Cycling Forum: Winter Cycling

your lucky to be in northern VA.  I am up here in northern NY....its gets cold.  I can normally stay out most of the winter, single digits get a little chilly for me.  Layers are key and lots of windstopping material. 

 in warmer weather (30's) I use paper under my jersey.  Once I start to overheat I can simply throw away the paper or just put it in the back of my jersey.  Ive done the same with zip lock bags (to keep my chest warm).  

 Many many little tricks out there but you can bike in almost any weather and be fine.

Here in Maine, forget it.  It's not the cold, per se - I routinely go snowshoeing in 10 or 15 degree (F) temps, and after an hour or so I'm sweating in a t-shirt. 

 It's those nasty ol' laws of physics.  The necessity of trying to ride a cycle on roads that are ridiculously narrow due to snowpack filled with cars who have fogged windows and are (for pretty commonsense reasons) NOT expecting a cycle to be around the next corner.  Those same roads have surprise patches of ice (from melt/freeze runoff) that don't bother cars all that much, but wreak havoc on a 2-wheeler. I haven't figured out how to get chains or snow tires for a cycle.

And trail riding would be cool if I could figure out the mechanics of installing a series of teeny snowshoes on my tires.  (grin)

 The cycles usually get put up in November, and stay hanging in the garage next to the canoe until March or April at least, and then for little tentative excursions until well into May.  But the snowshoes help fill the gap.  :)

I'm in Philly and I ride through the winter.  Last year - in total - I did not miss a day of biking to work (8.2 miles one way).  Some days were pretty cold, but I grew up in the Poconos and my theory is that if I would snowboard in it, I could put on the same gear and bike.  I do have a junker bike to handle all the snow and slush and salt that wears the bike out though.  I wear: goggles (when needed due to precipitation), lands-end shoe-style boots (the only thing I found that sufficiently kept my feet both warm and dry), and my snow-boarding pants, coat, face mask, and gloves.  My 5th graders laugh if they ever stay late and school and see me leave.  I admit, I must be a sight to see.  But, I am proud to say that I do it.  With all my padding I feel even more protected against the crazy drivers of the world. I also keep extra toasty toes in my bag and use them very regularly!

Do I like the winter?  No, I dispise it!  I keep thinking of moving south to accomidate my commuting by bicycle.  However, as unpleasant as it might be, it is possible :-)

Kristy

You all sound hard-core bike-nuts like I use to be with some of my fellow RoadDogs.

One that that killed me as I got older was how the cold air would kill my lungs to the point I couldn't breath right and would cough for some time after I finished riding. One question I have for cold/cools days, say sub-50 degrees; what do you folks use or do to keep your lungs for "freezing" up?