Berkshire Cycling: The Landscape of Home, 7

Cold Weather Cycling

Temperature is amongst the most relative of things, and fickle. Recent temperatures in the 40s make 25 feel cold. Yet usual temperatures in the low teens make 25 feel warm. Also, this is what we call an "open winter," i.e. no snow cover to speak of, a rare event. The roads are clear of ice, just remnants from the sand and salt trucks.

Last weekend I continued my experiment to see how cold it is when it becomes JUST TOO COLD TO RIDE OUTSIDE. I haven't found out yet.



Sunday I learned that 25F is ok, if the sun is out. To my layers and layers described last week for 30F riding, I added crosscountry ski gloves (leather, down filled) and crosscountry ski pants over my cycle pants. The pants were too warm. The gloves were great.


It was sunny and the ice on the rivers sparkled.The sun helps a lot.


At these temperatures I'm good for about 30 miles. After that it starts to feel ... tiring, but not cold exactly. Next I try on a 20F day.



And the lack of snow cover makes it pretty good, when the ice isn't slushy, for this more traditional winter sport.





But the real reason for this post is to pass along to you these two sites. Thanks to Ellen in Portland for sending me to the first one. Click onto the links, I hope you enjoy them; they are yet another take on the many ways to ride a bike.




Winnipeg Cycle Chick

It is definitely cold where she rides!
















And try this site:





North Sixty

And colder where she rides!

Berkshire Cycling: Cold Weather Training

This winter's plans include staying in cycling shape, something that in past years has always included cross training with lots of cross-country skiing. Not so  this year. There is not enough snow. Second goal: to learn how cold it can be and still allow for comfortable cycling. That's outdoors cycling. On the stationary setup in my sometimes frigid pantry doesn't count.

My driveway ... not good for cycling

Today I combined the two goals and went back onto the road, this time from home. The thermometer said 31F, or 0C, 13 degrees colder than yesterday and still windy, but sunny again. I was layered up and I love some of these clothes, they actually keep me warm, a hard thing to do. I get cold fast, even indoors, but not in this get-up. Terry cold weather cycling pants....warm warm warm hooray. Just that one layer worked, though my knees got a bit nippy downhill.  I admit it, 5 layers on top. I also love Ibex. Two layers of their spectacularly warm, beautiful wool. And Gore: a long-sleeved Gore base layer, the single most effective shirt I've ever owned for keeping me warm. Gore cap and headband under my helmet. Headband also because I can pull it over my forehead and avoid icecream headaches. Cycling booties over my cycle shoes, and long-fingered gloves.

The sandtruck is at work, reminding me to watch for ice

Why is it the wind always seems to pick up, get blowing pretty well, on my way home. So all the way back was into the wind. My fingers got pretty cold, at least I think that's why I couldn't much bend them when I stopped. Next time, cross-country skiing gloves. And my feet were chilly, the cold mostly coming in through the metal clips and the toes. Maybe someday I'll buy winter cycle boots.



So 30 degrees and windy is ok. Next I'll try 25 if I get a chance



So far as the training goes, I was supposed to ride for 2 hours (making up for my somewhat short day yesterday) on a rolling course staying primarily in heart zones 1 and 2. So I road the 10 miles down to Rt 20 and back. It is rolling, no climbs over 4% (not even over 3%) about 1,000 feet total climb. Dutifully I wore the heart monitor and tried to keep the rate down. Nice and easy was fine with me anyway, I wanted to keep an eye out for ice on the road, or build-ups of sand. The careful reader may remember that the last time I wore the monitor outside uphill, I stopped when it said 182, this time it got nowhere near that.

The kingfishers is still here, saw her working this stream

No way, absolutely no way, can I go up any hill at all and keep my heart rate low. I can keep my breathing quiet and still, I can talk, sing, look for ice, work on French vocabulary ... but my heartrate goes up. Even if I make no noise at all, my heartrate goes up. Zone 1 and 2 ... hah! I cannot ride the bike any slower to keep it down. I tried that.



This was an endurance workout, and I suppose it was nonetheless good for that. But to met the goal of low heartrate, I would have to stay on a flat course, something I never, well almost never, do outside. Or stay indoors. Or change my numbers.

Another reason to watch for ice

For a ride profile, it is here at Map My Ride. The training plan I'm following is from a Gale Bernhardt book, I thought that she might make a nice change this year from Joe Friel.