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-24.2c on the way to work today. I have pogies, I have lobster gloves. I had hand warmers in said gloves (which quickly died)
I got into work , locked myself in the bathroom and almost cried in agony . Any tips on how to make it home?
Get a taxi?
Gloves on the radiator all day, dry and warm before you leave.
Get some silk or meraklon liners for next time (or even pop out at lunchtime if you have something nearby that'll stock stuff like that)
Make sure your upper body/arms aren't restricted, especially at the wrist. (Had experience of this, did up the wrist strap too tight, got cold hands)
Don't go too hard, if you get sweaty or clammy you'll suffer. Ride a sheltered route home if you have the choice.
alas Ton I don't think they deliver in 6 hrs.
There are plastic workshop type gloves here at the office. perhaps they would give a little extra protection?
Can you keep the pogies in a warm place so they are not starting off cold when you set off?
bike is currently inside. The little zip round the bottom of the pogies wont do up due to controls. may have to move them (the controls) inboard a little?
Crikey! Aren't the roads icy at those temps? Riding in that is crazy. "I'm just going to work, I may be some time"!
Sweden?
I actually ride with beacon mode on the gps, just in case. nah cycle paths are snow covered and they clear those/ put gravel down first as a priority over the roads.
The easiest is going to be keep moving your hands as you ride along.
Is your core warm enough?
I can't even imagine it that cold, let alone try to give advice/tips on how to keep warm!
How far is your commute? Better hand warmers and making sure you're putting on warm kit will help. Also make sure your wrists are kept warm, maybe an extra hand warmer that sits against your wrist.
Were your feet warm?
core, not sure, I said that too my wife before I left. Tried a thicker jumper instead of my usual softshell from decathlon, but I think the soft shell is warmer. I have extra t shirts here at work so may stick a couple on.
toes, they were on the way to being cold. ski socks, neoprene toe warmer things plus nike winter boots. but they were ok really
rest of me was fine. long johns, buffs etc.
commute is 35 mins. I had hand warmers against my wrist...
I go past my gym halfway so may duck in their and warm up.
I had a good look round where you live on google.
you are a lucky man. embrace the cold 😆
Don't have a good proposal.
But: really painful is only the first contact with warm water.
Following days and weeks: white spots which don't hurt that much.
Good luck!
cheers Ton, I love it, but it makes the commute a little problematic occasionally!
@andreashoen was the warm water a bad idea then?
any thoughts on the plastic gloves lining?
commute is 35 mins
Try doing it in 25, that'll keep you warm. 🙂
Feel your pain on the cold hands warming up thing, it really is a horrible feeling and makes feel very sick and light headed too - I guess that's the blood rushing into my hands to warm them up. Thankfully only -3 for me this morning and hands were warm with lobster mitts and Castelli Corridore Gloves underneath.
[url= http://www.breezeblockers.com/buy.php ]These make a big difference to my commute.[/url]
@Gary M that is exactly what happened! I thought I was being dramatic. I needed a sit down!
Somewhere in the -16C to -20C range is about the coldest I've actually biked in (Lapland last Feb) and I was getting cold hands at those temps. This was with Alpkit pogies (not up to the job). I'd a lump of ice about the size of a fag packet hanging off my beard! The pre-race advice meeting mentioned that you need to be properly fed and hydrated to fight off the cold but given that you were on your commute this is unlikely to be a factor.
Have you insulated the handlebars and controls? Even if you have pogies there's still that heatsink inside them. Which pogies BTW?
@DezB - the roads tend to be compacted snow rather than ice. The temps drop and stay low so you don't get the constant freeze-thaw that you do in this country. Things are much more consistent. I'd imagine there's a few weeks' transition between summer and winter conditions.
Is your core warm enough?
That doesn't seem to work for me. Core can be anything from comfortable to pretty warm, and I will still get frozen hands* at the start of a ride (for up to an hour) and frozen feet** after 2+ hours. Got this last weekend when temps were around -1 to +1°C.
