Do you bike in bad weather?

[bdesj]

Originally Posted by atomicradish

I live in North Carolina, where we have mild winters, and muggy summers. I prefer riding in the fall, winter, and spring. Cold temperatures, even below freezing don't bother me so much, as long as I cover my hands and ears.

Yeah, most of this thread has been about cold and/or wet weather. Heat sucks just as bad and is harder to mitigate by wearing different clothes. I`m sure glad I don`t have to deal with hot and muggy summers in the southern US. Or dry but scorching summers in the SW, for that matter.

[Grant-53]

One reason I build fairings is that I won't have to work so hard and sweat so much.

[jtbo]

I don't like cycling at cold or snow, or even at the rain or if there is wind.

So I postpone cycling to see if next day is better, usually it is worse, so I have to cycle in bad weather then. I don't really have much other options, using car for local shop trip is not really sensible, it is only around 8km trip, so I use bicycle when visiting local shop.

Coldest I have used bicycle was -38C (-36.4F), riding down the hill at nearly 40kph was causing rather exotic sensations, especially forehead started to feel rather bad, despite having core tex wool hat thing (probably there is proper english word for that, but I'm not aware of such word), also I had to cover my face so that only eyes were visible, which btw did freeze open at downhill as water did run from eyes, but got frozen because of cold + windchill.
I have cycled on smooth ice which has water on top of it while it was raining really hard water so it was difficult to see anything, very cold and of course rather damp too, not even then I did slow down, I did go at full speed that my feet managed to give, thanks to Nokian 288 studs, insane grip in those.

So I do cycle in very bad weather, but I don't want to do that, also I don't like from it, but waiting good weather for couple of days without food is bit of forcing me to use my bicycle.

[Grant-53]

We have cases of frozen eyes in North America so ski goggles or such are welcome. I bought motorcycle helmet and a balacava hood. Vetter style hippo mitts go over the hand grips in a bike. These can be made from neoprene foam material.

[Grant-53]

Same for climbing Mt. Washington. There are warning signs for hikers to turn back at first sign of bad weather. What makes bicycle commuting possible is traction and low wind chill while exercising. Another reason for bike fairings is to keep drier.

[AndrzejM]

I'm riding my bike everyday regardless the weather even when it is -25 degrees Celsius (-13 Farenheit). Funny thing is that I'm finding walking on ice harder than riding a bike

[jared1970]

Cold, snow, and ice don't bother me. I just don't like rain, even in warm weather. Hate being wet, especially if my shoes get wet. Otherwise, I'll ride in any condition until it starts getting so cold that I can't keep my hands and feet from getting frostbite. If I can figure out the trick to keeping my hands and feet from freezing in temperatures below 0 F, I won't have any reason to leave the bike at home.

[Jakins]

Dude. It's so funny that this thread exists! Haha! A couple years ago my only car was my v8 240sx and it has a huge hole in the hood so every time it rained I had to ride my bike 12 miles to work and 12 miles back! Hahahahahahahahaha so much fun

[bdesj]

Originally Posted by Jakins

A couple years ago my only car was my v8 240sx and it has a huge hole in the hood so every time it rained I had to ride my bike 12 miles to work and 12 miles back!

Now THAT`s funny!

[Piwoslaw]

I once heard someone say that there's no such thing as too cold to bike, only not dressed appropriately. I repeated that when talking to people about biking when it's not warm and sunny, but recently I read about a guy who decided to bike across Siberia. In the winter. It turned out that below -30°C the fluid in hydraulic brakes freezes, so simpler cable operated brakes are a must in cold temps. Among the guy's mottos were:

• Don't sleep in a tent when there is a warm house nearby,
• Why am I doing this?