Now that the weather is turning cold, most bikers put away their machines. Not me. I enjoy riding so much that I never store my bikes. I ride year-round.
Winter in New York can get cold but if you dress right, it's bearable. Saturday night I went out on my sportbike (Yamaha FZ-1) for three hours in the bracing cold. It was 40-degrees but I was fine.
What helps is the right gear. Like this shirt. It's made of high-tech material that traps your body-heat. Most times, we get cold not because of the external temperature but because we let our own heat dissipate. Trapping it keeps you warm.
I also have five different pairs of riding gloves, of varying weight. For hot weather when your hands sweat, my perforated gloves let air keep them cool. For normal weather, I have regular leather. For the cold, I have three pairs of increasing thickness and warmth. The cold-weather gloves all have gauntlets which cover your wrist and prevent cold air from sneaking up your sleeves. The tradeoff is their thickness, which keeps you warm, impairs your hands from moving easily. My warmest gloves, for truly frigid temps, move as little as astronaut gloves.
How do you dress for cold weather?
Raised in New York State and having lived in the Midwest for the past 40 years, I have increasingly come to dislike the cold weather very much. Maybe it's time I quit whining and actually dress properly for the elements (with a dash of style of course) and get out there and learn to love it again! Thanks for the inspiration!
ReplyDeleteBrrrr! That's great that you still get out and enjoy riding in the cold and winter. I tend to hibernate during the cold months. Now that my kids are getting bigger and want to play out in the cold and snow, that will have to change!
ReplyDeleteI've never liked the cold; I just tolerate it to enjoy riding.
DeleteIt certainly looks like you're ready to take on the cold. I layer with bundles of jersey and silk when it's ridiculously cold. :)
ReplyDeleteThe right gear IS important for staying warm. It gets incredibly cold here in Winnipeg in the winter and it's only tolerable if you have the right clothes. Boots and gloves especially, in my opinion. Nothing is worse than cold extremities.
ReplyDeleteLisa.
"there is no bad weather - only the wrong clothes" :-)
ReplyDeleteas a hiker i love to go on tours in late fall or winter because the woods and mountains are empty, no tourists aka "salontiroler". for really cold weather we use the good old woolen long underwear. does work perfect for keeping the body heat, breathing out the mist and - very important to me - does´t stink!
coldest walk ever - 17°c under zero. you have to walk slow to not get too much cold air in your lungs....
have fun with your bike and drive carefully on the slippery winter streets (just saw your almost-crash-with-a-deer story)
xx
I admire your outdoors activity. And you've endured much more cold than I ever have. Wow.
DeleteCome to my home in winter...it gets as cold as -35 C! and believe me...at that temperature no one wants to be out hiking.
DeleteI need a onesie made out of that high tech material.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that the bike handles differently in winter road conditions. I would think it could be quite dangerous. I would recommend it here! It's already scary enough with ice and snow on the roads to drive an SUV.
I'm sure you already know how much I hate the cold and yes...I live in a place where our winters are harsh and I basically hate them. If I could I would live in LA. Where you don't need a whole new wardrobe for every season of the year.
I stay warm by layering non stop, wearing lots of fleece, extra socks, long coats, down and hats. Doesn't matter what I wear on my hands though...they are always cold.
bisous
Suzanne
Instead of a onesie, I have three different pairs of long underwear to keep my legs warm. I'm impressed/horrified by the cold weather you describe. Why do people live there and endure that? Aren't there buses heading south?
DeleteLA is okay but San Diego is the King of Good Weather. It is always 70-degrees F there.
Motorcycle tires lose a little traction in the cold, so I corner less aggressively. It's similar to riding in the rain.
For me its difficult.
ReplyDeleteThe extra clothes are heavy and I am not good with layering-
we don't get cold weather often, so i love it. downside is we're usually not equipped for cold weather, so it's just lots of layering of tees and sweatshirts and socks and blankets, lol!
ReplyDeleteI've always wondered what winter bikers do
ReplyDelete