.chilly ride.
18 November 2008burrrrr. i need to learn how to dress better for the cold weather! this morning i biked in to work, same as i’ve been doing a few times a week. i should’ve checked the weather forecast as it was a cold 34 degrees when i was riding in. i feel like i’m slowly transitioning to becoming a florida boy. when i first came to florida over 10 years ago, being accustomed to the cooler weather of georgia i was the one who would wear shorts and a t-shirt outside on a day like today. now, not as much. in the first 2 minutes of my ride I started to think I should turn around and get more clothes on, but i didn’t want to add another 4 minutes to my ride. after the first 10 minutes i thought that i might need to stop in a store somewhere to warm up. so in an effort to remind myself of how to prepare for what i expect to be more rides like this this season, here is my list of how to clothe myself in warmer attire. (1) the most difficult part of the cold ride are cold fingers. cold past the point of numbness, cold to the point of pain. i wear biking gloves, but those are made to dissipate heat, not retain heat. not sure what i can do here, other than wear a different type of glove. (2) the next difficult part to deal with is breathing the cold, crisp air while i’m huffing and puffing. i guess i can’t do much about that. (3) face and head. cold wind in my face at 20mph isn’t easy to deal with. i wear a bike helmet but it definitely doesn’t trap heat. i should wear a hat or beanie under my helmet. while i don’t agree with the myth that 80% of heat is lost through the head, heat loss through the head is still pretty significant. (4) i need to keep my torso warmer. today i wore a warm polyester pullover and a t-shirt underneath. i think i just need to wear more undershirts and especially long sleeve t-shirts to keep my arms warmer. (5) legs and feet. ok, so i wore my regular biking shorts this morning. My mentality is that since my legs are busiest while i’m riding, blood is flowing well through my legs and don’t need the insulation as much. i think i could probably still wear shorts, but maybe i’ll try some pants next time. i didn’t feel all that cold in my legs. i’m sure others of you out in cyberspace have much more experience biking in cold weather, so feel free to offer any input if you have any.
One Response to “.chilly ride.”
November 22nd, 2008 at 9:05 pm
oh you knew i would respond to this one
when it gets cold, windproof material is where it’s at, so i used these gloves:
http://tinyurl.com/68ehyd
a little pricey, but i got my money out of them by the first year. WONDERFUL product, too bad i’ve misplaced them. also, nashbar has full-finger cycling specific gloves:
http://tinyurl.com/6qcog7
as for torso, the north face has some very nice windproof jackets, remember my blue and gray one? haven’t lost that one, though! ptL. if you google “cold weather bike commuting” you’ll probably find some good enthusiast sites. bikeradar.com is new but looks to be promising!