Does the cold effect your speed?

rjsterry

Rick Chasey wrote:

I'd imagine that's a smaller proportion of the 'slow' down than muscular stuff, and, probably biggest of all - clothing.

My chest & head f*ck at lower temperatures.

Went out on Saturday for a ride and I wasn't speaking logical sentences when I got home apparently.

That sounds like the early stages of hypothermia. Have you tried taking your body temperature when you get in (or getting someone else to do it).

I tend to run hot once I've got going, but it can take a while to warm up. Distribution of heat is never good, and I can be sweating vigorously under my jersey, while my fingers and toes are numb. Even below zero, I find my NightVision jacket too warm for the whole commute - just the job for the first 20 minutes though.

CiB

davis wrote:

Doesn't effect it much, but it definitely affects it.

(pet hate; grammar nazi)

Well said that man, although if the question was 'does the cold effect a reduction in speed' it would have been a neat use of the word. Anyway.

Cold affects me big time these days. I look at my speeds & times to work in winter v summer and it's a good 2-3 mph lower in the cold, adding 10 - 15 minutes on. The biggest benefit is that it makes the summer speeds look good in comparison.

TheStone

They've tested the density thing using golf balls and it makes a huge difference.

Is riding in the rain quicker, or does it just feel it?
I read something about the rain drops sheltering you from the full effect of the wind, but that doesn't sound right!

roger_merriman

I think it's the clothes, more of them, bulkier, flappy, and restrict one.

This said much more a case for the commute than road trips and for the mtb it's the ground that makes the differance. Frozen ground is fast mud is slow etc.

rick_chasey

rjsterry wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

I'd imagine that's a smaller proportion of the 'slow' down than muscular stuff, and, probably biggest of all - clothing.

My chest & head f*ck at lower temperatures.

Went out on Saturday for a ride and I wasn't speaking logical sentences when I got home apparently.

That sounds like the early stages of hypothermia. Have you tried taking your body temperature when you get in (or getting someone else to do it).

I tend to run hot once I've got going, but it can take a while to warm up. Distribution of heat is never good, and I can be sweating vigorously under my jersey, while my fingers and toes are numb. Even below zero, I find my NightVision jacket too warm for the whole commute - just the job for the first 20 minutes though.

Yeah possibly.

I was getting a bead on around my torso and my head was pretty toastie warm.

Like I said, it's when I start having to breathe hard in cold air it goes all funny :P

Anyway, I seem to do fine when the needle nudges over 30 degrees, so I think I just run pretty cool.

MonkeyMonster

i run hot and therefore like it cooler because muscles don't over heat.

I'd love to know what genetic factors make us warmer than some of the onion people on here...

dhope

MonkeyMonster wrote:

I'd love to know what genetic factors make us warmer than some of the onion people on here...

They have too much oestrogen?

rick_chasey

dhope wrote:

MonkeyMonster wrote:

I'd love to know what genetic factors make us warmer than some of the onion people on here...

They have too much oestrogen?

Pfft, we'll see who's a real man when you're blowing smoke out of your ass as you moan about melting roads

meanredspider

roger merriman wrote:

fast mud

I love the idea of "fast mud"

Kieran_Burns

I had a bit of a revelation with the whole balancing the heat thing last week. Normally I keep the top of my head clear (under the vented helmet) as I sweated a lot while cycling, even in the cold. I then found that I'd also be overheating inside my nightvision while I had cold hands and feet.

I decided, just for sh*ts and giggles to try my head-cap thing for the first time when it was -4 last week and damn me if I wasn't spot on temp-wise. My hands and arms were warm, my torso warm, not hot; and my legs and feet just about spot on.

Tried it again this morning (-1) and the same again - feet were a little cold as I had the wrong socks on but it really sorts it out for me. I reckon that my body was feeling the head being cold and 'adjusting' the heat retention accordingly. Now that the head is warmer - it balanced out better.

itboffin

I forgot to add that FGW don't seem to heat their non rush hour trains so it 1:15-30 slowly freezing in your wet clothes followed by the uncontrollable shivers when you arrive at Paddington stn, takes half the 3.5 commute across town to warm back up.

Winter sucks ballz

richVSrich

itboffin wrote:

I forgot to add that FGW don't seem to heat their non rush hour trains so it 1:15-30 slowly freezing in your wet clothes followed by the uncontrollable shivers when you arrive at Paddington stn, takes half the 3.5 commute across town to warm back up.

Winter sucks ballz

sounds like you need a jacket to put on when you get on the train itboffin...

did a quick calc coz im proper curious now: in summary a 5C drop in temperature requires almost 2% more power providing all other variables are constant...

meanredspider

richVSrich wrote:

sounds like you need a jacket to put on when you get on the train itboffin...

Yup. I keep a merino baselayer & Montane Featherlite jacket in my belt bag during winter for puncture situations. Merino is great for staying warm when wet and the jacket just add another reasonably windproof layer. If I were you, I'd be adding a couple of layers when I arrived at the train.

meanredspider

richVSrich wrote:

did a quick calc coz im proper curious now: in summary a 5C drop in temperature requires almost 2% more power providing all other variables are constant...

