Cold weather clothing recommendations?

[Bruce Frech]

If you were warm enough while riding then you were dressed warm enough to
ride. It sounds like you needed to dress warmer after the ride was over,
since that's when you got cold. Note that your body is typically only 20 to
25% efficient producing power to the pedals. This means that if you put out
200 watts then you also produce 600 to 800 watts of heat. When you get off
the bike you likely reduce that heat output and thus you should either go
inside or put on warmer clothes.

Bruce


"BruceW..1" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Last fall I rode about 50 miles on my road bike. The temperature was in
> the 40's (Fahrenheit). I felt fine (temperature-wise) while riding, but
> a few minutes after the ride ended I had hypothermia symptoms and
> shivered for the next hour. Apparently I wasn't dressed warm enough.
> Yet to me the actual mechanism remains a mystery. I was wearing shorts
> and a long underwear top.
>
> Maybe there wasn't enough food in my stomach, though I was not hungry.
>
> The dilemna then is how to release body heat (from exercise) yet be
> dressed warmly.
>
> Should one insulate the extremities (head, arms, legs, hands, feet) and
> not the abdomen, or vice versa? What's the right way to dress in cool
> temperatures? Or, might food intake be the key?
>
> Thanks for your help.

 

[[email protected]]

On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 16:43:18 -0400, Threeducks
<[email protected]> wrote:

>David Reuteler wrote:
>> BruceW..1 <[email protected]> wrote:

>The other problem was with water. Below 25 F it would freeze in my
>water bottle, makeing it not terribly useful to carry.

Water? Biking at that temperature, surely you would have to be
drinking something at least a hundred proof.

 

[Trevor Jeffrey]

[email protected] wrote in message ...
>On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 16:43:18 -0400, Threeducks
><[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>David Reuteler wrote:
>>> BruceW..1 <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>The other problem was with water. Below 25 F it would freeze in my
>>water bottle, makeing it not terribly useful to carry.
>
>Water? Biking at that temperature, surely you would have to be
>drinking something at least a hundred proof.

Woods 100 Navy rum is a very tasty addition to blackcurrant cordial, highly
recommended. The small alcohol addition stimulates absorption through the
stomach wall as well as the gut. Extremely useful to absorb sugar fast to
combat the bonk.

Trevor

 

[Eric Larsson]

I always refer back to this text:

http://mudhead.uottawa.ca/~pete/winter.txt





>
> "BruceW..1" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Last fall I rode about 50 miles on my road bike. The temperature was in
> > the 40's (Fahrenheit). I felt fine (temperature-wise) while riding, but
> > a few minutes after the ride ended I had hypothermia symptoms and
> > shivered for the next hour. Apparently I wasn't dressed warm enough.
> > Yet to me the actual mechanism remains a mystery. I was wearing shorts
> > and a long underwear top.
> >
> > Maybe there wasn't enough food in my stomach, though I was not hungry.
> >
> > The dilemna then is how to release body heat (from exercise) yet be
> > dressed warmly.
> >
> > Should one insulate the extremities (head, arms, legs, hands, feet) and
> > not the abdomen, or vice versa? What's the right way to dress in cool
> > temperatures? Or, might food intake be the key?
> >
> > Thanks for your help.

 

[BruceW..1]

Bruce Frech wrote:
> If you were warm enough while riding then you were dressed warm enough to
> ride. It sounds like you needed to dress warmer after the ride was over,
> since that's when you got cold. Note that your body is typically only 20 to
> 25% efficient producing power to the pedals. This means that if you put out
> 200 watts then you also produce 600 to 800 watts of heat. When you get off
> the bike you likely reduce that heat output and thus you should either go
> inside or put on warmer clothes.
>
> Bruce
>
>
=================================================

After the aforementioned ride I got in my car and turned the heat up all
the way while I drove home, for the better part of an hour. I shivered
during most of this time even though it was blazing hot in the car.

So dressing more warmly after the ride doesn't solve this problem.
Something fundamentally wrong happened to my body during the ride, even
though I didn't feel it at the time.

 

[Jee Doy]

>Last fall I rode about 50 miles on my road bike. The temperature was in
>the 40's (Fahrenheit). I felt fine (temperature-wise) while riding, but
>a few minutes after the ride ended I had hypothermia symptoms and
>shivered for the next hour. Apparently I w

Here's a surprise response from Southern California. It does get in the 40's
in So. Calif during the winter months, but only occassionally. So I borrow
technology from the ocean surfers; I get long sleeve rash guards for the torso.
And I often put on two rash guards, one short sleeve and one long sleeve. I
use full length triathalon type tights from TYR. You can actually ocean swim
in these. The Pacific Ocean gets pretty cold during the winter months, so
these help a lot.

 

[Jee Doy]

>So dressing more warmly after the ride doesn't solve this problem.
>Something fundamentally wrong happened to my body during the ride, even
>though I didn't feel it at the time.

Interesting. Maybe its not the ride, its your body. The cooler temps while
riding might have triggered this episode.

 

[John Forrest Tomlinson]

On Tue, 17 Aug 2004 15:06:50 GMT, "BruceW..1"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>
>After the aforementioned ride I got in my car and turned the heat up all
>the way while I drove home, for the better part of an hour. I shivered
>during most of this time even though it was blazing hot in the car.

Did you put a dry layer on against your skin? That's the most
critical thing to staying warm after working out -- being dry.

JT


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[Collin]

BruceW..1 wrote:
> Bruce Frech wrote:
>
>> If you were warm enough while riding then you were dressed warm enough to
>> ride. It sounds like you needed to dress warmer after the ride was over,
>> since that's when you got cold. Note that your body is typically only
>> 20 to
>> 25% efficient producing power to the pedals. This means that if you
>> put out
>> 200 watts then you also produce 600 to 800 watts of heat. When you
>> get off
>> the bike you likely reduce that heat output and thus you should either go
>> inside or put on warmer clothes.
>>
>> Bruce
>>
>>
> =================================================
>
> After the aforementioned ride I got in my car and turned the heat up all
> the way while I drove home, for the better part of an hour. I shivered
> during most of this time even though it was blazing hot in the car.
>
> So dressing more warmly after the ride doesn't solve this problem.
> Something fundamentally wrong happened to my body during the ride, even
> though I didn't feel it at the time.

Check out these sites:

http://www.bikewinter.org/bikewinter0102/winterbikeclothing.php
http://www.joeclark.org/gearingup.html
http://users.rcn.com/icebike/Clothing/clothing.htm

Most are oriented toward commuting or Mountain Biking. But if it's for
fitness, don't worry about aerodynamics!

I think you're correct that food is an issue. If you are dressed with
light clothing, youre body needs to spend some of the food energy on
heat generation. Usually this is not a problem when exercising, but it
can be. So, by the end of the ride, you already were hypothermic. You
just didn't feel it until you slowed down, and it took a while for your
internal temperature to catch up on NO energy. I've seen two mildly
hypothermic people recover in about fifteen minutes after feeding them
something healthy and forcing them to drink properly. Incidentally,
shivering is good - it means you still have enough energy to move your
muscles, and your nervous system can properly detect temperature
imbalances. When you stop shivering but are still cold, it's time to
get attention immediately.

Also note that dehydration inhibits proper temperature regulation as
well. It's easy to become dehydrated in winter only because the need
for water is less apparent and people drink less. Your body still loses
moisture through breath and perspiration.


>