To all you deep cold weather guys

[steve_sordy]

I have seen some deep snow scenes on "Pic of the Day" and read about temperatures of -15 (it's never clear with the Yanks and Canucs whether they mean degF or degC, but either way it's still 'effin cold!). I'm sure that one Finnish guy posted of riding in -30degC!!!! Now that IS cold.
It occurred to me each time that a lone rider could die in those conditions just from breaking a leg or a slight concussion. So what do you do to protect yourself?

 

[RickBullotta]

Cell phone and Garmin InReach. Mylar emergency blanket in my Camelbak. Vodka mixed in with my water in my Camelbak to keep it from freezing. Always letting someone know where I'll be riding.

 

[steve_sordy]

I was expecting "never ride alone" to be on the list. Or is that too soft?
Igloo building skills?

 

[Stihldog]

Not too many here dumb enough to ride in cold weather …just me alone.

She tracks me on Find my Friends. Have Beacon on Strava. Bear whistle. Etc.

-10*c is about my limit …but then there’s the wind-chill factor. The wild life is probably hibernating so my body would be perfectly frozen and preserved. Cell phone service is sketchy or non existent sometimes.

 

[Zimmerframe]

Bear whistle

Do the bears come and rescue you ? Or do they have little flasks around their necks full of Brandy ?

I watched Cocaine Bear the other night ... I didn't notice any reference to rescue bears at any point.

 

[Stihldog]

Do the bears come and rescue you ? Or do they have little flasks around their necks full of Brandy ?

I watched Cocaine Bear the other night ... I didn't notice any reference to rescue bears at any point.

As you can imagine …it’s difficult to train a wild bear. But they create some amazing features on the trails.

 

[Stihldog]

Do the bears come and rescue you ? Or do they have little flasks around their necks full of Brandy ?

I watched Cocaine Bear the other night ... I didn't notice any reference to rescue bears at any point.

I’m a bit of a skeptic when it comes to cocaine for bears , albeit I haven’t seen the movie/documentary yet.

I know they like energy bars laced with morphine. But doesn’t everyone.

 

[The Hodge]

Some really good tips above ..loving the vodka & morphine laced products ..must give it a try sometime ..

 

[Hobo Mikey]

When it’s that cold do bears still shit in the woods.

 

[B1rdie]

I’m a bit of a skeptic when it comes to cocaine for bears , albeit I haven’t seen the movie/documentary yet.

I know they like energy bars laced with morphine. But doesn’t everyone.

Oh... I thought bears liked honey+mushrooms...

 

[RickBullotta]

I was expecting "never ride alone" to be on the list. Or is that too soft?
Igloo building skills?

Ha. Sometimes it's hard to get others to ride with ya in those conditions.

 

[RickBullotta]

Some really good tips above ..loving the vodka & morphine laced products ..must give it a try sometime ..

If I'm on my fatbike, I have a water bottle holder that holds a flask of whisky. Usually bourbon.

 

[maynard]

Amazing what men do to get away from family . Respect from cold canberra.

 

[Expidia]

Below 43 degrees (Fahrenheit) is already too cold for me. Today was a balmy 58 degrees (F) . Even with my warm'ish gloves my fingertips get cold below 43..
But since I bought a Garmin 1030 plus 2 months ago . . . it has a feature that when I'm out riding alone my wife can track my route and exactly where I am on her phone. She sent me a pic today of what she was looking at. The blue circle is where I stopped for a hot dog lunch.
But if I crashed it would also send her an emergency text and an exact location. The program is called Vetrack:

 

[Yoak]

Let family members now where I’m going. Spare warm clothes, a headlight and a powerbank in my backpack. Ideally ride with someone else, but i often ride alone as Im a freelancer and have time off when no one else does

 

[Haveland]

I ride with Garmin tracking me to my wife's e-mail. She checks it every bit when it's freezing to ensure I haven't been stopped too long. We have two friends that are rescue experts and know the trails who she'll call if I stop too long. My big fear is my phone freezing, and there is a false rescue attempt. I might get an Inreach next season.

I always carry an extra hat and mitts. I also carry an extra shell and headlamp. I also carry about a dozen of those chemical heaters to shove in a boot in case I'm walking out.

I also in the winter really try to limit sweating. Which is one reason I love my emtb. If it's really really cold I'm not climbing in eco.

If it is really cold, like below -20 I'll tend to stick a bit closer to an exit route. I do fear one of these days, my battery or worse my motor is just going to freeze up.

