35F and dropping...

dgk said:

So far so good. Not at all cold on this morning's commute. But I've
dipped into the heavier of the middle layers for it, as well as the
tights. Maybe a bit of overkill. As long as it doesn't rain, 35F is
ok.

Boy, Tshirt and shorts on Sunday, and Tuesday morning it's 35.

How far is your commute?
Is it long enough to work up a sweat?
I went for a 30 mile ride today and found
out a few things about dressing right.
Start with t-shirt, sweats over that, and a jacket,
plus gloves for an overcast day in Sunny California, about 55 F.
That worked well for the first 3 miles, then the jacket went into
the backpack. At the 8 mile point starting to climb the hills the
sweats went into the backpack.
At the 15 miles out point I got hungry and there was nothing
in the backpack because I had planned for clothing and not
nutrition. Duh. Limping back home in a semi-bonk condition.
3 cups of black coffee does not make for a good breakfast either.
Now I'm hungry again so that's the end of this post.
Bill Baka

"dgk" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

So far so good. Not at all cold on this morning's commute. But I've
dipped into the heavier of the middle layers for it, as well as the
tights. Maybe a bit of overkill. As long as it doesn't rain, 35F is
ok.

Boy, Tshirt and shorts on Sunday, and Tuesday morning it's 35.

I'm a wimp, I don't ride when it rains between Oct/Feb...

I can do cold...

I can do wet...

I just can't stand BOTH at the same time...

dgk said:

So far so good. Not at all cold on this morning's commute. But I've
dipped into the heavier of the middle layers for it, as well as the
tights. Maybe a bit of overkill. As long as it doesn't rain, 35F is
ok.

Boy, Tshirt and shorts on Sunday, and Tuesday morning it's 35.

IMHO wet cold is much worse than even around 5 degrees fahrenheit - at
least its dry and invigorating! Keep layering appropriately and you will
enjoy every commute throughout the year.

-Collin

Brian said:

I'm a wimp, I don't ride when it rains between Oct/Feb...

I can do cold...

I can do wet...

I just can't stand BOTH at the same time...

My enjoyment hierarchy goes something like this:

Where the suck factors are rain / dark / windy / cold

Suck factor (0) - Great to be out riding
Suck factor (1) - Enjoyable
Suck factor (2) - ok, still somewhat enjoyable
Suck factor (3) - grumble, grumble
Suck factor (4) - sucky
Suck factor (5) - all of the above plus something extra nasty like hail

Even at suck factor 5 it's still better than driving IMO.

--
Dane Jackson - z u v e m b i @ u n i x b i g o t s . o r g
A priest advised Voltaire on his death bed to renounce the devil.
Replied Voltaire, "This is no time to make new enemies."

Bill Baka said:

I went for a 30 mile ride today and found
out a few things about dressing right.
Start with t-shirt, sweats over that, and a jacket,
plus gloves for an overcast day in Sunny California, about 55 F.
That worked well for the first 3 miles, then the jacket went into
the backpack. At the 8 mile point starting to climb the hills the
sweats went into the backpack.

Bill,

Now that the weather's turning colder,can I convince you to leave
the cotton t-shirt at home? Cotton is a big water collector. You'll
sweat on the climbs, soaking your t-shirt, then freeze on the way
down. I was pretty cold the other day, descending into 43F air with
light drizzle. I had on three poly layers, and I could have used one
more. But thankfully I was dry.

Mountain rescue folks have a simple saying: cotton kills.
--
terry morse Palo Alto, CA http://bike.terrymorse.com/

"Bill Baka" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

At the 15 miles out point I got hungry and there was nothing
in the backpack because I had planned for clothing and not
nutrition. Duh. Limping back home in a semi-bonk condition.

Bonking at 15 miles is all in your head. A healthy person should be able to
ride much longer than that without depleting glycogen reserves.

On Tue, 9 Nov 2004 19:03:13 -0800, "Brian" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

"dgk" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

So far so good. Not at all cold on this morning's commute. But I've
dipped into the heavier of the middle layers for it, as well as the
tights. Maybe a bit of overkill. As long as it doesn't rain, 35F is
ok.

Boy, Tshirt and shorts on Sunday, and Tuesday morning it's 35.

I'm a wimp, I don't ride when it rains between Oct/Feb...

I can do cold...

I can do wet...

I just can't stand BOTH at the same time...

It's supposed to rain Friday morning and be pretty cold. I think I'll
give it a try.

