[Closed] Cold Commute

there's gross fun and net fun.
gross fun is fun at the time, net fun is fun when you talk about it later.
your epic ice ride to work was net fun 🙂

(I'm just about to get on my larkspur and tiptoe to work - I'm wearing 'a few extra layers')

my toes are still numb, jeez it was cold after leaving the city @ 7am...

First icy puddles of the year along the bottom of the Thames Valley this morning. After a period of 6 weeks of very little riding it felt like hard work.

Ice-cream headache even though I had the under helmet hat on, and shorts meant I had aching shins, but still better than the bus

Yeh it was rather nippy out - might have to wear trousers and hat tomorrow!

Massive mincing on corners this a.m.

Even though it was frosty this morning, it felt colder yesterday, wind factor I guess.

Anyway loads of numpties trying to drive through partly cleared windscreens today made for some interesting near misses 😉

Cheap Aldi shoe socks seemed to work a trick though.

jeez it was cold after leaving the city @ 7am...

MTFU

I left at 6am. It was hovering just below zero on my weather station.

I've done it at -7 before. My water bottle was like a slush puppie when I got to work!

🙂

I went for a ride last night and it was pretty nippy. Even with t-shirt, long sleeve jersery & waterproof I wasn't exactly warm.
Feet weren't too bad though & hands pretty toasty in Sealskinz gloves.

Whizzing along for the first few miles amazed at how fresh I was feeling, given that I hadn't ridden for about 3 weeks, then had a cold for the last 2 weeks or so.
Then turned a corner & realised why I was whizzing along - straight into a ice cold head wind - certainly woke me up!
Nice to get out though.

PP - do you go over the pedestrian bridge which crosses the A331 at North Camp station ? Nice and icy on one of the corners, saw a bloke come off today.

Soft southern shandy drinkers the lot of you - htfu - heat the **** up. 😉

Minus 2 in ripon this morninig so my first outing with the Schwalbe Snow studs on the mtb. I felt more confident on the icey back roads although had to push up 1 hill as there was no grip. Took me 15 min longer than it does on the cyclocross bike but 1st impressions were good. Shame theyre so draggy and weigh a ton.

Hardest point was deciding how to get past the gritter as it revved and skidded up and down the cobbled road. Pavements quite small at that point and he kept going sideways. Showed no intention of waiting for me to pass though.

Re net fun, good post 😉 feeling better now...

bassspine - Member

there's gross fun and net fun.
gross fun is fun at the time, net fun is fun when you talk about it later.

Superb 😉

-4 in Glasgow this morning at 6am... Feet nice and warm thanks to over boots and merino wool socks. Hands a bit cold but okay thanks to seal skin gloves. Gore you would have been a bit better this morning. Although this morning I also tried the "not doing up your shoes as tight as you can" approach - I think they also helped as my feet got more blood flow.

However my bum hurts as the fools working the M80 extension ran street cleaners up and down a mile or so of my commute after the gritters had been out. Result was sheet ice - I fell on my arse twice before cutting across the fields...

David.

My route goes from SW London and ride right into the city. The ride starts a lot higher and more exposed (this is relative!) than it finishes, but it was jolly parky on Wombledin Common. Pretty warm in the centre of the mighty metropolis though. Lovely at all relevant times.

🙂

Very cold at 6am in Dundee too, my hydration pack straw froze. Had to do helicopter arms every so often to keep the fingers from going numb...661 storm gloves aren't up to much when it gets this cold.

Around zero on the way in through Manchester this morning.

Pavés still fitted on the winter bike, so plenty of grip, and the gritters had been out too.

Used my super-sixed Sealskinz fgloves today. Could barely operate the brakes, but my hands have never been so warm on a bike!

1 deg riding along Worthing sea front at 6.45. but the sun was just breaking through and the sea was like a mill pond,its a great commute when its like this & over the downs home again.....

I was toasty warm, for once I managed to dress just right!
It warmed up noticeably once I hit town but for the first part of the ride (all downhill) from the outskirts of the Peak District the temperature was below below zero, there was a really deep frost.

Into Manc and the temperature immediately rose by about 5 degrees.

PP - do you go over the pedestrian bridge which crosses the A331 at North Camp station ? Nice and icy on one of the corners, saw a bloke come off today.

Not in the morning, no.
I come up through North Camp past Natwest, straight over the roundabout, then left at the next one and cut through to Government Road near the Canal, then a couple of shortcuts to the BVR path

-6 in Falkirk at 6:30 ,the car heated up in no time though, so no biggie

>I come up through North Camp past Natwest, straight over the roundabout, then left at the next one and cut through to Government Road near the Canal, then a couple of shortcuts to the BVR path

OK, I can picture that.

Frozen lock, frozen brakes, frozen legs (wearing a skirt and thin tights didn't help, I suppose) and hands after about 3 minutes, frozen slippy leaves, frozen shoes after getting off and trying to pry open frozen brakes... yep, it's winter!

I'm hoping it's going to get colder so the mud freezes. My commute is hard work at the moment just because the ground is so soft, it feels like I'm dragging an anchor around. The puddles had started to ice over this morning but most of the ground was still really soft.

[i]I'm hoping it's going to get colder so the mud freezes.[/i]

+1. I want a proper freeze so I can use the canal towpaths again on the cross bike without looking like I've done 4 rounds with the Monster From the Black Lagoon.
A quiet towpath would also make a nice change from my usual death defying road commute watching all the cars play "race to the next set of red lights"

Defintely below zero air temp in Edinburgh today but not so frosty on the roads - even out of town. Icy puddles though but they're easy to avoid. Beautiful sunrise too! Cold hands were the only problem - see my post about pogies!

Refreshing start to the day.

It wasn't too bad in Leeds this morning, an early start (6:30am) because I wanted to go to the gym and the realisation that I should have pumped my back tyre up halfway there were worse than the cold.

Pair of thinsulate gloves over my cycling gloves and two pairs of socks, plus the buff pulled up over my nose/ears kept me warm. Could feel it was colder than yesterday on my exposed shins though.

Nice and cold here on the FoD/Wales border this morning. Got to the top of my drive to be greeted by a car on its roof on the bend (driver OK and other drivers calling emergency services). Minced down the hill and took it steady for rest of ride; took an extra 10 minutes on a usual 35 minute journey but arrived safe and warm. Proper freeze here this morning, normally mucky sections were good and crunchy; what appeared to be water across the lane was deathly silent black ice.

Water/wind proof overshoes (altura are great) make all the difference IMO 🙂

Considered overshoes but there's a section that's a good hike on the route so not sure if they'd last...waits for more MTFU comments.

I'm hoping it's going to get colder so the mud freezes.

+1

With hindsight it was a bad idea to include the singletrack through the wetland nature reserve this morning. 🙁

I agree it was at least below 15°C how is that even bearable 😉

Im cycling from Blackpool to Preston tonight and wish I had a pair of leg warmers. 🙄

Cold this morning but not too icy till I nipped through heaton park to see if it was suitable for riding some kids through. Sheet ice meant no!

Check weather forecast, oh instead of 10, it's dropping to 4 degrees C...

Dig out proper winter gear...best ride I had in ages...bar the cold dose!

Achoo! dam caught a cold lol.
😳