In article <
[email protected]>,
BeeRich <
[email protected]> wrote:
> Hi guys. Sorry for the delayed reply.
>
> Never thought I'd get this many responses, but I do appreciate every
> one.
>
> I have slicks on my mountain bike right now, and I want to try them.
> Granted, Toronto has been strangely warm, and the Farmer's Almanac is
> wrong as well. How can that be?
>
> I think my outlier in all this is that I expected to have some kind of
> heavy thick kind of pants, which you guys say isn't necessary.
Extremities - hands and feet - are the most difficult to keep warm.
Legs, since their doing all the work generate most of the heat, and are
among the least susceptible body parts to cold. As others have
mentioned, tights do a fine job in keeping your legs warm; however, in
some circumstances I've noticed they can aggravate the persistent
challenge of cold weather riding: keeping your feet warm.
I tend to avoid tights in instances where there's heavy rain and the
temperature's between 0 to 10 degrees (Celsius). Tights are designed to
shed water; and in this case it has no place to flow but down your legs
and onto, or rather, into your footwear. The tights I've seen are not
designed to extend beyond and fasten over your boot's upper (correct
me if I'm wrong) like rain pants, but stop short of, or are worn
within, the shoe cuffs. Result: while your legs remain warm the feet
are flushed in ice cold water for the duration of the ride.
In these conditions rain pants that extend past the top of your boot
are preferable. Of course, in dry weather, regardless of temperature,
this is not a concern. And in warmer temperatures, because wet feet
don't automatically equate to cold feet, cycling with sodden tootsies
is not a problem.
MEC carries excellent rain pants; I've had a pair for about 5 years
that only sees action in the aforementioned conditions (about 10 times
a year).
> That's
> great. It indeed sounds like a wind problem, more than an insulation
> problem. I generally produce a lot of heat (I hate the summer) so
> venting is important as well. I'm glad this is the case, as I can thin
> up the clothing. Thin is good. I guess this is why I said I thought
> MEC didn't have what I was looking for, as their pants seemed a bit
> thin for what I wax expecting. My expectations were wrong. I thought
> it strange MEC wouldn't be on top of such an important topic.
>
Of interest may be this observation: I find that if I'm toasty and warm
before embarking on a commute then, guaranteed, I'll be overheating and
sweating heavily before long. But if I feel a bit nippy at the onset,
that's usually a sign that I'm dressed appropriately. Exceptions are
the hands and feet: if they're cold before starting out they're almost
certain to freeze thereafter.
> I need some blinky's, definitely. They are < $4 at MEC.
>
> Again, thanks for the great thread. Now I have no excuse! See you
> guys on the road.
>
Just some more thoughts BR. For LED lights I recommend buying those
that run on (two) AA batteries; then get some NiMH batteries and a
recharger.
The 'Turtle' single LED lights from MEC are handy and very cheap at
about $3 or so (batteries included). However they require two CR2032
watch batteries; these go for between $3.50 and $5 at a variety store -
the cost of replacing the Turtle's batteries runs twice that of the
cost of the LED! Fortunately MEC sells these batteries in packages of 5
at a cost of 50 cents per battery; if you buy the Turtle LEDs fill up
on batteries before checking out.
Luke