 

[RickBullotta]

Below 43 degrees (Fahrenheit) is already too cold for me. Today was a balmy 58 degrees (F) . Even with my warm'ish gloves my fingertips get cold below 43..
But since I bought a Garmin 1030 plus 2 months ago . . . it has a feature that when I'm out riding alone my wife can track my route and exactly where I am on her phone. She sent me a pic today of what she was looking at. The blue circle is where I stopped for a hot dog lunch.
But if I crashed it would also send her an emergency text and an exact location. The program is called Vetrack:

I just use Find My Friends/Find My Devices to share my location. And I had to disable crash detection on my devices because, well, MTB can be violent without getting hurt! I've also had it send a car crash notification while snowboarding.

 

[Stihldog]

I just use Find My Friends/Find My Devices to share my location.

I can see the need for devices like the garmin 1030 but I find I wouldn’t use the data. I don’t use any navigation or trip planning either on Strava or the Bosch app.

My handle bar is only there to hang my brake levers on……it’s pretty clean.
Canceled my subscription to Strava because I only used Beacon and the recent price increase doesn’t justify its use to me.

So that leaves me with Find my Friend and/or Apple itag and the crash detection on my iwatch. Apparently the new iPhone 14 has gps on it and that could be handy when I’m out of cell service.

I’ve triggered the crash detection on the iwatch several times and I scramble to shut the auto-dial off before a search goes out. (60 seconds I think). I think that’s a good feature when you ride alone even though it can be annoying sometimes.

If I rode my bike as a commuter sometimes I would probably re-think my devices.

 

[RickBullotta]

I can see the need for devices like the garmin 1030 but I find I wouldn’t use the data. I don’t use any navigation or trip planning either on Strava or the Bosch app.

My handle bar is only there to hang my brake levers on……it’s pretty clean.
Canceled my subscription to Strava because I only used Beacon and the recent price increase doesn’t justify its use to me.

So that leaves me with Find my Friend and/or Apple itag and the crash detection on my iwatch. Apparently the new iPhone 14 has gps on it and that could be handy when I’m out of cell service.

I’ve triggered the crash detection on the iwatch several times and I scramble to shut the auto-dial off before a search goes out. (60 seconds I think). I think that’s a good feature when you ride alone even though it can be annoying sometimes.

If I rode my bike as a commuter sometimes I would probably re-think my devices.

The Garmin InReach Mini is my go-to for emergency use (the "oh sh*t button").

My wife and I use Apple Watches with cellular capability and leave our phones behind usually. To find someone you're sharing location with is a bit different in that case - you use "Find Devices" and you'll see the devices of the other person (phone, watch, airpods, etc). And "Find Items" is for your AirTags or someone else's AirTags. The AirTag stuff has been hit or miss. "Find Devices" for the watch works great.
Also, the new Apple Watch Ultra, although a bit pricey, has insanely good battery life and a super precise GPS.

 

[Yoak]

AirTags won’t work very well in the wild as they don’t have a gps, but rely on a network of other Apple products nearby

 

[EMTBSEAN]

I use Komoot tracker and it works well, in fact it works so well that I’d stopped for a break on Mam Tor in the Peak District last year and she phoned me to ask me why I’d stopped

 

[maynard]

Below 43 degrees (Fahrenheit) is already too cold for me. Today was a balmy 58 degrees (F) . Even with my warm'ish gloves my fingertips get cold below 43..
But since I bought a Garmin 1030 plus 2 months ago . . . it has a feature that when I'm out riding alone my wife can track my route and exactly where I am on her phone. She sent me a pic today of what she was looking at. The blue circle is where I stopped for a hot dog lunch.
But if I crashed it would also send her an emergency text and an exact location. The program is called Vetrack:

View attachment 109754

If my wife could track me that would spell the end me ! No thanks . Ok honey I'm off to work . Meanwhile the little tracker gives away my location by the river fishing

 

[Stihldog]

The winter season is almost over and I’ve been able to take advantage of the snow and cold while riding. There are limits though. Fewer riders/hikers venture out probably because they can’t or don’t want to. I understand that. But the benefits for me is year round riding with a few extra precautions.

Raynaud’s phenomenon. My neighbour and my son both suffer when they go out for a ride. (toes and fingers respectfully). The other day the temperature was only 13*c and my son’s fingers were completely white after our ride. He must have suffered. They are both very accomplished riders but their riding seasons are short. My son is a tradesman for local ski hills and he explains that his grip on any tools during the winter is difficult.

I’m fortunate that I’m not affected by Raynaud’s. In my previous industry (tree falling) I’ve seen some extreme effects of power saw vibrations from the old-timers before anti-vibration mods were introduced. Their hands were completely and permanently white (“white-finger”).

