What's the coldest you've ever ridden in?

portuguese mike

Rode to work this morning and it got down to minus 4.5 degrees C which is the coldest i think i've ever ridden in.

Now, i live on the south coast so i thought there's bound to be some hardy types up north who can beat that.

nicklouse

i can beat that easy, but it is not really fair and not today.

FSR_XC

I was in Germany a fair few years back.

Decided to ride to work early one morning. I thought it would be fun to ride in the snow. I knew it was very cold, so got togged up in all the cold weather gear I had.

1 mile down the road I turned back.

Driving to work in the comfort of the car I found out it was minus 12.

andyp

About -15 in Switzerland. It wasn't too bad really, but then I'm quite happy riding in the cold.

portuguese mike

nicklouse wrote:

i can beat that easy, but it is not really fair and not today.

You can't just say that and not tell - i'm intrigued.

martincroxall

I once went out when it was snowing in normal mitts. Three miles later I was home again, unable to use the brakes (or anything else that required my hand to move or feel for that matter) and wondering just how stupid I could be.

Mind you I was only 20 then and I'm so much more sensible now, well, kind of, sometimes.

popette

This is my first winter on a bike - probably about 2 degrees when I went out on Sunday so not all that cold. I still inwardly marvel at the fact that I'm on a bike and it's mid december. I'm hard core!

wastelander

Don't know what the temp was but when out mtbikng a few years ago in pretty heavy going the mud had started to freeze around the brake calipers :shock: I'm determined to ride as much as I can this winter but when the roads get icy then I'm calling it quits for a few days!

hugo 1st

I'd guess that those who commute regardless of the weather will win this one. It's not just figures on a thermometer that matter, there are the other factors such as wind-chill and the degree of snow falling or fallen. As far as my experiences go, I never measured it!

Anonymous

Back in '95, we had a snow storm hit Seattle, and at that particular time I was riding north to Everett, WA., some 35 or so miles. The snow started to fall about 20 minutes into the ride. By the time I got to Everett, there was nearly 18 inches of snow and the temp was close to 25*. My hands were so cold I couldn't shift (grip shift on a Diamondback Lakeside, 700c wheels with 42cm wide nobbies) or use the brakes. I couldn't feel with my hands at all. I was wearing Avenir Thermo lined gloves. They were good gloves, but weren't right for the conditions I used them in.

Had to look at my hands to make sure I was holding the grips.

1892

I had to ride to work a few years ago about 3.30am in a blizzard because the alarm was going off I don't know how cold it was let's just say it was f***ing cold

TheGreatGatsby

dunno how cold it was this morning but my eyelashes and brows forze when I was on the bike and my hands and jacket had ice on them.

Gats

nicklouse

portuguese mike wrote:

nicklouse wrote:

i can beat that easy, but it is not really fair and not today.

You can't just say that and not tell - i'm intrigued.

Ok Not really your type of riding but still, IE MTB, but -20 C. One night i was going to ride to a New Years Eve party but as i shut the flat door i found that i had to wait for my hand to warm up the handle so i could let go. I did not ride i called a Taxi and saw via the cars Temp guage it was -26 C. Got a lift back, thank fully, as i do not know just how cold it would have been then.

Where Trollhattan Sweden 2001.

Mike Healey

Where are the Iditarod riders when you need them?

nicklouse

Mike Healey wrote:

Where are the Iditarod riders when you need them?

Now respect to those guys that is one tough race.

Graham Webb

In that very famous winter of '63' I did a ride from Birmingham to Henley-on-Thames together with Roy Cromack, (the first human (?) to ride more than 500 miles in 24 hours, 1969). I think that it was near to -20° C, I know it was the coldest day ever recorded in England.

We stayed the night in a fridge (Youth Hostel), next morning we looked out of the window and guess what, the Thames was frozen over! After corn flakes with frozen milk we started our 100 mile journey back to Birmingham. I couldn't feel my feet or my hands, and Roy 'half wheeled' me every inch of the way, that wouldn't have been so bad but he never stopped talking for a minuet!

At home I removed my shoes and tried to warm my feet up, but no matter how I tried I couldn't get my circulation going, in my left big toe there was no life at all. Next day I went to my docs and said to him 'my big toe is frozen’; he just laughed at me and said 'that's impossible'. I could stick big thick needles through my toe and didn't feel a thing, not long after that my nail dropped off and to this day it has never grown back!

So I still have a souvenir of the coldest ride of my life in that coldest winter of 1963.

Bunnyman 5.5

EE, they made them tough in them days :shock: :!: ...

LangerDan

A friend of mine is currently working in Calgary. The bike messengers there will keep riding until the temperature drops to -30. At that point, the big risk is apparently damaging your lung tissue from the cold air.

