[Closed] when is it too cold too ride? or is it never too cold

I used to think it was never too cold to ride, but after riding in sub-zero temperatures most of last winter and developing all sorts of chest lurgs and asthma problems, I'm starting to think that anything below freezing is not a good idea (for me)

Depends, -5 is probably too cold if all you're wearing is flippers and speedoes.

If you have the right clothing then you'll be ok... Well thats what I think 😆

Fired the car up this morning and this was the temp

[img] [/img]

Enough to convince me it was probably too cold to be on the bike!

some days this year have been too cold.
done a minus 9, minus 8, and a couple of minus 7's
it is not very nice and surely it cant be good for you?

Rode Stainburn last night at minus 9.5 (I like to round it up (?) to minus 10) and had a blast. Keep to a hilly route and you'll be reet - long flat, faster sections are where it starts to hurt a bit.
And make sure you're bike either hasn't been washed recently or is totally dried out. Freewheel freezing seems to be the most common problem right now.

Well clothing aside I had my rear hub freeze the other weekend which I sorted with some proper grease. But then my brakes froze - the pistons wouldnt move much - in or out. The gear cables froze and ice formed on the jockey wheels so the chain made a rubbing noise.

It was all OK as I was in fairly deep snow so didnt need brakes and in a low gear so didnt need to change.

So actually I dont think its ever too cold - unless you get frostbite or need brakes / gears.

I have achieved -9 so far - its the ice and snow that stops me not the cold until my bike freezes up completely 😉

Commute this week at -9 was just too cold. Physically warm enough, it was breathing hard in air that cold that seemed to be the limiting factor. Chest felt rubbish the following day, too.

Willy, I *may* be out on the ride with you & Graham too, BUT, major problem.......I've looked everywhere, but can't find my hip flask....

😀

The pond in the nearby park is frozen solid so me and the dog were able to walk right across it this morning!

If it's below -5 just be sure that nothing is going to break - including yourself - so ride well within your limits.

Done this many times, and once or twice I've got a flat or something.
If it'll take more than a couple of minutes it's not worth the cold to stop and fix it so just shoulder the bike and make a quick exit.
Lots of short interlocking loops are best for easy bail out options.

Been out in the minus double digits at 500m in the Pentlands at 10pm, solo, a few times, and it does go through your head that if you hurt yourself then you won't make it though the night.

Been as low as 13F commuting this week, which is about -10C I think. Nae bother.

Had minus 10.5 here in Liverpool when I started the car the morning before last. Tbh riding in colder wouldn't bother me as long as I had warm feet and hands.

just put my new winter tyres on and dried the bike out plenty of oil on the chain (as that has frozen while drinking from the hip flask) I let you know how we get on.Going to take my down jacket just in case we have a mechanical or accident .

I'll ride to work in prety much anything, my work collegue told me it was -10 the other night (according to his car)

However that is because I've got no other form of transport, except my feet. As long as you've got the right clothing, even riding in what I was told was -10 wasn't bad.

I wouldn't ride in that temperature for pleasure as I'd end up getting a permant sore throat and cough.

Also unlike a social ride, I don't stop when riding to work; so don't get the opportunity to get cold and I'm only out in it for 45 mins each way.

In the words of the great phil hammond -
You always put on your gear and ride. Only then do you know if it was too cold to ride.
😉

FFS it must be christmas GAZ C is out lol 😀

Out this morning in about -10 for an hour. Interesting is what it was, my feet started to get a bit cold, numb toes even with thick thermal socks, winter boots and overshoes.

My philosophy is for worst case. I carry a lot of warm clothes and a space blanket out with me if it's really cold, pick a route with a few bail out options if you can and if riding solo, it's especially important to let someone know where you are going and when you expect to be back or GPS track it to the web for someone to monitor if you're late.

Doesn't take long for hypothermia to set in when it's well below freezing.

I was starting to think it was too cold to ride but started wearing downhill kit for trail riding, feels OK to about -5 now.

Im going to miss not being able to wear the full face when it warms up again!

I've not ridden much recently as it's pretty icy out, but I'm still using my bike for short trips across town, one of which was probably at around -9 or so last week.

