How can you ride a bike in this weather!?

This is a question I get asked a lot this time of year.  The temperatures are dropping (22 when I left the house), snow is flying, and people waste gas warming up their cars.  The short answer is it doesn't even take that much.  This is what I wore this morning:

Wool t-shirt, patagonia cap2, wind stopper vest, wool hat, light wind stopper gloves, jeans.

Yep, no long johns or wind pants....and no shell jacket (although I carry both just in case).  The reality is once you're pedaling you generate quite a bit of heat.  And yeah, it's a bit chilly at the beginning but it just reminds you that you're alive!  So don't let the cold weather stop you from getting on the bike and enjoying an absolutely beautiful morning ride!

Cold Weather Riding Conundrum!

Ok, I know a lot of folks stop riding when it gets colder.  I don't happen to be one of them...in fact, I think it makes the commute that much more interesting.  It's really just about dressing for the weather.  After you've done it for a while it's second nature.  However, I do have one particular area that always seems get exposed to the cold.

Yep, the wrist.  I don't know if I have an exceptionally large "ape index" (how long your arms are vs. your body) or if clothing manufacturers just don't make sleeves that are long enough when your arms are extended.  It's a problem I have with almost all of my long sleeved shirts when riding.

I feel like I need to invent a "wrist buff" since most cycling specific gloves don't have much of a gauntlet.  Who knows....it might just be a million dollar idea.  Anyway, that's the worst part of cold weather riding for me.  What sends a shiver up your spine on the commute?

Rivers (and fingers) of ice!

The cold snap continues!  You can tell because both my fingers and the river were pretty much frozen this morning.

Just a tad crisp on those moring rides.

Yeah....just a tad.  There was riding this weekend too.  Late at night after Backwash....that was also a bit crisp, especially toes and hands.  For those of you not familiar with this particular event in local beer drinking.  Backwash is a homebrew competition / charity event that raises money to get disadvantaged kids out and about in nature.  Basically, you pay to get in the door (and it sells out fast) and they have 30+ different home brews for you to try.  Then there is an official judging and a peoples choice winner.  These brews often find their way to production over at Silver Peak brewery.

As you can see....there are also raffle prizes and a band.

Our regular crew...minus the Preacher and his wifey.  The Preacher is a previous winner of this event....and the reason you can get Reddy Eddy at Silver Peak now and again.

The better looking portion of our group.

Anyway....for the event we rode down a friends house who lives nearby in Mid-town.  The crew then walked over to the event which was at the Sienna.  This turned out to be very convenient since the entire crew wobbled over to Nobel Pie afterwards to soak up some of the beverages that were still sloshing around inside us.

To make an increasingly long story short....when rode home later, wifey was not amused at the temperatures or the lack of feeling in her fingers or toes.

This would be because we were wearing relatively light (but wind proof) gloves.  Stupid, because we do both have much heavier gloves.  Even after years of getting around this way, it still seems I have to learn this lesson over each year!

So this morning I grabbed the heavier gloves and some new equipment to help the toes.

Neoprene toe covers for the cycling shoes.  I bought these for Cycle Oregon and they never even left the gear bag.  But man, oh man....they sure to make a difference on the cold mornings with well ventilated bike shows.  I can't believe I didn't get these sooner.

So anyway, bundle up and keep riding.  You might just generate your own rambling pointless story!

Stupid human tricks...

I realize the title for this mornings post is a bit leading.  I'm also sure that everyone out there could write a nice little article under the same title.  The interesting part I suppose is that each one of our little rants would be different.  So without further ado here's mine for today.

Use a leaf blower to try to clear snow!  Now to preface this, I'm not talking about a regular homeowner who's having a lazy morning and just doesn't feel like shoveling.  I'm talking about a professional (using the term loosely) who does this as part of their job.

Yep, you guessed it.  A city worker.  Bless their souls....they try hard but they just don't have the right tools for the job.

Now to this poor guys credit.  He didn't call in sick today knowing that it was about 8 degrees out and he would be working outside.  And who knows, perhaps the leaf blower keeps his back warm!  For the record it was freaking cold this morning.

How cold was it you ask!  Cold enough to freeze the Truckee river over!  I've seen ice flows in the river many times while riding.  I have not seen this progression of ice flow before.

So I guess the obvious stupid human trick here is to try to walk across the river this morning.  I didn't attempt it but keep an eye on the paper or evening news.  I'm sure some brave soul will take the initiative. 

