OK, how about a real cold-weather riding discussion? (Please note: I’m not beating my chest here, I have some suggestions for others, and questions as well):
Saturday a.m. it was 18-degrees and I had a 1500y swim, 40-mile bike, 10-mile run scheduled with a friend at 7am. Did I freeze? No, but our water bottles did. All workouts were aimed at Zone 1/2. Aero position on bike. Plenty of time from swim-to-bike so we can dry off completely.
The key to everything was Onions and Ogres. Layers.
Here’s what worked for the ride for me (approx: 18-degree start temp, 25-degree finish temp):
BIKE:
Head: Balaclavalalala, helmet, biking glasses. That’s it. I’d considered ski goggles, but that put me too far over the dork-o-meter.
Body: Dri-fit longsleeve shirt (high-tech fabrics don’t freeze to my stomach, wife-beaters do), long-sleeve fleece pullover, bike jersey over the fleece (to hold gel, phone, food), then a light windproof shell. Tuck that fleece down low to protect your daddy parts.
Hands: Ski Gloves. Nothing fancy. I don’t know the thermablah fabric. I just know they’re thick, blue, and can wipe a tremendous amount of snot off my face.
Legs: Bike shorts underneath somewhat thick-spandex-type running pants.
Feet: one-pair socks (regular shin-high coolmax), bike shoes, Performance neoprene booties.
I see why people are afraid of this. For the first ten miles, my head and bridge of my nose were cold as hell, but beyond that, it wasn’t a problem. My feet got a tad bit numb at the end, but they were fine (move your toes around every 15 minutes or so to get the blood flowing). The key to my feet were those neoprene booties. It was my first ride in these… all prior rides I’d done in sub-30-degree temp left my feet in horrible shape and warming them up post-ride was extremely painful (I’d wear 3 layers of socks and electrical tape over all the shoe vents). Booties make ALL the difference. Get them from Performance, they’re cheap and work like a champ. Fingers got a bit cold, but I could pull my fingers in and make a fist to warm them up. My head was surprisingly warm for most of the ride.
Also on the bike: I used the same Kenda tires that came with my P2k. They’ve got 1500 miles on them and worn tread on the rear tire. No problems, but I chose fairly clean roads. (I drove it the day before to make sure most of the snow and ice had been cleared… we had to do out-and-backs, but it’s safer that way).
My friend wore the same save the fleece and he wore thinner gloves. He somehow generates a lot of heat or something. I call him a monster when he’s not around. He also had a problem at the bridge of his nose, but it was short lived.
After the bike, quick change into:
Body: same clothes minus bike jersey–drifit, fleece, shell
Legs: running shorts & stretchy, thin, somewhat loose running pants (Nike makes 'em).
Hands: Thin DriLine glove liners. Hands were hot after 2 miles.
Head: one of those wrap-around-your-head ear warmer things that Dan so successfully modeled for us.
Feet: Same socks, different shoes
Run temp was probably high-20’s finishing in the low-30’s (snow was melting on the roads).
Result: I was sweating. Get a fleece and shell with a zip-down so you can cool off. Miles 5-10 get awfully warm. Be sure to wear stuff that’s easy to take off for a short period of time to cool off.
PROBLEMS WITH THIS: Overall, no real problems except that water freezes. I’d had this problem before, but not so severely. We had slushies by mile 20 and had to stop and scoop slush/ice out of the bottle by mile 30. Water was all but frozen and useless, but Gatorade and Accellerade and their high-tech molecular structure (sugar) can handle the cold a bit better and turn to slush instead of a block of ice. Does anyone have suggestions for this besides the Camelbak? Bottle cozies? Antifreeze? Uranium?
Also, any other suggestions for the bridge of your nose or top of your head? ANyone tried those helmet-cover things that supposedly keep your head warmer? It wasn’t a major problem, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit worried those first few icy miles. After that, I was fine.
-G-g-g-gi-i-illlll