Reading this thread, it does have a touch of the Four Yorkshiremen about it "There were fourteen of us riding in t'Antartic in middle of road, with nowt in our bidons but liquid nitrogen" - and we wonder why non-cyclists think we're not "well"!

campagchris

-20 for me in northumberland I think in 1982 it was that cold pipes were bursting in peoples houses plumbers were making a fortune.We were that cold I took my neck warmer off and had to put it inside my long uns to get some life back in the nether regions.But we had a good laugh.

portuguese mike

Graham Webb wrote:

In that very famous winter of '63' I did a ride from Birmingham to Henley-on-Thames together with Roy Cromack, (the first human (?) to ride more than 500 miles in 24 hours, 1969). I think that it was near to -20° C, I know it was the coldest day ever recorded in England.

We stayed the night in a fridge (Youth Hostel), next morning we looked out of the window and guess what, the Thames was frozen over! After corn flakes with frozen milk we started our 100 mile journey back to Birmingham. I couldn't feel my feet or my hands, and Roy 'half wheeled' me every inch of the way, that wouldn't have been so bad but he never stopped talking for a minuet!

At home I removed my shoes and tried to warm my feet up, but no matter how I tried I couldn't get my circulation going, in my left big toe there was no life at all. Next day I went to my docs and said to him 'my big toe is frozen’; he just laughed at me and said 'that's impossible'. I could stick big thick needles through my toe and didn't feel a thing, not long after that my nail dropped off and to this day it has never grown back!

So I still have a souvenir of the coldest ride of my life in that coldest winter of 1963.

That is hardcore - i take my helmet off to you sir.

noggincp

I was in Oslo yesterday

-15c

cyclists with thin looking gloves etc abound :oops:

oldwelshman

Years ago when I was young I never checked, 46 now so check
This year so far, -7 about 4 weeks ago. Why do club runs start so early making me leave at 8 am to ride to meet up?

clarkson

probably about 0 to -2. not very cold compared to some people! but then i do live on the south coast.. next to the sea.

GraemeT

A couple of years ago was riding to work when the air temp was -14. Was all kitted up but the wind chill on the exposed parts of my face was so bad I had to stop and walk with the bike. Found out when I got to work that with windchill it was -20 something

skinny man0903

Hi I am not sure how cold it was yesterday, someone told me that when they were on their way to work yesterday it was -5 that was around 8 am, I went out around 11.30 and it was bl**day cold so cold in fact the my drink on the bike started to freeze.
I had cycled 10 miles before I admitted defeat and turned back. I managed 22.39 miles, which I was very happy with considering I hadn't cycled any great distances sine July this yr.

Iain

girofan

skinny man0903 wrote:

Hi I am not sure how cold it was yesterday, someone told me that when they were on their way to work yesterday it was -5 that was around 8 am, I went out around 11.30 and it was bl**day cold so cold in fact the my drink on the bike started to freeze.
I had cycled 10 miles before I admitted defeat and turned back. I managed 22.39 miles, which I was very happy with considering I hadn't cycled any great distances sine July this yr.

Iain

Yes my drink froze yesterday also. I don't think it's how cold it actually is, but more the perception of how cold you feel.
In riding through what seemed like an ice storm yesterday it felt as though my eyeballs had frozen, and I wear glasses!!!
I cursed my riding partner for dragging me out in freezing fog for thirty odd miles and vowed never to repeat the experience. :shock: :shock:

Positron

-4 this morning and I'm still in shorts. Legs aren't the problem but I need the help of a couple of Buffs then it's okay when you've gone a mile or so. Never encountered anything really cold but did once have to stop to wipe the snow off my front light. Love cycling in the snow.

p.

oldwelshman

Positron wrote:

-4 this morning and I'm still in shorts. Legs aren't the problem but I need the help of a couple of Buffs then it's okay when you've gone a mile or so. Never encountered anything really cold but did once have to stop to wipe the snow off my front light. Love cycling in the snow.

p.

Thats nuts shorts in that cold, its a wonder you knees work, or perhaps they won't for much longer.

Alex_Simmons/RST

-20C that's just nuts.

About -5C for me but only once!

Rarely gets down below 8 or 9C in the winter for me on the coldest dawns. Always coldest just as sun rises.

Graham Webb

We had -11 C today in Belgium, but I didn't go out on the bike except for going to the village to collect two Christmas Turkeys that I had ordered, they just fitted into my cycle pannier bags, and I was only out for a half hour. Hope they fit in the oven!

Merry Christmas.

skinny man0903

Yes my drink froze yesterday also. I don't think it's how cold it actually is, but more the perception of how cold you feel.
In riding through what seemed like an ice storm yesterday it felt as though my eyeballs had frozen, and I wear glasses!!!
I cursed my riding partner for dragging me out in freezing fog for thirty odd miles and vowed never to repeat the experience. :shock: :shock:[/quote]

I had my cycling glasses on so my eyes weren't to bad, but i couldn't feel my jaw or chin lol