I have some cycling trousers that I virtually never use, but have had on twice in the past few weeks. When you wear enough clothes, it's not a problem - must be a good deal chiller at Iditarod etc. I'm using a buff over my face and neck when I set off, as the air you breathe in is hopefully then a bit warmer, so it's not too cold when it hits your lungs. The buff gets a bit annoying sometimes though, so I drop it down below my mouth every now and again once I've warmed up.

I'm predominantly riding my singlespeed, so no gear cables to freeze. No frozen freeweel issues thus far, probably helped by the fact that the bike is kept on the communal landing when not in use, and the fact that it hasn't been jet washed for a while.

Coldest I have ridden in was -20C (in USA) but that was on a rather shonky Trek some years ago. Simple 8 speed cassette and cable brakes - nothing much to go wrong. With enough layers was warm once you got going. There were a few of us though - would not have gone out alone.

-11 the other morning on the Wirral, nice along the Wirral way (coastal) on way to the ferry cross the mersey, 17 miles and warm as toast. Icicles on riding glasses mind and no stopping. MW80 boots, normal socks, shorts, endura stealth jacket, merino riding jumper, skin layer, bibs.

Talking to friends in Canada, their nine year old plays hockey on the local lake in the winter. Matches are only cancelled if the temperature drops below -25C.

Personally, I won't ride road any more than necessary below 0 as I find it hard to keep circulation to fingers and toes (and often another part of me that suffers from wind chill) but off road I've been comfortable down to -6.

We had -25 on a trip to Lapland and after 3 hours at the activity centre I found myself struggling to breath at all deeply. I'd been very warm playing on the ice scooters. I'm not sure I'd want to ride a bike very far in the fur lined romper suits they gave us to wear.

Good clothing makes the cold not a probelem but my lungs have not felt right since regular rides around minus 10 the other week (Combined with lurgy makes it even more worserer).

Got a friend in Irbit in Siberia who rides his Surly Pugsley in winter often below -45C 😯

-20C last Febuary here was cold...exposed skin around eyes and cheeks burned and were left a glowey red...was great to experiance it...

Cold doesn't bother me as long as I have the right gear on. Ice bothers me though, so if its cold with a thick frost then thats fine but cold and black ice then I don't ride. Rode to work lasy year with a temp of -10, wife passed in the car on way to work and let me know the temp, had the whole frzen eyebrows and lumps of ice forming on the stem. But the ride in was fine. Rear mech and casette did start to freeze up on the ride home though as the frost had started to melt throughout the day.

If it's too cold to ride, there are other fun snow based activities 😆

rode in minus 10 on a few night rides last year. I think it's more the trail conditions than the temp though. Currently local trails (Mugdock) are ice fest and loads of tumbles every ride, so even venturing out despite temp is dodgy at best 😥

My hands have been a problem on commutes when it got down to minus 10. I'm sure with better hand protection it would be fine. Like some of the pogies etc. posted on here. The rest of me was warm enough.

IMO it's too cold to ride when it stops being fun. So that's personal. It's fun being out in bad weather sometimes.

-12 on Monday night was too cold for me. Despite being togged up my hands, feet and face were frozen 🙁

Looking forward to the balmier temps forecast, only -4 or -5 ish!

I rode in -12 on the south downs, 3/4 shorts too. Once you get going its no problem, but that depends on the induvidual realy. My feet need to wrapped up, but i found i could use long fingered summer gloves without suffering. I since moved to assos winter things, rated down to +6 and found them too warm at -7.

I've got a commute thats only a couple of miles so I wear shorts all year round, couple of weeks ago it had dropped to -9 and even though it was only a couple of miles my legs were that cold they hurt !
If I go for a decent ride I wear longs but if its lower than -5 I'm staying tucked up on the sofa 🙂

Out last night in a cool -6 & that felt quite cold - gloves are really only spring / Autumn ones – Thermal compression top and thin thermal under by Gore tool jacket was ok – endure windtex tights – found that find a comfortable speed hard to fine to maintain a warm balance
In the past have ridden in -9 with strong winds – wind chill enough to have ice form on the outside off my kit – calculated temp with wind chill to be about -20

When you can't feel your hands anymore.

Had that up the top of Skiddaw earlier this month, wind made it feel like I no gloves on, then hands went numb.

Not ideal for a steep, technical descent in the snow.

IT was -11 the other day round these parts when we set off and that was proper cold, went off a bit too quick and had some breathing issues, but once I'd calmed down and acclimatized a bit all was good.

