Tip #3 - Cold weather riding

A bit of a delay since my last....work has been crazy. In case you were wondering what I do besides ride my bike, I work for a large IT company in sales and spend a lot of time on the road. Sometimes it makes it difficult to get out training so I always make sure if I am staying overnight there is a gym in the hotel. Family wise I am married with 2 kids who are just starting school. Needless to say I have a busy life!! Luckily I have an understanding wife about the training and I'll try to do as much training as possible in "off hours" for her. Meaning during the warmer months I am out by 6am riding and home before noon. Usually everyone is just dressed by then so it doesn't interrupt the normal day too much.

I've been doing lots of trainer and gym work this past week. Over the weekend I went for a long ride on the hardtail but stuck to the roads and city paths (which in many cases were a sheet of ice). About 3 hours riding. Luckily the ride was point (my house) to point (parents house) and the wind was at my back part of the way, otherwise I would have froze. The temperate was about -8 d Celsius, but -17 with the wind. It is amazing what a good set of winter riding gear can do.

Which leads me to the tip of the week. Winter riding. It is possible and I proved it with my ride over the weekend. The key is the right clothing. The most important place to keep warm is your head where you lose the most heat. I use a warm cycling hat (with a balaclava over top if it is really cold) and I am nice and toasty.

The other area most people have problems are their feet. Investing in a good pair of winter riding shoes is a must if you plan to do a lot. I have a pair of Sidi Storms. Make sure you get the winter shoes 1 size too big. You'll need the space by the time you put a pair of wool socks on and/or some neoprene socks. Over top of the shoes I use a pair of Pearl Izumi insulated shoe covers. That will keep you warm in the foot department. A last resort is to use the chemical foot warmers and put them in the bottom of your shoes. They work great but they can get expensive and you don't really need them except for extreme temperatures.

For your hands you can use just about any kind of ski gloves. I sometimes use Pearl Izumi AmFib lobster gloves and they are almost too warm! Otherwise a ski glove does the job.

Lastly your upper body and legs. The key is layering. You want your first layer to be sometime technical that wicks the sweat away from your body. Then a warm, insulated cycling jacket, and finally a windbreaker. Leg wise you don't always need as many layers. Because your legs are doing most of the work riding that is where the blood goes and it keeps your muscles warm. Usually a pair of insulated tights overtop regular cycling shorts will do the job. For the cold days perhaps some long johns, but that is about it.

Well only 33 days left under the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo. I am going to have to bring most of my winter clothes for this race. Last year it was around the freezing mark during the night. The desert is interesting that way. It just can't hold the heat from the daytime. Sometimes though you will ride through a warm pocket of air and it is such a relief....unfortunately it doesn't last long.

Until next time!

Steve