Which correlates to my calc of the air being about 8% more dense for a 20C drop (summer to winter - at least up here)

Bi50N

I'm another hot 'un.

Current attire is a Uniqlo 'Heat-tech' top under a Gore Phantom (zipped to half mast) and 3/4 shorts. No leggings, but overshoes to keep the feet warm. No hat / helmet on the commute in, but I wear a helmet on the return in the dark.

All I'm missing is a pair of liners as my gloves are allegedly windproof, but not warm.

richVSrich

meanredspider wrote:

richVSrich wrote:

did a quick calc coz im proper curious now: in summary a 5C drop in temperature requires almost 2% more power providing all other variables are constant...

Which correlates to my calc of the air being about 8% more dense for a 20C drop (summer to winter - at least up here)

yeah near enough...
20C to 0C is 7.3% inc. in density
15C to -5C is 7.45% inc. in density
(according to the densities ive seen - i dont know what the humidities for those temps, etc are)

meanredspider

richVSrich wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

richVSrich wrote:

did a quick calc coz im proper curious now: in summary a 5C drop in temperature requires almost 2% more power providing all other variables are constant...

Which correlates to my calc of the air being about 8% more dense for a 20C drop (summer to winter - at least up here)

yeah near enough...
20C to 0C is 7.3% inc. in density
15C to -5C is 7.45% inc. in density
(according to the densities ive seen - i dont know what the humidities for those temps, etc are)

Yup - 7 or 8 in round numbers (I did my calcs at 80% RH). The point though is that it is significant. I don't think that my winter clothes add 8% to my overall weight for instance. And, as we're told that most of our energy goes into shifting the air, it's likely to be the major factor.

rjsterry

itboffin wrote:

I forgot to add that FGW don't seem to heat their non rush hour trains so it 1:15-30 slowly freezing in your wet clothes followed by the uncontrollable shivers when you arrive at Paddington stn, takes half the 3.5 commute across town to warm back up.

Winter sucks ballz

I think train heating is set up for full carriages - 60-70 people at 116W per person is about 7kW, so when the carriage is empty it's freezing. Noticed this a lot when I had a run of morning meetings in Farnham so had to catch the completely empty outward train from C. Junc. and sit there shivering for 45 minutes - wasn't fun in normal clothes, so I think I'd need to jog up and down the aisle in your situation.

itboffin

Nice theory but the trains full as is the cold aircon

PBo

dhope wrote:

MonkeyMonster wrote:

I'd love to know what genetic factors make us warmer than some of the onion people on here...

They have too much oestrogen?

I think you mean they have too much quercetin.

Kieran_Burns

itboffin wrote:

Nice theory but the trains full as is the cold aircon

Hug a fat guy

itboffin

Kieran_Burns wrote:

itboffin wrote:

Nice theory but the trains full as is the cold aircon

Hug a fat guy

Er that would be me :oops:

petemadoc

Thank you to all who have contributed to this thread

I feel much better about my current cr4p averages

itboffin

Just bought my twelfth pair of cycling gloves, i should write a full review of them all really.

CiB

So having agreed with you all that in the cold depths of winter with multiple layers on etc etc, speeds fall through the floor from November onwards. I had a late decision to commute in today, and did so with many layers and a laptop stuffed up my base-layer. And wouldn't you know it? PB for the year so far and the best avg commute time / speed since the beginning of November.

There's a lesson there somewhere. Wait until late morning to set off, and carry a few kilos of ballast up your jersey.

Kieran_Burns

CiB wrote:

So having agreed with you all that in the cold depths of winter with multiple layers on etc etc, speeds fall through the floor from November onwards. I had a late decision to commute in today, and did so with many layers and a laptop stuffed up my base-layer. And wouldn't you know it? PB for the year so far and the best avg commute time / speed since the beginning of November.

There's a lesson there somewhere. Wait until late morning to set off, and carry a few kilos of ballast up your jersey.

I'm resetting your password for being a smug git.

notsoblue

CiB wrote:

So having agreed with you all that in the cold depths of winter with multiple layers on etc etc, speeds fall through the floor from November onwards. I had a late decision to commute in today, and did so with many layers and a laptop stuffed up my base-layer. And wouldn't you know it? PB for the year so far and the best avg commute time / speed since the beginning of November.

There's a lesson there somewhere. Wait until late morning to set off, and carry a few kilos of ballast up your jersey.

Was the laptop on? Would keep you nice and warm.

CiB

Kieran_Burns wrote:

I'm resetting your password for being a smug git.

Less of the smug sonny. Explains why you needed my domain the other day tho.

itboffin

Snow is gone, replaced by rock hard ice that even the ice tyres couldnt grip, ended up walking some of it along the verge and basically wherever i could find rough ground :evil:

You'd have to be mental to drive on that

Oh and it's farking -6 AGAIN .... right off to book a holiday somewhere hot.

meanredspider

itboffin wrote:

Snow is gone, replaced by rock hard ice that even the ice tyres couldnt grip, ended up walking some of it along the verge and basically wherever i could find rough ground :evil:

You'd have to be mental to drive on that

Oh and it's farking -6 AGAIN .... right off to book a holiday somewhere hot.

6.5C here 8) 8) 8)