* thin liner gloves plus the thickest pearl izumi insulated riding gloves I have.
** Bridgedale summit socks and Spec defroster boots. Not too tight.
Thick merino baselayer (groundeffect heatwave); gore phantom windstopper jacket, and waterproof trousers over mesh bibs, so core, and everything else except hands and feet, didn't get cold at all.
Plastic gloves might work. I always have a pair in my pack now, just in case. They certainly kept me riding when I realised I'd forgotten to pack my proper winter gloves for a race in Stockholm last winter. That was only about -12 with windchill though 🙂
As per the question by @whitestone - which pogies are you using?
I've just bought some basic ones, and they are great for the temperatures that [B]I'm likely to be riding in[/B]. The manufacturer do offer [url= https://www.hotpog.co.uk/pogies ]various versions[/url], of which the arctic may be the most appropriate for you.
Having said this, they are made by a UK company, so you may be better off finding a supplier from a colder climate, as they may be more experienced in solving the issues.
Good luck - (frozen) fingers crossed!
Most of my old UK/France/Belgian sourced "winter cycling gear" was woefully poor for my first winter up here (Spent about 10 days below 25 degrees the first winter.)Having said this, they are made by a UK company, so you may be better off finding a supplier from a colder climate, as they may be more experienced in solving the issues.
Started moving onto Craft, Haglöfs and a bit of Hestra and some other bits and pieces (some of it non-cycling gear) and it made a world of difference. I find the XXL own brand stuff to be about as good as it gets now (value for money). You can get better, but you will pay for it.
The little zip round the bottom of the pogies wont do up due to controls. may have to move them (the controls) inboard a little?
If cold air is flowing though that gap, then as a temporary measure you could use some sticky tape (Sellotape, parcel tape, electrical tape or whatever) to seal it up.
If the pogies are a very loose fit around your fists, is there anything you have which you could line the pogie with (or simply shove into it to pad it out) in order to increase its insulation, e.g. spare socks, baselayer, bubble wrap etc.? Obviously you would need to ensure that this did not interfere with your ability to operate the brakes.
By plastic gloves do you mean the latex type? These make my hands sweat almost immediately - is that a good idea at that temperature?
Note that I have no experience of wearing them at -25°C!
Hi cheers they are pogies from XXL. Basic but sold in Sweden.
Will seal them up good and proper, plastic gloves at -25c might not make me sweat!
cycle paths are snow covered and they clear those/ put gravel down first as a priority over the roads
What a thoroughly civilised approach.
I understand hands into cold water once you get in is more bearable/gentler than hands into warm water. Would big bags over the top of your pogies help keep the winds chill down?
Make sure your core and arms are warm.
If you can't zip up the pogies, sort that (I never even knew those things had a name!). Are the lobster gloves very thick? I'd certainly be disregarding anything cycle specific at that sort of temperature.
I could give you my experience of riding in the cold, but we're different people and it was more than 10°C warmer and a shorter distance so not that helpful!
tin foil lining to the pogies? I sometimes put it over my toes in cold weather (over my socks, under my shoes)
And also +1 to the core but also arms - if the blood going into your fingers isn't warm then no amount of insulated gloves will warm it up again. Bubble wrap around your arms to add another layer?
Bubble wrap around your arms to add another layer?
If we all come up with coordinated suggestions like this, plastic gloves and maybe strategically placed cardboard, we could end up with the OP dressed up as a transformer or something.
Despite this, folded up newspaper under the front of your top if you're getting any wind chill. I still remember this from the TdF back in the day!
Yeah, i did a sink of warm water once for my hands. The pain made me throw up and i have a gap of about 20 minutes in my memory (other half asked me why i'd been in the bathroom so long, my memory was walking in, filling the sink, throwing up, cleaning up and leaving. Apparently took nearly half an hour.)
Start with cold, work up!
@howsyourdad1:
@andreashoen was the warm water a bad idea then?
any thoughts on the plastic gloves lining?
