The Paulcb Memorial Coldest Ride, Winter 2024-2025

A little blurry, but 28F this morning heading out to Damascus House. Thank heavens for heated gear!

1733342279996.png

I didn't encounter black ice on the way there, only on the way back when I took a different route.

Chris
 
Totally clear roads this morning as well as totally clear sunny skies. But that polar vortex bulge dipped down overnight through eastern ND, SD, and western MN into central Iowa. The weather prophets were claiming the temps would dip to +10F but my phone told me +9F this morning. I had a few things I needed to deliver in the next suburb NW of me as well as an Amazon return to take to the UPS store so I took the bike for the errands. When I pulled the bike out on the driveway the temp immediately dropped to just over 5F within 1-2 minutes of just sitting there (it was 21F inside the garage). Rode close to 21 miles and the temp was 5.2F almost right away when I started going down the road on the Aquarium thermometer that I carry with me. I carry that temp sensor since my bike doesn't have a temp sensor built in and if it did it would only read down to +14 anyway, the Aquarium/Terrarium sensor reads from -58F to +158F. That low temp was colder than I was expecting based on all weather reports. It is also the lowest temp for me during all of 2024 (Jan-Dec) since there was too much snow on the roads last winter when it did get colder.
 
I'm number 8 right now. Tied at 28F with @sirbike and @Diggers1300. I suppose you could say we're tied at 6th, but somehow I don't want to be part of 6 6 6. ;)

Looking at the temps across the state and the monthly forecast, I'm not sure I'll get into the teens this year. :cry: My one moment of fleeting glory...

Chris
 
It has to be just the right conditions. Otherwise, I'll take the Subaru Outback with AWD, heated seats, heated mirrors, heated windshield wipers, heated...something else.

Back before heated gear for me, I rode two days down to Duwamish at the south end of Seattle. 37 miles each way. Temp was 16F the whole way, and it was warmer on the freeway than the side roads because of the cars. I just used lots of layers and eliminated any place where the cold air could get through. But for days before, there was no precipitation. No ice. Just dry cold pavement.

@Weaselinsuit - you probably pick up cold air from the Frasier River Valley, right? That should give you some opportunities for glory, fame and fortune. :D
I think you should get brownie points for being inventive.

Chris
 
I'll take "Temps in The 20's" and
get on the board,
at least for a while if you please.
Call it 25, which is what the air temperature gauge on the motorcycle said, even though my car and the official weather report for my town said it was 24 at dawn. I started riding at 8:00 am and the sun was not hitting any of the roads yet-- all of the roads were still in the dark from the trees shading them


Three things I learned from this morning's
cold ride:

My insulated gloves are not quite adequate to protect my fingertips when the temp is only 25 F. and I am riding it 55+ miles per hour. But when I'm on small roads and only going 40 or 45 it's fine.
Maybe I should consider heated gloves?

My un-insulated "tactical / police" boots are OK for these temperatures at these speeds, but any colder and I would need to switch to Thinsulate- lined boots.

My EYEGLASSES kept fogging over from my warm breath inside my full face helmet. My face shield did not fog over because I have a pinlock lens installed on it, and I've treated both sides of the visor with ' Rain-X for plastic ' but I have not treated my eyeglasses with that product in months and I should have done it today before leaving the house.

Unrelated to the weather: I found out the lean angle that scrapes my boot on the pavement, and the second time it happened on this ride I knew some part of me or my bike might scrape the street, so I perched just the toes of my boot on the foot peg, thinking the foot peg would scrape first-- but no, my boot caught the street first and it actually pulled my foot off the peg.

I've only had this bike for a week and have only put about 150 miles on it so far --this is the first time scraping or dragging anything on the ground on this vehicle.

PHOTOS: One pic of my car's dashboard showing the outside air temperature about five minutes before I started the bike,
IMG_0979.jpeg and then a picture of my bike's instrument cluster five minutes into the ride when I found a safe spot to pull over.

IMG_0978.jpeg
 
Last edited:
gunsmoker said:
...

Three things I learned from this morning's
cold ride:

My insulated gloves are not quite adequate to protect my fingertips when the temp is only 25 F. and I am riding it 55+ miles per hour. But when I'm on small roads and only going 40 or 45 it's fine.
Maybe I should consider heated gloves?

My un-insulated "tactical / police" boots are OK for these temperatures at these speeds, but any colder and I would need to switch to Thinsulate- lined boots.

My EYEGLASSES kept fogging over from my warm breath inside my full face helmet. My face shield did not fog over because I have a pinlock lens installed on it, and I've treated both sides of the visor with ' Rain-X for plastic ' but I have not treated my eyeglasses with that product in months and I should have done it today before leaving the house.

...
Click to expand...

1- Maybe consider adding heated grips? Then no wires needed to plug in or batteries to recharge in the heated gloves. Though with all my previous bikes (starting in 2006) I've had heated gloves and they did work great for the finger tips and back of the hands. My current bike has heated grips (first bike I've owned with those). Heated grips alone work great for my palms but only on the finger tips if I make a point to keep those on the grips... and heated grips alone didn't do much for the back of my hands in really cold temps. Heated grips inside my KemiMoto bar muffs work great.

2- I currently wear Alpinestars Air Plus v2 Gore-Tex XCR boots which are great for warm weather being perforated and all. They are also Gore-Tex and keep my feet dry in torrential rains (my personal experience). And I find they are also fine for the cold temps I ride in depending on what I wear inside them. Make sure you wear thin silk socks inside of thicker insulated socks to improve comfort in cold weather. It really is warmer that way.

3- I also used to have the same issue with the Pin-Lock visor staying clear but my glasses fogging up inside my full face helmet. I solved the problem with fogging glasses many years ago by adopting something a former co-worker and rider suggested. I made a snorkel using a vinyl elbow with a length of vinyl tube that ends right at the side bottom edge of my helmet when I hold the elbow in the side of my mouth (like Al Capone with a cigar). My glasses never fog up when I use the snorkel even in below zero F temps. I make sure to rinse out the snorkel after every ride I use it, and every once in a while I separate the elbow and tube and wash it.
Anti-fog snorkle.JPG
 
I've thought about a gizmo like that, but why hold it on the side and not in the middle?

My new helmet has a pinlock, but after reading about them eventually leaking and needing to be replaced every few years, I didn't install it, but just put a self-sticking cabinet door stopper on my helmet's chin piece and it holds the shield open just enough to keep the shield from fogging but not enough to freeze your face off. I always wear a balaclava when it's under 50 too.

JmKGI0y.jpg


25QvOJj.jpg
 
Last edited:
@the Ferret , I tried that the first time I used it but the end of the tube was too easily blocked by my neck gator so it didn't work there. Just a slight look down blocked the tube. On the side that doesn't happen. Plus it seems to be more comfortable on the side.

My current helmet also CAN have a Pin-Lock insert but I also opted to not install one since the snorkel does such a good job keeping both the visor and my glasses clear. So that means less layers of plastic to look through also.
 
What a roller coaster weather pattern we're in this season! I know the temps normally range up and down but the last few weeks and next week have/will be up/down more than is typical. Last Thursday I rode at about 5 F in the morning. I was actually colder if I got out an hour earlier but I have no need to wake up that early. Saturday and Sunday temps were in the 60s F. This coming Thursday morning temps will be around 8 F again and early next week we'll be up in the low 50s F again. Snow on Friday and rain on Saturday.

If it's ONLY 8 F on Thursday I don't think I'll get out for a ride. Maybe when it's more challenging! :unsure:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom