Concise Cold Weather Advice.

[Raymo853]

How about a thread of concise cold weather riding advice. Suggest keeping it to three concise phrases in bullet format. Here are my three.

1. Toes lightly covered in petroleum jelly stay warm

2. Too thick of socks can reduce blood flow to the feet making them colder

3. Slice out all elastic wrist cuffs on jackets/jerseys as these can reduce blood flow to hands.

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Topic

[dasgeh]

1. Layers (wool against your skin)
2. Layers (not too tight)
3. Stop and take off layers if you’re too warm

[cyclingfool]

Never heard the Vaseline tip before, but I like it. Might have to give that a try sometime. Cheaper than YakTrax!

Similar, but likely unrelated to the my wife’s assertion that she feels warmer going outside in the cold if she puts on moisturizer/lotion first.

[TwoWheelsDC]

If you’re warm when you get on the bike, you’re overdressed.

[Mikey]

I do this trick (I copied from Pete Beers): Move my fingers and toes in my gloves/shoes about every couple of minutes. I sing to myself, “Fingers and Toes, Fingers and Toes, see how we move our Fingers and Toes” Sounds kind of silly I know but it does help to keep the blood flowing to them BEFORE they get cold, which keeps them warm longer. Also, no one is around in this weather so I can sing like an idiot as much as I want. “Summer Breeze” was in my head yesterday as I crossed the 14th street bridge.

[Mikey]

Other tricks include:

Layers are good, but remember, don’t constrict one set of gloves/hat/shirt, etc by shoving them (too tightly) in another set. Insulation works by allowing spaces around your body to heat up and having that heat not escape either by conduction/convection/radiation. If your clothes/gloves are too tight you lose the R-value of your insulation and heat transfers by conduction away from your body.

[Jason B]

Pee in your bib if your legs get cold. If your butt is cold,,,,

[MattAune]

http://www.madalchemy.com/products-page-2/products/embrocation/medium-heat-warming-embrocation/

ProTip: Dont mistake your embro for your chamois cream.

[Dirt]

Put a chemical toe warmer on the toes of your shoes on the outside, then put shoe covers over the top. It does wonders.

[Mikey]

Slow down – don’t overdo it. You are probably carrying an additional 10-15 lbs of clothing on your body, that is also constricting your breathing. Hills will be harder, winds will be stronger. You will get a bigger workout than you do in the warmmer months. Try to regulate (remove clothing, lower zippers) prior to sweating. When you sweat, your clothes (with the exception of some wool clothing) become bad insulators and you cool off quickly. Stop for any bit of time and you will instantly be cold when you return to the wind. Even people in great shape can overexert them selves and cause injury. Don’t be a hero.

[OneEighth]

Vaseline or Aquaphor on the exposed parts of your face can help quite a bit, too.

[Tim Kelley]

@Dirt 74072 wrote:

Put a chemical toe warmer on the toes of your shoes on the outside, then put shoe covers over the top. It does wonders.

+1. Use a thin strip of duct tape if you need to keep them in place when putting the cover on.

[Dirt]

@Tim Kelley 74086 wrote:

+1. Use a thin strip of duct tape if you need to keep them in place when putting the cover on.

I started buying the toe warmers that have peel and stick on the back of them. I stuck one to the side of each brake hood inside my Moose Mitts this morning. It was AWESOME!

It was pretty cold out too.

[Raymo853]

@TwoWheelsDC 74057 wrote:

If you’re warm when you get on the bike, you’re overdressed.

That is true for races, but not for commuting, training, or beer runs. My advice, have one more layer with or on you than you need based on the starting temp. You can always take things off and even toss them away but cannot gate things to you.

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[jrenaut]

@Raymo853 74092 wrote:

That is true for races, but not for commuting, training, or beer runs. My advice, have one more layer with or on you than you need based on the starting temp. You can always take things off and even toss them away but cannot gate things to you.

This really depends on the person. Two blocks into my commute I start a three block downhill. If I’m not cold on that downhill, I’m going to be too hot before the ride is over, and I’m only doing 3.5 miles on a normal day.

[mstone]

@jrenaut 74096 wrote:

This really depends on the person. Two blocks into my commute I start a three block downhill. If I’m not cold on that downhill, I’m going to be too hot before the ride is over, and I’m only doing 3.5 miles on a normal day.

I think it has more to do with the commute. In the general case, with weather like we’re having, the advice “start out cold” has the potential downsides of fewer appendages or death, so I think the advice “start out with a lot of layers and adjust as necessary” is better.

[Author]

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