Bill Baka said:

dgk said:

So far so good. Not at all cold on this morning's commute. But I've
dipped into the heavier of the middle layers for it, as well as the
tights. Maybe a bit of overkill. As long as it doesn't rain, 35F is
ok.

Boy, Tshirt and shorts on Sunday, and Tuesday morning it's 35.

How far is your commute?
Is it long enough to work up a sweat?
I went for a 30 mile ride today and found
out a few things about dressing right.
Start with t-shirt, sweats over that, and a jacket,
plus gloves for an overcast day in Sunny California, about 55 F.
That worked well for the first 3 miles, then the jacket went into
the backpack. At the 8 mile point starting to climb the hills the
sweats went into the backpack.
At the 15 miles out point I got hungry and there was nothing
in the backpack because I had planned for clothing and not
nutrition. Duh. Limping back home in a semi-bonk condition.
3 cups of black coffee does not make for a good breakfast either.
Now I'm hungry again so that's the end of this post.
Bill Baka

Commute is 12 miles. Today was 31.5F, so I can say that it was below
freezing. First two miles, with neoprene mask and bacalava, my face
was ok. But my nose was starting to run. After two miles I stop and
off comes the neoprene mask. I had thought it might be overkill.

My hands, even in the heavy gloves and silks liners, were very cold
during the first two miles. I was thinking that perhaps electric
gloves were in order. Oddly enough, after stopping to take off the
mask, my hands got warm. I had to take off the gloves to rework my
head and when I put them back on everything was ok. By the end of the
ride my hands were hot. I can see that fingers are going to be a
problem though.

My toes did get a bit cold as the ride wore on. I wore heavy socks and
my usual sneakers. So seems the extremities are going to problems as
it gets colder. I have the booties so hopefully that takes care of the
feet. I don't know about those fingers though. Seems like two
rechargeable batteries could help.

"Dane Jackson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

My enjoyment hierarchy goes something like this:

Where the suck factors are rain / dark / windy / cold

Suck factor (0) - Great to be out riding
Suck factor (1) - Enjoyable
Suck factor (2) - ok, still somewhat enjoyable
Suck factor (3) - grumble, grumble
Suck factor (4) - sucky
Suck factor (5) - all of the above plus something extra nasty like hail

When it hits your factor 5 is when I start to laugh at the absurdity of it
all, and I have a good time.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
please substitute yahoo for mousepotato to reply
Home of the meditative cyclist:
http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm
Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/
See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

Peter Cole said:

"Bill Baka" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

At the 15 miles out point I got hungry and there was nothing
in the backpack because I had planned for clothing and not
nutrition. Duh. Limping back home in a semi-bonk condition.

Bonking at 15 miles is all in your head. A healthy person should be able
to
ride much longer than that without depleting glycogen reserves.

It may have been that I decided to go out and ride after skipping
breakfast so I was running on reserve to begin with. Breakfast
really is a meal you don't want to skip.
Bill Baka

Peter Cole said:

"Bill Baka" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

At the 15 miles out point I got hungry and there was nothing
in the backpack because I had planned for clothing and not
nutrition. Duh. Limping back home in a semi-bonk condition.

Bonking at 15 miles is all in your head. A healthy person should be able
to
ride much longer than that without depleting glycogen reserves.

It may have been that I decided to go out and ride after skipping
breakfast so I was running on reserve to begin with. Breakfast
really is a meal you don't want to skip.
Bill Baka

"Bill Baka" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Peter Cole said:

Bonking at 15 miles is all in your head. A healthy person should be

able

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

to
ride much longer than that without depleting glycogen reserves.

It may have been that I decided to go out and ride after skipping
breakfast so I was running on reserve to begin with. Breakfast
really is a meal you don't want to skip.

You still should have plenty of reserves. I never eat breakfast before
morning rides, it makes me sick. Three hours of hard riding is about bonk
threshold for me. If you do the math, that works out to about normal.

I have done a double century without eating (not intentionally). If you go
at a moderate and steady pace you can do it -- if you've acclimated your
body to burn fat (lots of long rides).

dgk said:

On Tue, 9 Nov 2004 19:03:13 -0800, "Brian" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

"dgk" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

So far so good. Not at all cold on this morning's commute. But I've
dipped into the heavier of the middle layers for it, as well as the
tights. Maybe a bit of overkill. As long as it doesn't rain, 35F is
ok.

Boy, Tshirt and shorts on Sunday, and Tuesday morning it's 35.

I'm a wimp, I don't ride when it rains between Oct/Feb...

I can do cold...

I can do wet...