In the mean time the final stupid human trick for this morning would obviously be to try to ride your bike in this weather!  So I've participated in the final category and in an hour my toes should thaw nicely.  So how about it can you add any tricks to the list this morning!?

My 15 miles this morning.

This was my route this morning...

Please note their are no pictures, as I was pretty much holding on for dear life.

All told this was my normal commute along the river, continuing on to an early morning dentist appointment (about 15 miles, if I started the GPS properly).  Not sure if you looked outside this morning, but SNOW.  Don't get me wrong, I actually like riding when it snows (or rains for that matter).

The problem is, this was just the perfect combination of temperature for snow/slush.  This means snow and ice form perfectly inside the fenders when you ride in the soft snowy parts and eventually the bloody wheels just don't turn without some serious effort.  Turns out these conditions make up the entire bike path and most bike lanes where no traffic has used them.

The solution is to ride more in the lane and get into the slush zone.  The slush doesn't pack against the tires and riding involves a whole lot less friction.  This is a good thing.  The bad part is this means taking the lane.  A risky endeavor in Reno on a good day.  Again, SNOW.  People in Reno loose their minds when it snows.  I tried reasonably taking the lane, meaning just using the far right side.  Idiots continued to pass within inches of me in conditions where they could barely control their 2 ton cages.  This included a plow driver and a couple of NV Energy guys in huge trucks!

I finally took the center of the lane and things improved from a safety point of view but I bet they weren't happy with me.  Anyway that was my morning.  Oh, and I have a cavity....so I have to go back for a filling.

If you're as nuts as I am and still riding today, stay safe.

You know it's cold when.....

There are ice flows in the Truckee river!

Sorry about the crappy cell phone photo.

Needless to say, I wasn't particularly bright this morning and chose the shoes with more ventilation on the ride in.  While I could still feel my toes when I arrived at work.....they didn't feel warm!

The shame....I didn't enjoy my commute last night.....or did I?

The day started off with extra miles to deliver some things to a convention I'm working at the Nugget in Sparks.  No problem, sun was shining and I got to alter my route to work, plus I got in a few extra miles.  Everything is bikey and great!

Then off to the office for a day that was jam packed.  My mood at this point is still good, but I seem to be sighing a lot.  No problem the ride to back to the Nugget should charge up the batteries right?  Yeah, the wind was not my friend on the way over....batteries and mood still low.

Sitting the booth at the convention and chatting with clients went well.  It did pretty much suck the rest of my energy out.  Now it's 7:30 and it's bloody cold and windy as hell.  Also notice I lost one of my locks today.  Have about 10 miles home in a headwind.  For the first time in about 4 years I am not really loving it....Oh the shame!

Turns out even though it was a slow (10mph max) ride, the headwind warms you up in about 2 minutes!  And I rode straight up Victorian/4th St. so I go to see an area I don't ride that often.  The hill kick my butt, but boy did I sleep like a rock last night.

Overall, bike commuting vs. bad attitude and no energy.....  Bike commuting still wins!

If you dare!

Smiling all the way.

Normally a cold snap like set in last night means a few things.  Pick every last tomato out of the garden, get the Halloween decorations out, and watch the number of cyclist on the road drop.  So this morning when wifey requested I join her on the ride into school I wasn't quite ready.  Not that she requires me for the ride...but the hooks when we store bicycles are designed with a 6 ft person in mind. So while she can get her bike down, a chivalrous husband does lend a hand!  The surprise was that wifey was not going to be phased by the cold.  While she's plenty adventurous, cold weather is not her strong suit and I figured this dip in temperatures might result in the bicycle staying on the hooks for a few days.

As you can see, not only was I wrong, but very wrong.  Note that she isn't even wearing tights under that skirt (temperature when we departed our house was 31 degrees).  She assures me that boots go a long ways towards a warmer ride when sporting a skirt....I think I'd have gone with tights!  For reference, I was wearing thick mountain khakis (think carharts), three layers on top (including wind stopper vest) and a wool hat.  So while I may ride in the colder temperatures regularly, I appear quite the sissy when riding with wifey!

So Reno (and Carson) cyclists, the bar has been raised.  Did you ride and will you continue to ride as the temperatures slide!?  If you aren't and you're using the weather as your excuse, just remember the ladies out there are putting you to shame (both for temperature tolerance and fashion sense)!

Oh, and if any ladies who ride are reading, check out this blog for practical cool weather riding fashion (and just girls on bikes).