jabonet73 <
[email protected]> wrote in message news
> Just new to bents. I don´t have a car, and the winter is getting closer and closer. I use the bike
> to comute to work everyday! for the past 3 months, some 110Miles per week, can anybody give some
> words of wisdom to survive the winter, I live in east Spain, have a USS M5 26/26, could like to
> know any trick to ride with heavy rain and/or cross winds, anything that may helps. temperatures
> here are adobe freezing, but very windy and quite wet.
I live in Denmark and uses my bike to work (15km each way) every day, and about 2 months of that
will most likely be below 0 deg. C. (and raining, as it is Denmark).
My setup (for temeratures around 0):
1) The most important point I find is to stay protected from the wind. I use a Gore Windstopper
jacket. It is not totally waterproof but absolutely windproof. And nice to wear even for one
sweathing as much as I am ;-)
2) Then if it's raining and around 0, I'll have some wind- (and water-) proof trousers.
3) My helmet, and if its really cold, a thin hut below that to cover the ears. Mine covers the neck
and mouth too, if I want it.
4) Glasses!! A pair of cycling glasses and your seight will be worse than on a sunny day without the
classes, _but_ they will be open and relaxed even when its raining badly.
5) Some gloves. Mine are not water-proof, but wind-proof. How thick they have to be is a very
personal issue.
6) Maybe something to protect your feet (beside from shoes, I mean), to keep them dry and warm. You
can get some nice shoe-covers to put over them, if you feel you need it.
7) just below 0 I start wearing thin, wollen, sports-underwear. The type some use for skiing
With this stuff on, I find cycling in bad weater absolutely no problem. Behind all the
wind-protection and the glasses, the rain is like something, that does not concern me, and I can
just keep on moving (although not just as fast as in the summertime).
p.s.When it get icy I also mount tires with spikes (makes more exercise) and goes on driving nearly
as before, and in the same cloth, just add another thin layer below. I also forgot to mention a
lot of light on the bike, as the car-drivers (me included) cannot se as well in their mirrows
when it's raining.
Nice riding,
Anders