Cyclists in shorts in very cold weather

jouxplan

Am I the only one who is often incredulous at how little clothing some others wear on days that are 5 degrees centrigrade and horribly windy? Last weekend I was wearing base layers and gilets and a windproof coat and leggings and ski gloves and a skull cap and overshoes and everything. It was COLD. Most other cyclists I met were similarly attired. But there always seems to be at least one person who is out in short sleeves and shorts. I never know what to think about such people. They are not in a race and they are not covered in a warming balm, as far as I can tell. I suppose they are often pretty young - maybe inexperience? Are they really hard? Really stupid? Can't feel the cold? What is it with some people?

bompington

I'm not sure I'm getting this - your title says "very cold weather" but your post mentions +5°C, not seeing the connection there :-)

herb71

That could be me you have seen cycling round the Leicestershire country side. I don't feel the cold too badly when I exercise and I have always been that way, running or cycling. I just seem to generate a lot of heat.

My mates seem to find it quite amusing, they are all layered up, and I turn up in a single layer. I might wear tights in the very coldest weather, and occasionally a gillet if it is wet to keep water off my chest. I don't wear a full waterproof, I would rather be wet than too hot. I wear gloves for the first 10 minutes, but normally take them off as my hands get hot.

Just lately, I have noticed my feet getting cold, when everything else if scalding hot, so I might start wearing another pair of socks.

sbbefc

I like to wear shorts, no different to playing rugby or footy in the winter

jouxplan

bompington wrote:

I'm not sure I'm getting this - your title says "very cold weather" but your post mentions +5°C, not seeing the connection there :-)

Ha! Ha! I guess one man's 'very cold' is another man's 'quite pleasant'

amaferanga

sbbefc wrote:

I like to wear shorts, no different to playing rugby or footy in the winter

Apart from the wind chill. Maybe you're just really slow

tiredofwhiners

I know what you mean - base layer, jacket, gilet, buff, buff on head and a chap goes past in shorts and short sleeved top. He may have only been going for a short time but if he breaks down then he's in trouble. I stopped to help a guy whose tyre had 'bulged' for no reason and it tuned out to be an incorrectly fitted innertube. He was 3-4 miles from home, and only wearing a thin top, and zero bike/tyre repair gear. Fortunately I managed to get some air in his tyre so he could at least limp home as the wheel would now turn.

If I hadn't, he'd have pneumonia by now.

herb71

tiredofwhiners wrote:

.... if he breaks down then he's in trouble. .

Never even thought about that side of things....

Grill

I'm from Arizona, so "cold" is very different back home. I'll be spending Christmas over there riding in 15-20 degrees C wearing my shorts and lightest weight jersey whilst everybody else is bundled in their winter coats in front of their fireplaces.

cougie

I'm assuming its mainly new cyclists who started in the summer and haven't yet got winter kit. You never see club cyclists in shorts in winter.

Windchill isnt to be underestimated - but that said - if you're out for 30 mins or so - it probably won't be the end of the world. If you're doing a decent ride though- you need to wrap up a bit in winter.

robertsims

Each to their own really, I regularly go out with 3/4 lengths, jersey and just hi vis shell jacket on. Only real winter gear I got are gloves as only my hands seem to suffer. Then again I avoid riding if it's pouring down but cold doesn't bother me. Just cycle faster to warm up

lc1981

cougie wrote:

I'm assuming its mainly new cyclists who started in the summer and haven't yet got winter kit. You never see club cyclists in shorts in winter.

I know a few experienced club cyclists who wear shorts pretty much all winter. They say that they don't really feel the cold. I seem to be able to get away with three-quarter length shorts down to about freezing point. It's my hands that always get cold, regardless of what I'm wearing.

meesterbond

I remember meeting up with a mate for a ride a few years back... a thick frost / remnants of snow on the ground. I was wearing almost every item of cycling clothing I owned and he turns up in shorts, thin short sleeve top, fingerless mitts and summer shoes.

We got about 2 miles down the round before he practically begged to go back as he was starting to lose all feeling in his hands and feet.

Muppet.

Reane_Machine

Lately I have started wearing leggings and a t-shirt under a long sleeved jersey and I'm confortable in it.

Having said that I have heard that Under Armour's cold gear stuff is very good, so might look inito that.

I warm up fast too but I know that although I feel warm the cold and wet can have other hidden dangers that you might not necessarily feel right away.

Only problem I have found so far is descending when the wind chill really gets you, but on hills and even flats i'm fine in two layers.

Only real changes I've made is the addition of my buff around my neck, winter gloves and I will be acquiring overshoes in the next week or two.

cougie

I always carry an extra layer with me anyway. Rainjacket or something. If the weather turns, or if you have a mechanical - you cool down very quickly.

The old adage is that it's better to be too warm and need to unzip a top rather than be too cold and be unable to do anything about it.

ed_j

I wear a jersey, canterbury base layer and normal shorts. Get called hardcore by most, but I honestly never get cold legs...

cougie

The old guys in our club would tell you off if you wore shorts when its cool. They keep riding til they drop too - so I'm going to go with their advice.

"Keep your knees warm. Since tendons do not receive direct blood supply like muscle tissue, the body cannot regulate their temperature as well. Like most elastic tissue, when it is colder, it loses elasticity, becoming more vulnerable to tearing at higher force. ."

