, and that seemed to work well. Loading up to head home from the store, I had to rearrange things a bit because I was heading into the wind. I needed the half-mask to keep my cheekbones from feeling like they were going to freeze, and my forehead above my eyebrows felt like it was going to no matter what I did. By the time I got home, the thermometer on the house was registering about 6°F, but I was sweating pretty good even with both the outer coat and the liner zipped halfway down from riding into the wind, and my toes were cold. So I still have a bit to learn about what to wear to keep from sweating, and need to figure out something to keep my toes warm. Other interesting lessons learned: My Specialized SpeedZone pro computer doesn't register the temperature when it gets down around zero (the manual says what the minimum it will register is, but I don't remember off the top of my head), and the LCD display is a bit slow to update, but seems to work fine otherwise. No problems like others have reported with blank displays or inaccurate readings on other brands of computers. My new seat (Specialized BG2 Sport) is great, and works well with non-biking clothes. The cutout gave enough room for the crotch seams of my two pairs of pants so that I had no problems with pressure points or chafing. It was a short ride, though, so that might change with more time in the saddle. -- Dave Kerber Fight spam: remove the ns_ from the return address before replying! REAL programmers write self-modifying code. |
#3
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A winter ride
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#4
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A winter ride
"David Kerber" wrote in message
... Those of you in New York and New England (and probably Tennessee Titans fans as well) know what kind of weather they're talking about for today. Not all-time record low, but probably a record low for the date, and possibly a record lowest daily high. When I got up this morning it was about -2°F, and by 10:00 it had warmed up to a toasty zero. About a dozen of us did our 351rst consecutive club Saturday morning ride (30 mile loop), starting from Newton, MA, it was our coldest in that 7 years (~0 deg. F). http://home.comcast.net/~peter_cole/index.html I can honestly say that I've gotten things dialed-in to the point where I didn't have the slightest discomfort riding for 2 hr in 0 deg F. I was riding a fixed gear, so shifting wasn't an issue, though my other bikes have bar-end which works well with mitts, too. I used a thin fleece balaclava, with a separate band of stretch fleece (home-made) over my nose & upper lip, the only skin showing was my lips. I didn't have any trouble with fogging at all. My hands were too warm in LL Bean expedition mitts, I should have stopped and removed either the shells (lined) or the inner mitts (med. fleece). I had 3 layers of fleece on top (stretch shirt, jacket, windbloc vest), which was too much, I unzipped both (and got a little pink belly from that). I had stretch fleece warmups over stretch fleece tights on my legs, which was perfect. For my feet, I used 2 pairs of socks (stretch fleece inner, smartwool outer), oversize MTB shoes (Sidi), with home-made booties (stretch fleece over plain fleece). My feet were good, cold, but not uncomfortably so, and they weren't getting any colder during the second half of the ride. |
#5
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A winter ride
You guys have pretty big cojones to be riding in this sort of weather.
I'll lift a steaming hot coffee in your honor at the local Starbucks here in Austin (where it will reach a nice 60 degrees today.) r.b. "Bob" wrote in message ... I give you alot of credit. I rode earlier this week when it was 5F above but at -8F (upstate NY) this am, I headed for the trainer in the heated garage. What did you wear for shoes? What kind of UnderArmour socks? I By the time I got home, the thermometer on the house was registering about 6°F.. |
#6
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A winter ride
flatline top-posted:
You guys have pretty big cojones to be riding in this sort of weather. Well, maybe PRIOR to riding! Bill "basic physiology" S. |
#7
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A winter ride
In article , blue_x21
@usa.com says... You guys have pretty big cojones to be riding in this sort of weather. I'll lift a steaming hot coffee in your honor at the local Starbucks here in Austin (where it will reach a nice 60 degrees today.) When I was in school back in the mid-70's in Iowa, my bike was how I got to school, and I rode every day. My record was about -20°F with a 30mph wind. Better to do it on a bike and get there in 15-20 minutes than walk and have it take 45. r.b. "Bob" wrote in message ... I give you alot of credit. I rode earlier this week when it was 5F above but at -8F (upstate NY) this am, I headed for the trainer in the heated garage. What did you wear for shoes? What kind of UnderArmour socks? I By the time I got home, the thermometer on the house was registering about 6°F.. -- Dave Kerber Fight spam: remove the ns_ from the return address before replying! REAL programmers write self-modifying code. |
#8
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A winter ride
In article , sorni@bite-
me.san.rr.com says... flatline top-posted: You guys have pretty big cojones to be riding in this sort of weather. Well, maybe PRIOR to riding! The cojones don't shrink, but what they're connected to sure does! .... -- Dave Kerber Fight spam: remove the ns_ from the return address before replying! REAL programmers write self-modifying code. |
#9
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A winter ride
Was it up hill with a head wind???
Did you have a hole in one shoe? Burr David Kerber wrote: In article , blue_x21 @usa.com says... You guys have pretty big cojones to be riding in this sort of weather. I'll lift a steaming hot coffee in your honor at the local Starbucks here in Austin (where it will reach a nice 60 degrees today.) When I was in school back in the mid-70's in Iowa, my bike was how I got to school, and I rode every day. My record was about -20°F with a 30mph wind. Better to do it on a bike and get there in 15-20 minutes than walk and have it take 45. r.b. "Bob" wrote in message ... I give you alot of credit. I rode earlier this week when it was 5F above but at -8F (upstate NY) this am, I headed for the trainer in the heated garage. What did you wear for shoes? What kind of UnderArmour socks? I By the time I got home, the thermometer on the house was registering about 6°F.. |
#10
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A winter ride
David Kerber wrote:
Those of you in New York and New England (and probably Tennessee Titans fans as well) know what kind of weather they're talking about for today. Not all-time record low, but probably a record low for the date, and possibly a record lowest daily high. When I got up this morning it was about -2°F, and by 10:00 it had warmed up to a toasty zero. kept my cadence down to around 70, but I still ended up fogging my glasses. Here in Minnesota for winter rides I've used a pair of old Scott dua lens ski Goggles which solved the fogging issues - |
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