I just can't stand BOTH at the same time...

It's supposed to rain Friday morning and be pretty cold. I think I'll
give it a try.

If you mean temperatures below 50F and rain may I suggest that you
don't. I did a double century in 56F and rain (mid June) and it just
plain sucked. There is no enjoyment (even from the absurd) and you
need to be wary of hypothermia. For those of us with asthma it's even
worse as it can cause breathing problems. I'll ride in the cold as I
can dress OK down to 32F. After that it depends on the amount of wind
and sun. No or little wind and sun I'm good to about 18F. But when it
comes to rain I prefer not to below 70F and definitely not below 60F.

--
Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry [email hidden]
http://home.comcast.net/~ncherry/ (Text only)
http://hcs.sourceforge.net/ (HCS II)
http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog

Neil Cherry said:

If you mean temperatures below 50F and rain may I suggest that you
don't. I did a double century in 56F and rain (mid June) and it just
plain sucked. There is no enjoyment (even from the absurd) and you
need to be wary of hypothermia. For those of us with asthma it's even
worse as it can cause breathing problems. I'll ride in the cold as I
can dress OK down to 32F. After that it depends on the amount of wind
and sun. No or little wind and sun I'm good to about 18F. But when it
comes to rain I prefer not to below 70F and definitely not below 60F.

I can see that. I'll ride down to 45 F in the rain, but I got neoprene
booties for the Gekos, and I'll be wearing latex gloves under the cycling
gloves, I think, next time. If that doesn't work, guess I'll spring for the
neoprine gloves.

-B

Peter Cole said:

"Bill Baka" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Peter Cole said:

Bonking at 15 miles is all in your head. A healthy person should be

able

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

to
ride much longer than that without depleting glycogen reserves.

Maybe mental reserve ran out since I was thinking of all the
other stuff I had to do at home. I was on a particularly dull
piece of road that I have ridden many times before.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

It may have been that I decided to go out and ride after skipping
breakfast so I was running on reserve to begin w ith.Breakfast
really is a meal you don't want to skip.

You still should have plenty of reserves. I never eat breakfast before
morning rides, it makes me sick. Three hours of hard riding is about bonk
threshold for me. If you do the math, that works out to about normal.

I have gone 3 hours but only after breakfast, never on empty.

Quoted message said:

I have done a double century without eating (not intentionally). If you
go
at a moderate and steady pace you can do it -- if you've acclimated your
body to burn fat (lots of long rides).

I know it can be done at a lower pace, for days if need be since nature
doesn't provide food at regular intervals, (evolution 101). It may
just be how efficient your body is at converting fat energy into
sugar for power. I am sort of amazed that anyone could pull off a
double century without eating, depending on your speed. I did about
100 miles in mountains when I was 15, on a Saturday, didn't
even carry water bottles and paid the price when I got home,
sleeping through Sunday. Did a 30 mile mountain hike when I was 35 and
basically became part of the furniture when I got home.
We did defeat my stepson though, since he crashed in the back seat
of the car coming back home. Hyperactive 12 year old. Hah.
Bill Baka

Badger said:

Neil Cherry said:

If you mean temperatures below 50F and rain may I suggest that you
don't. I did a double century in 56F and rain (mid June) and it just
plain sucked. There is no enjoyment (even from the absurd) and you
need to be wary of hypothermia. For those of us with asthma it's even
worse as it can cause breathing problems. I'll ride in the cold as I
can dress OK down to 32F. After that it depends on the amount of wind
and sun. No or little wind and sun I'm good to about 18F. But when it
comes to rain I prefer not to below 70F and definitely not below 60F.

I can see that. I'll ride down to 45 F in the rain, but I got neoprene
booties for the Gekos, and I'll be wearing latex gloves under the cycling
gloves, I think, next time. If that doesn't work, guess I'll spring for the
neoprine gloves.

It may just be me as I don't like the cold. Heat I can handle, cold I
have trouble with. Most of the people I ride with find it weird that I
still wear long sleeve jerseys into the 70's. But when it comes to
rain and cold I suffer. I'll still ride into the cold days of winter
but I start having breathing problems after the rides (wheezing and
lung conjestion). It's the one thing that limits my riding. That and I
hate the cold feeling I have for the rest of the day inside the core
of my body.

BTW, I've had trouble with neoprene. Since it hold the sweat I found
it made me colder except for my feet. I still use thick wool socks and
I make sure that nothing is tight or too loose fitting (socks, shoes,
pants, shirt, head wear or gloves) as that cuts off circulation and
will also make you cold.