Reane_Machine

cougie wrote:

"Keep your knees warm. Since tendons do not receive direct blood supply like muscle tissue, the body cannot regulate their temperature as well. Like most elastic tissue, when it is colder, it loses elasticity, becoming more vulnerable to tearing at higher force. ."

That's as good an excuse for wearing tights than I could think of! That's what i'll tell the missus when she laughs at me for looking like an extra from Fame.

apreading

I find the legs get warm as soon as I have been going for 10mins or so, whether in tights or shorts, whatever the temp. Feet and hands MUST be kept warm because if those bits get cold then it is all you can think of - especially if they get wet as well! Core normally needs a little extra help as the temps go down and so do arms - as these areas arent generating as much heat as your legs. My core always seems to sweat though, so probably doesnt need as much warm clothing as I give it.

Having said that, I have tights so comfy that I have been wearing them for ages. I have thicker tights for when its really cold but I dont like them - cant find a pair I like the fit of, find them restrictive and find even with thinner tights I am just as warm after a while riding.

Generally I think if your legs are cold you arent riding hard enough...

As someone else said though - I always bear in mind that if I have a problem and am stranded, waiting for a rescue mission for the wife or walking home then I will need more layers. I tend to dress with this in mind and wear more than I stractly need, but not too much that I am uncomfortable. I sometimes stick some of the following in my jersey pockets for emergencies or if my guess at the right clothing was wrong: gilet, extra headwarmer, buff extra thin merino base layer.

declan1

I have a friend who literally had to take his jersey off the other day (he had bibs on) because he was too hot. It was nearing 0 degrees (mountains in the Highlands) and I was wrapped up like the Michelin man.

I have to wear three pairs of gloves in the winter to keep my hands from freezing (one pair is the free ones that came with Cycling Plus).

I suppose some people just don't feel the cold, but I certainly do....

jibberjim

I own plenty of full legged stuff - I only wear it on the commute. Even at the easiest pace I ride at, my legs are sitting there producing many hundreds of watts of heating, at 5 degrees C the wind chill is not enough to bring the temperature down to something uncomfortable. The parts which aren't moving are very wrapped up, the muscles that are working hard aren't.

If they were cold - they'd go home. forget about them, concentrate on yourself.

nolight

I live on the equator. Weather is 24-33 degree C throughout the year, day or night. 5 degree C is cold!

Joeblack

At the moment I'm wearing a Under armour cold climate base layer and a gillet with shorts, I do have full finger gloves and some castelli toe thingys, all I ever feel the cold on is my feet and fingers if these are covered I'm good to go, that said I work my arse off when I'm riding ;-)

TakeTurns

I'll admit to wearing shorts at 5c or even lower

It wasn't because I didn't have the correct clothing, I just didn't feel the cold. As long as I had something decent on top I was fine. Now however, I wear tights. I prefer feeling cosy when I step outside the house instead of my legs freezing and wanting to go back in.

lotus49

jouxplan wrote:

bompington wrote:

I'm not sure I'm getting this - your title says "very cold weather" but your post mentions +5°C, not seeing the connection there :-)

Ha! Ha! I guess one man's 'very cold' is another man's 'quite pleasant'

Indeed. Around here people don't talk about the cold until it actually starts to freeze. I have often seen people wearing T-shirts in the snow and my postie wears shorts all year round no matter what the weather.

I like the cold. It helps dissipate the heat I generate from not being fit enough.

TOM14S

Herb, is it you I see cycling towards Desford some mornings? I pass a bloke wearing shorts n shirt in the rain and cold some mornings and think he's crazy! :shock:

neeb

jouxplan wrote:

I suppose they are often pretty young -

I certainly used to feel the cold less and suffer more from the heat when I was in my 20s and 30s (I'm 45 now). On the other hand, I was less fit and slightly heavier then too, I probably had more natural insulation and a less efficient metabolism in terms of converting energy into motion (as opposed to heat). That's my positive stance on it anyway (the negative one is that my metabolism is just slower..)

vs4b

I'm still wearing shorts to commute, when it gets cold after Xmas I might think about the longs.

scoobywingrove

I wear shorts all year round.as long as my top half & feet are warm & dry im good..if its snows or hammerering down with rain i rub vaserlene into me legs b4 i set off on a ride..

simon_masterson

I used to wear shorts in winter. I did it for a good while; I had no tights.

I have to say that I don't massively feel the cold in my legs and certainly wasn't overly uncomfortable at the time, but I'm also very aware that being cold is not beneficial in the slightest, and I don't think I'd want to be without my tights now!

schleckster

When I first started riding seriously and regularly I only had shorts, a couple of long sleeve base layers and short sleeve jerseys. I went out for a two hour plus ride in November, with the temp around 5C, and by the time I got back was shivering uncontrollably, mostly wind chill, this took about ten minutes to stop.

After that I bought 3/4 bib knickers (for versatility, warm enough for when it's very cold but also useful in spring and cooler summer days), a thin packable rain jacket, a winter jacket, winter gloves and a cap! Now when it's cold I usually wear the 3/4 bibs with a base layer, the winter jacket with its underam zippers open for ventilation and winter gloves, this is just right, not too hot or cold. I guess if you do get a little chilly just do intervals or speed up for a few minutes.