My Morning Commute

[bentbike33]

No snowflakes, but many fellow cyclists on the Custis at the crack of dawn today (~#63 at the Rosslyn monolith). Seemed like more than the week of Dec. 14-18, my last commutes before Holiday Leave. Freezing Saddles is already heating up, I guess.

[Vicegrip]

or people are back to work. I like that the cold winter like weather thins out the amateur hour runners. Less ninjas than normal. I saw one of my handed out a BA blinkys in use today too! Lady was using it as a hair tie.

[huskerdont]

14 degrees and got to use all the wintry gear. #10 at the counter, which seems more than previous years at this kind of temperature when I might have been #2 or #3, so perhaps this freezing saddles thing some of you are doing is getting more people out. And that is good.

I have this half-baked theory that cold temps make the bike go slower. It’s not me; it’s the bike. I’m going with that.

[DrP]

@huskerdont 130908 wrote:

I have this half-baked theory that cold temps make the bike go slower. It’s not me; it’s the bike. I’m going with that.

I came up with that theory about two years ago. So we almost have enough data to publish.

Beautiful ride, albeit a tad chilly. I did wear one layer too much, which I could tell by my first downhill since I wasn’t cold enough. Oh well.

On the northern part of Trollheim, as I was crossing the stream there, I looked down and saw a beaver swimming. First time I saw one of them on my commute.

[TwoWheelsDC]

Cold? Whatever. Wind? Fuuuuuuuuuu…..although it wasn’t as bad as yesterday, today I was fighting the extra layer on my legs. I think my average power was about 20W higher than normal.

Also, funny discovery. My cleat covers proved almost impossible to take off and put back on this morning, since the cold made the plastic too rigid. I almost had to use a flathead screwdriver to pry them off.

[dasgeh]

@huskerdont 130908 wrote:

#10 at the counter, which seems more than previous years at this kind of temperature when I might have been #2 or #3, so perhaps this freezing saddles thing some of you are doing is getting more people out. And that is good.

On the late shift, I was #214 at the counter. About 100 higher than expected. But I wouldn’t attribute this to BAFS – that would mean half of the participants rode by the monolith this morning, which I’m pretty sure isn’t the case. I’d put my money on (1) New Year’s Resolutions and (2) Metro sucking.

[Sunyata]

@huskerdont 130908 wrote:

I have this half-baked theory that cold temps make the bike go slower. It’s not me; it’s the bike. I’m going with that.

My theory is that the winter air is more dense; therefore, more resistance. At least, that is my story and I am sticking to it (almost 2mph slower this morning than I was last week!).

[huskerdont]

@Sunyata 130923 wrote:

My theory is that the winter air is more dense; therefore, more resistance. At least, that is my story and I am sticking to it (almost 2mph slower this morning than I was last week!).

Mine has always been that there’s less friction when it’s warm; therefore, there’s more friction when it’s cold. But cold air is heavier than warm air, so maybe there’s something in that too.

[Tim Kelley]

@Sunyata 130923 wrote:

My theory is that the winter air is more dense; therefore, more resistance. At least, that is my story and I am sticking to it (almost 2mph slower this morning than I was last week!).

Actually that’s very true:

http://velonews.competitor.com/2013/03/bikes-and-tech/technical-faq/technical-faq-why-is-riding-in-the-cold-so-hard_277626

[Sunyata]

@Tim Kelley 130925 wrote:

Actually that’s very true:

http://velonews.competitor.com/2013/03/bikes-and-tech/technical-faq/technical-faq-why-is-riding-in-the-cold-so-hard_277626

Ah ha! I love science and how it can make me feel not like such a slow poke! 😎

[Powerful Pete]

Ok, that was chilly. Now can we go back to a wee bit warmer temperatures?

Nice to see all the other riders on the Custis this morning!

[bobco85]

Saw that half of the duck pond in Glen Carlyn Park was frozen today on my way in on the W&OD. Also, wool socks are awesome and I need more of them (online order: done!).

I think I saw Dismal on my ride this morning, but I can never recognize him quickly enough to actually say something because it’s morning/because I am terrible with names/because I was sleepy/because other excuses but probably because I was somewhat daydreaming (biking tends to do that to me ). I head westbound on the W&OD from Barcroft to Glen Carlyn.

[kcb203]

@Sunyata 130923 wrote:

My theory is that the winter air is more dense; therefore, more resistance. At least, that is my story and I am sticking to it (almost 2mph slower this morning than I was last week!).

I just plugged some numbers into analyticcycling.com, and the difference between 15F/-9C and 95F/35C is 30 watts at 22.37 mph (.3 CdA, 85kg rider+bike, .005 rolling resistance). The colder rider has to put out 241 watts to get the same speed as 211 at the warmer temps. And it’s worse than that because we’re much less aero in the winter with all the warm clothing flapping around.

[hozn]

@kcb203 130936 wrote:

I just plugged some numbers into analyticcycling.com, and the difference between 15F/-9C and 95F/35C is 30 watts at 22.37 mph (.3 CdA, 85kg rider+bike, .005 rolling resistance). The colder rider has to put out 241 watts to get the same speed as 211 at the warmer temps. And it’s worse than that because we’re much less aero in the winter with all the warm clothing flapping around.

But you can take more air into your lungs in the wintertime, right? Maybe offsets it a bit. I think the biggest factor is the unaero clothing, the heavy boots, and just being less inclined to speed up into the bracing breeze.

[bentbike33]

@hozn 130941 wrote:

But you can take more air into your lungs in the wintertime, right? Maybe offsets it a bit.

Dammit Jim, I’m a Doctor of Economics, not a physician!

But, I would guess that vasoconstriction in the lungs and their resulting decreased efficiency due to low air temperature completely overwhelms any gains from the increase in available oxygen molecules from the higher air density. That and hauling all the heavy winter clothing up the hills. Two days of strong morning tailwinds that in warmer months would get me to work in about 43 minutes ride time did not help me break 46 minutes this week.

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