MW80's, Merino socks, Luso Max Repel bibs, Aldi thermal base layer, winter jersey and a soft shell all rounded off with goretex/thinsulate gloves 😀

I used to commute to work in Prague and would regularly see -10 to -13 or so which was manageable with the right clothes. A few times it got closer to -20 which really started to get uncomfortable as any exposed skin would get very painful. Smearing vaseline over exposed areas was a big help, but not really the ideal way to start the day.... I'm sure shaggy or aidan will be along soon to blow anyone else's tales out of the water.

I've had a few winter rides when the temp is about +10 degrees F, which I think is about -12- C and do alright as long as it isn't windy. As long as my toes/fingers don't get too frigid I am OK with it. I find the first couple of really cold weather rides to be the hardest, then I seem to acclimate. Same with the first few after-work summer rides when the temperature is in the +90-95 F--then I get used to it.

In Calgary I rode in anything down to minus 20 but only if the sun was shining. it was still bitter though

Took my single speed out twice but the free hub refuse to cooperate after 200m - Twice!

nice vid BB 🙂

Its as cold now as I remember as a kid. After Sunday's Slip & Slide Fest I'm thinking leaving my bike in the shed and going to look for my skates. Along the road from us is a hilltop curling pond which has a summerhouse in the middle.

Last winter we skated there for the first time in twenty years, its just not been cold enough for long enough. The moon is still pretty full and there is barely any wind.

mttm - Member
it was breathing hard in air that cold that seemed to be the limiting factor. Chest felt rubbish the following day, too.

I use a balaclava by Dhb which sorted that particular problem out, if you don't fancy looking like a terrorist though, try a buff instead.

Been riding down to about -35C in Alaska and ridden and slept at -25C on the Wirral. Though the Wirral was in Iceland Frozen Foods warehouse, as prep for Alaska.

when is it cold enough to ride on the canal?

I don't think I've had as much fun on my bike in ages. Last night was ace 😀

Car said it was -11 on Monday night when I got in at about 6.30pm. It was a lovely evening with almost full moon so I went out at about 10pm for a ride. Managed about 20 mins before giving up - I was getting colder and colder. Next morning it was -17. I did think about Brant and wondered how on earth he managed.

I've ridden a fair bit on the recent cold snap and have been pretty warm generally, even down to -10 or so. Only issues I've had are the Camelbak hose freezing up (even with the winter sleeve on it) and the cassette icing up and being left with one gear (mechs iced up too) Rear pro2 freehub has been fine after being rebuilt with Rock n Roll Super Slick grease. XT and XTR shifters have been freezing up a little too, a few squirts of GT85 before a ride usually sorts that out.

Only been out on the rigid SS, as little as possible to go wrong, but it still shed the LH crank. The clamp bolts hadn't worked loose I can only assume the steel hollowtech shaft has a greater coefficient of expansion / contraction than the ally crank and it shrank in the cold enough for the crank to slide off.

Nice crisp, cold day to be out though, didn't get that far, going ranged between having to carry through the deep stuff to lethal water ice on some of the untreated roads.

There's a good article in today's Observer on the subject of riding in the cold.

[url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/25/snow-cycling-blood-donation ]Link here[/url]

I've not really had a mechanical related problem riding in the cold. I'd suggest that cleaning the bike may well introduce water into voids/ spaces/ interstecies in cables, mechanisms etc that will then freeze. I find that my brakes make a lot of noise in very cold conditions. And air seals leak more than usual- I'm assuming that they stiffen and thus become less flexible and resilient in the cold. My shock pump has had something of a workout recently.

Decent gloves really help, forget waterproof, you need to let moisure escape so that you don't get sweaty and thus chilled. I use a pair of PI gloves, bulky but nice and warm down into sub double digits. Mits are even warmer.

In really cold weather I don't use my winter boots (too constricting), I use my summer ones, with a pair of wooly boolies, another pair of merino socks and then loosly laced up, so that my feet are not squashed. Cold at first, warm as toast later although it can come in waves.

Roubaix bibtights, perhaps with Ron Hills over the top and if an icy ride is anticipated, knee-shin pads for warmth/ knock protection. Toasty until you remove them.

As for the bloke riding with bare skin- rather you than me. I came into this game via Hilwalking/ climbing/ mountaineering and would never leave areas of skin exposed in such a way in the winter. You may not feel the cold as much on your legs but it is still capable of doing damage.