--
Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry [email hidden]
http://home.comcast.net/~ncherry/ (Text only)
http://hcs.sourceforge.net/ (HCS II)
http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog

dgk said:

Commute is 12 miles. Today was 31.5F,

Oops, you've got to ride.

Quoted message said:

My hands, even in the heavy gloves and silks liners, were very cold
during the first two miles.

I like wool inner gloves, it traps the heat and something windproof
outside. Nothing that will cut off your circulation.

Quoted message said:

My toes did get a bit cold as the ride wore on. I wore heavy socks and
my usual sneakers.

Here are a few suggestions.

1) Find wool products, sock gloves, sweaters. It may be old fashion
but it hold the heat when wet and gets the sweat/wet off the skin
without lossing heat. Generally it's not windproof.

2) a good windproof vest is very helpful as it keeps the wind from
going through you but doesn't trap the sweat. I use the cheapest
Pearl Izumi vest I could find. It's just a plastic front and open
mesh back (no sleeves, though a half sleeve, front only would
probably be useful if I could find one).

3) Use something that is windproof on the tops of your feet. A peice
of plastic bag is an example it keeps the wind from robbing the
little heat feet tend to get.

4) Something that covers your head and at least the tops of your ears
may be enough to keep your head warm. A lot of heat leaves your
body via your head. Dont' trap it there.

If your worried about wind burn on your face vaseline on your cheeks
can be useful. There may be a specific product for that. I suspect
light ski wear may be useful but I don't know much about skiing.

--
Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry [email hidden]
http://home.comcast.net/~ncherry/ (Text only)
http://hcs.sourceforge.net/ (HCS II)
http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog

Neil Cherry said:

It may just be me as I don't like the cold. Heat I can handle, cold I
have trouble with. Most of the people I ride with find it weird that I
still wear long sleeve jerseys into the 70's. But when it comes to
rain and cold I suffer. I'll still ride into the cold days of winter
but I start having breathing problems after the rides (wheezing and
lung conjestion). It's the one thing that limits my riding. That and I
hate the cold feeling I have for the rest of the day inside the core
of my body.

Oddly, on the bike I'm out riding in 90-95 degree days and it feels cool
with the wind blowing. I keep looking at the temp and thinking, man, I'm
gonna fry. However I will frequently ride in extra gear in the heat when
I'm trying to acclimate to even hotter temps.

The important thing is to realize your limitations and work with them, as
you've done.

Quoted message said:

BTW, I've had trouble with neoprene. Since it hold the sweat I found
it made me colder except for my feet. I still use thick wool socks and
I make sure that nothing is tight or too loose fitting (socks, shoes,
pants, shirt, head wear or gloves) as that cuts off circulation and
will also make you cold.

Yeah, I'm thinking the experiment is still in progress for what to wear on
the hands when it's wet -and- cold. But I think the neoprene booties will
be a big plus, in that it keeps the shoes from getting wet. I rarely get
cold feet, but temps are not that extreme in central Va. The coldest I've
ever ridden was 10deg F, so Peter's 'subzero' group has me beat.

Basically, since I'm a 'ride everyday' guy, I've only let deep snow and
flooding stop me (so far). Oh, and hurricanes (Aug 03). (lol). Fortunately
the climate is mild here.

You'd have gotten a laugh out of seeing me do 16 repeats on the 1/2 mile of
clear bike trail a couple days last winter. It was just pathetic...lol. Oh
well. ;-)

-B

Quoted message said:

--
Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry

Neil Cherry said:

dgk said:

My toes did get a bit cold as the ride wore on. I wore heavy socks and
my usual sneakers.

Here are a few suggestions.

1) Find wool products, sock gloves, sweaters. It may be old fashion
but it hold the heat when wet and gets the sweat/wet off the skin
without lossing heat. Generally it's not windproof.

For the most part I confine my retro-grouchery to one or two things.
But the big one is wool. Wool Socks. I think wool socks are the bomb.
The are so infused with bomb-ness, I might call them the next best thing
to be discovered since Pam Grier. Because of course nothing contains
the bomb-nature more than Pam Grier.

--
Dane Jackson - z u v e m b i @ u n i x b i g o t s . o r g
Virgule gazed across the vast, cold, steel expanse past his inquisitor to witness
the full consequence of his previous decision - feral, withered children, in
tattered, filthy garments, toiled mindlessly at his command in a single chamber
which reeked of oil and burning animal flesh - his time had come to deliver the
final instruction; "Yes! I would like fries with that."