Worked for some time close to Duluth/Minnesota. In winter time really cold... Had first pain in the fingers. Pain went away and forgot about it.
At home, hot shower: was terrible! Can't say if warm water is generally a bad idea. But it felt like it...
For short tours I used neoprene gloves. But good for 20 minutes max...
Having raynauds syndrome i can sympathise with the op, anything under 10dg and my hands are ****ed, the only solution i've found that is bearable (still not foolproof) is to use arm warmers that fit up to my wrists with a few heat sachets you find in hiking shops placed underneath along my forearm to heat the blood flowing into my hands
Certainly not a perfect solution though as they sometimes move around leading to this
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Plastic gloves should help. Could help a lot.
Some poeple swear by vapour barrier insulation for really cold environments (I think yours counts!). Stops evaporation heat loss from your sweat.
Vapour barrier socks, sleeping bag liners, gloves. Sweatier inside, but it's not evaporating, and, at least as importantly, it keeps the air in your insulation layers drier and therefore better insulating.
One result form a quick google: http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php/211775-Vapor-Barrier-Gloves-Best-25-I-ever-spent
Give it a go, I say. Got to be worth taping up the gaps on the pogies too. and wearing the other jumper.
That post on TGR is worth copying and pasting, it explains it better and more enthusiastically than me:
VAPOR BARRIER GLOVES (NOW SOCKS TOO) - BEST $.25 I EVER SPENT
Some of you may have seen me posting all sorts of questions / comments about vapor barriers. This last week, I used a pair neoprene disposable gloves as a VB and I couldn't have been happier. My hands get cold pretty easily, and I see myself using these any time it is in the 20's or lower.
The benefits were as follows:
1. When your hands do sweat your insulation doesn't get wet. Usually my hands start out OK and get cold throughout the day as my hands sweat when working hard then get cold later on. I usually end up sitting on my hands on the chair lift after 6-7 runs. With the VB my hands did feel moist after a few hard runs down, but once the moisture built to a certain level they stopped sweating.
2. Extra warmth - According to most articles I have read a VB by itself will ad up to 20 degrees of warmth.
3. Related to 1 and 2, when you take your hands out of gloves / mittens, your hands do not get cold near as fast. Without the VB, when you take your hands out of primary gloves / mittens evaporative cooling starts immediately with drastic effects, warm hands + warm water on hands = lots of evaporation = ****ing Cold. With the VB evaporative cooling can't start and I have yet to find somthing I can't do with a pair of rubber gloves on (you can even work your iPhone). Also, after extended periods of your hands being out of your gloves, the gloves themselves often get very cold (evaporative cooling is also at work here). Many times I have had my hands out of my gloves, my hands get cold, then I stick them back in my gloves and I now have cold hands in cold gloves. No more with the VB. Your hands stay warm longer, gloves without hands stay warm longer, and even if they do cool to the air temp, the specific heat of the gloves is much lower as they do not contain all that cold water.
4. Gloves / mittens don't need to be dried because they never got wet in the first place. This will especially be helpful in the BC. Insulation shouldn't pack out as quick as they never get wet from the inside.
5. My fingers don't crack. I used to get cracks at the corners of my thumbs and pointer fingers and sometimes other digits. With the VB's, the cracks I started the weekend with actually healed instead of getting worse.
So, go buy a box of nitrile or neoprene disposable gloves. One pair has lasted 7 days and it is still going strong. It is the best $ you will ever spend.
I tried some vapour barrier socks for possible use on an expedition. Like theses but brown.
Gave me blisters. I used plastic bags instead. They might work better for someone else, more socks, less fit-crucial footwear: I was ski-touring. Fishing? Working in wellies?
My hands were warmer on my bike ride in Lapland at Xmas than they were here sometimes. It was c-20C
I only had lobster gloves on my hands. But at many points I stopped and warmed my hands up. I swung my arms hard and generally stopped quite a bit. I had a handwarmer to keep my phone and camera battery warm
Stop regularly and get the blood flowing into your hands
I have extra t shirts here at work so may stick a couple on.
