OK, I know this subject is not quite as interesting as “Amanda’s legs” but it’s all I’ve got right now!!!! Today was my coldest so far, it was 28 degrees, no snow or ice, not much wind and it was a nice ride. Now, it’s beer and football. Life is good!!!!
July 20 - 27, 2024
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56 Replies
I quit riding dec 10 for the season. It was a balmy 47. My coldest ride ever was 14 below zero in 1975. I rode to college every day then on my schwinn varsity.
Coldest ride so far this year was yesterday – a relatively balmy 25. My normal low point is 20. My feet are the limiting factor below that – after an hour or so they start turning numb even with booties. I’ve thought about cold weather shoes but I usually put it off long enough that winter is half over and it doesn’t seem worth it.
This winter, the coldest start (commute to work) i’ve had so far is 10 degrees @ 6:30 am. That was in late December.
It wasnt too bad though, as there was no wind and the streets were dry.
Sioux City had 14 inches at 6:00 tonight with more on the way, The winds are going to pickup and that won’t be much fun! I think we had 8-10, not sure of the exact amount.
And the coldest I have ridden is 48 and that was on RAGBRAI!
I went to Dallas over the Christmas break with hopes of warm weather riding… Instead, I rode in 35 degrees with rain and misting… no wind (yea!)
Two days later it was 70 degrees and sunny but I had no bike available….Go figure…
Nuts to you, kentucky!!
-“BB”-
About 30f is my lower limit when headed out for a two-three hour training ride. I have sometimes went down to 27f if too many hours in a dark basement on a gerbil wheel have started to erode my brain.
Have done the grocery store run and the New Years Day ride in the teens but for a real road ride those temps are just too cold to get in a workout.
The coldest ride I had was the one year I tried to ride to BRR from Ames the day before the ride. It was one of those years I was itching to get biking again and wild horses couldn’t have kept me from trying. Mother Nature was ready for me as it was -35 windchill.
As I rolled south out of Ames on R38, the sweat dripped out of my head cover onto my eyeglasses and froze solid. In no time at all, my visibility was reduced to one clear spot about the size of a pencil on one lense. It was all I could do to make sure the white stripe on the edge of the road stayed in the center of that spot….
I made it to Slater and stopped off for lunch at the bar. When I rolled up and dismounted, the locals coming in for lunch looked at me like I was an alien. I was…. I had fins of frost and ice down my back and my running nose had formed two long tusks….
After lunch, I made it about a mile on 210 before I called it quits. I pulled into Garst Seed Company where my wife works. As I came up to her desk she looked up and mumbled, “please tell me you didn’t bike down here….”. I may not have scored too many point in the intelligent spouse division, but I did get the car keys.
Regardless, I did make BRR the next day.
This year’s record stands at 5F. I’ve had snow and ice this week, so I’m finally off the bike for a few days.
I think it was -5 to -8 so far this winter for me. I went on a nice 25 miler yesterday that took me onto Clear Lake. It was a great time with temps around 10.
22°F is my record this year (and all time). I knew it was too cold when I started developing frost on the outside of my gloves. I’ll agree with other posters that it’s not the coldest temps that are the worst, it’s the cold combined with the wind.
-18F before wind chill. Storm came barelling in and the buses stopped running. So in my infinite male wisdom I decided. “What the heck, it’s only three miles to home.” By the time I got home both insulated bottles were frozen, The rear derailleur was frozen in 4th gear. The rear brake was a coated in solid chunk of ice.
Photo from the ride the next day (-5F): http://www.mindcrafter.com/biketour2009/ Look in the “Prepping for the Ride” gallery.
This year has been mild. Last year was much colder at this time.
It’s been mild here, too. I haven’t missed a weekend so far, but have only commuted a couple of days. Commuting this time of year means riding at night, which isn’t my favorite. Coldest has been mid-20’s and thankfully very little wind.
Last year, I remember riding deep into the negative numbers in some serious winter gear and still froze. This year in southern Iowa has been snowy, but okay temperature wise. 3-4″ more tonight. Oh boy!