How cold for a Balaclava

In article ,
"Roger Zoul" writes:
I'm wondering at about what temp you folks decide you need something like a
balaclava while riding? Seems like 40 degrees F is enough for me.

Well, it's 11 C (which is about 52 F) and raining here,
with winds out of the east at 19 km/h. I just got back
from the laundromat. During the ride home I started to
feel the cold right behind my eyebrows, sort of like an
ice cream headache. If the ride was longer I would have
been wishing for my clear cycling glasses. If the wind
was out of the west, it would have come from the ocean
and it would have been a "warmer" 11 C ;-)


cheers,
Tom

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"Super Slinky" wrote in message
t...

Doesn't sound much different from what I said. I did a 95min, 28 mile
ride late last night at 25º with about a 9mph wind. I was expecting only
low 30s, but overdressed because this would be the first real cold
weather ride of the year. I wore two base layers and a windbreaker, two
pairs of tights, thick wool socks with neoprene booties, neoprene gloves
and my thin balaclava. I forgot to bring appropriate eye wear for night
riding, so I didn't use any, and that turned out to be the only trouble
spot. My left eye got blurry about a half hour in. Hypothermia of the
eyeball? You learn something new every day. My index fingers felt like
they would freeze for the first half hour, but warmed up nicely after
that. Feet felt OK, but toes were numb when I changed shoes at the end
of the ride. Didn't bother me during the ride.

It turned out that two thin base layers were adequate with a windbreaker
at 25º and two pairs of tights were OK as well, though a third thin
layer wouldn't have hurt there. The coldest part was the ride back home
when I wasn't doing any exercise.

We went out Sat. morning in 30 degrees, snowing, bit of a wind. I had a
heavy jersey, jacket, single heavy tights, no booties or balaclava. I would
have been over-dressed, but I got covered from head to toe in slush from a
passing car. That soaked through my tights and ran into my shoes, and
soaked my gloves (light fleece) when I tried to brush/scrape it off. I
didn't really get too cold, we did 35 miles on mountain bikes with studs.
The fenders helped a lot.
http://trailwatch.net/11-13-04.jpg

On Mon, 15 Nov 2004 00:02:42 GMT, Peter Cole
wrote:

"Super Slinky" wrote in message
t...

Doesn't sound much different from what I said. I did a 95min, 28 mile
ride late last night at 25º with about a 9mph wind. I was expecting only
low 30s, but overdressed because this would be the first real cold
weather ride of the year. I wore two base layers and a windbreaker, two
pairs of tights, thick wool socks with neoprene booties, neoprene gloves
and my thin balaclava. I forgot to bring appropriate eye wear for night
riding, so I didn't use any, and that turned out to be the only trouble
spot. My left eye got blurry about a half hour in. Hypothermia of the
eyeball? You learn something new every day. My index fingers felt like
they would freeze for the first half hour, but warmed up nicely after
that. Feet felt OK, but toes were numb when I changed shoes at the end
of the ride. Didn't bother me during the ride.

It turned out that two thin base layers were adequate with a windbreaker
at 25º and two pairs of tights were OK as well, though a third thin
layer wouldn't have hurt there. The coldest part was the ride back home
when I wasn't doing any exercise.

We went out Sat. morning in 30 degrees, snowing, bit of a wind. I had a
heavy jersey, jacket, single heavy tights, no booties or balaclava. I
would
have been over-dressed, but I got covered from head to toe in slush from
a
passing car. That soaked through my tights and ran into my shoes, and
soaked my gloves (light fleece) when I tried to brush/scrape it off. I
didn't really get too cold, we did 35 miles on mountain bikes with studs.
The fenders helped a lot.
http://trailwatch.net/11-13-04.jpg


Maybe it's me, but I am finding out that if you start out under-dressed
to the point of being cold then start riding you will reach a point of
thermal equilibrium in about 5 miles. Of course I keep a jacket in my
ever present back pack in case I have to stop or it gets really
nasty outside. Fenders would help eliminate that stripe of grime on
my back but they don't have a cool factor. I now just creep through
water then speed up slowly so most of the gunk goes back on the road.
Bill Baka

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Just Bill again