I'd advise against cotton t-shirts. Any sweat and they will hold it and make you colder. Was XC skiing with a chap wearing many layers including a cotton T-shirt once. He got cold, then took of the damp T and warmed up again with one fewer layer.
I've used vapour barrier socks when winter climbing (Scotland and the Alps), they were made by Patagonia and the recommendation was to wear a very thin liner sock then the VBL sock then your normal thick insulation sock. Definitely worked though your feet did feel like they were sliding around inside your boots!
TBH, a plastic bag sealed at the ankle with a velcro/elasticated strap would be just as good and way cheaper.
When I was doing the Rovaniemi 150 (why I was in Lapland) I found there was a very narrow window of being comfortable and you really needed to keep on top of things according to how much effort you were expending. As an example, the checkpoint at the furthest point of the route at Kuusilampi was followed about thirty minutes of riding later by a very long, steady downhill section - it dropped about 130m in 16Km. I didn't get wrapped up properly before this and I was well past the next checkpoint, maybe 30Km further, before I was warmed up again. Mostly it was a case of buff over/off mouth and nose or open up the front of the windshirt by a few cm, it was very small changes.
So if there was a hill ahead I'd open up the windshirt and pull down the buff as you don't want to overheat, as I'd get to the top then the windshirt would be zipped up and if there was a descent, pull up the buff. In the instance above I probably should have put my duvet on!
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ok, taped up. Bubblewrap is available. I have stuffed kitchen roll in them too. I'm going to try the plastic gloves, it cant be any worse than this morning
My work collegue said it has warmed up and it's now -20. I can still type so my fingers work. There is hope
Nice commuter! 😀
cheers , its the special snow machine. normal hardtail commuter (ragley piglet 2) doesn't have proper ice spiker tyres, just some piddly things
Whilst the problem may be manifesting itself in cold hands, it will help if the rest of you is well warmed up. I would suggest you put your bike kit on enough time before leaving to allow it to warm up (especially shoes/boots). Running up and down the stairs indoors a couple of times before you set off would also get you warmed up.
-26C here in Calgary and I took the car 😳 If your doing this regularly I think the 45NTH Cobrafist would make a big difference. Also how long before leaving did you start the chemical handwarmers? I find they need time to warm up before I use them.
I also have a set of heated gloves but that's $$$ and won't work in the short term.
cobrafist? 😕
so named because of that particular snake's famously warm hands?
[url= https://45nrth.com/products/cobrafist ]https://45nrth.com/products/cobrafist[/url]
The ultimate in cold weather pogies.
Well I made it home. much improved with the plastic gloves, taped up poggies and tissue stuffed in there. Cheers for the advice all, I was dreading the pain !
My buff still froze solid from all the snot but that is for another day!
But what made the biggest difference?
You'll have to go back out. One variable at a time, please!
Ha I did think that!. I would imagine that taping up the poggies was a big thing.
Or perhaps the plastic gloves
Of having the bike inside first.
That doesn't seem to work for me. Core can be anything from comfortable to pretty warm, and I will still get frozen hands* at the start of a ride (for up to an hour) and frozen feet** after 2+ hours. Got this last weekend when temps were around -1 to +1°C.
A warm core doesn't necessarily mean warm hands. But a cold core pretty much guarantees cold hands (and feet).
I've only once been in temperatures down to -25, and couldn't keep warm. Snot freezing on the end of your nose is really painful!
Here in Alaska I have found blocking off around the brakes/shifters works the best to ensure warm hands I use bubble wrap and then if its cold I will tighten the draw string around my arm. I have been out down to -18F with a liner glove and regular weight Dogwood design pogies.
I have heard that the Revelate designs pogies are really good too, they have a removable liner in them. If you are looking for an alternative to keep your face warm. some friends use these ([url=
and love them. I use a wool buff.