Since I quit smoking, years ago, my circulation improved and I was less affected by the cold. I occasionally ride in shorts during the winter (imagine a juggernaut riding a chicken ).

 

[RickBullotta]

The winter season is almost over and I’ve been able to take advantage of the snow and cold while riding. There are limits though. Fewer riders/hikers venture out probably because they can’t or don’t want to. I understand that. But the benefits for me is year round riding with a few extra precautions.

Raynaud’s phenomenon. My neighbour and my son both suffer when they go out for a ride. (toes and fingers respectfully). The other day the temperature was only 13*c and my son’s fingers were completely white after our ride. He must have suffered. They are both very accomplished riders but their riding seasons are short. My son is a tradesman for local ski hills and he explains that his grip on any tools during the winter is difficult.

I’m fortunate that I’m not affected by Raynaud’s. In my previous industry (tree falling) I’ve seen some extreme effects of power saw vibrations from the old-timers before anti-vibration mods were introduced. Their hands were completely and permanently white (“white-finger”).

Since I quit smoking, years ago, my circulation improved and I was less affected by the cold. I occasionally ride in shorts during the winter (imagine a juggernaut riding a chicken ).

A guy I used to ride with had this issue and always took aspirin before a cold ride - he swore it made a big difference for him.

 

[Stihldog]

A guy I used to ride with had this issue and always took aspirin before a cold ride - he swore it made a big difference for him.

I guess the aspirin acted as a blood thinner which helps get flow to the extremities. It’s my understanding that the veins and capillaries are restricted in the fingers/toes from the syndrome or excessive vibration (power saw/jackhammer). I think a few of those guys had permanent damage.

 

[darwink1]

All this talk about gear and beep boops for tracking is making me think I need to do more... I carry a cellphone, tools, pump and a tube. I also try to let someone know where I'm going.

I'm lucky that most of my winter riding doesn't take me far from my vehicle.

 

[DeRailled7]

I have seen some deep snow scenes on "Pic of the Day" and read about temperatures of -15 (it's never clear with the Yanks and Canucs whether they mean degF or degC, but either way it's still 'effin cold!). I'm sure that one Finnish guy posted of riding in -30degC!!!! Now that IS cold.
It occurred to me each time that a lone rider could die in those conditions just from breaking a leg or a slight concussion. So what do you do to protect yourself?

You’ve got to embrace winter, cause around here it‘s a good 5 months. After we’ve all moved into our winter cabins or igloos and the sled dogs are fed, that’s when we take our bikes out on the trails. Ok, slight exaggeration, we don’t build igloos anymore. Around here winter riding is just another winter activity. We can’t ride all the same trails as in summer, but the more popular ones will see enough traffic to maintain a good hard base. Winter only trails will also develop at random, often on frozen river beds. One great advantage of winter riding is that when you crash it doesn’t hurt as much.

Of course cold weather can add some extra hazards, like frost bites or freezing to death if you crash in a remote area. Like others have mentioned you’ve got to be somewhat prepared, if i go where i know very few people go then I’ll bring more clothes, a mylar survival blanket, food, etc. On all my rides i carry a headlamp, a kit to start a fire and bike tools. If there’s cell coverage I’ll use the ‘Share location’ feature on my Garmin edge 830, gotta have a cell phone too for it to work. If there no cell service, right now I’m s**t out of luck. I’m thinking of buying an InReach device.

Wildlife! Fortunately bears hibernate most of the winter, they’ll do come out sometime on a warm day, people can usually outpace a sleepy bear. To me the biggest winter treat are cougars (mountain lions). They don’t sleep, are hungry and very quiet. Check the link below.

Advisories - Peter Lougheed Provincial Park | Alberta Parks

www.albertaparks.ca

Spring is coming, the rivers are thawing.
Cheers from the great white north.

 

[Binhill1]

Any time I've seen it minus 15 or 20 c in my area there is absolutely no wind and it doesn't feel as cold as 0 with loads of wind and rain . I've worked outside in it for 12 hour shifts wind and rain are torture.

 

[darwink1]

Speaking of wind and snow... This was today.

Blizzard like conditions

youtube.com

D

 

[Utah Rider]

My record on my Levo is -5F / -20c. Bar mitts/poggies are a given. I always carry two extra things for the down hill. One is a pair of goggles in the camelbak and the other is a neoprene snow mobile face mask wrapped around the handle bars. The reason for the neoprene mask on the bars is that it's always there and you'll never forget to bring it. Even if the ride doesn't require it, it's always there all winter for safety. The boots are wolfgar with heated insoles. Heated insoles are probably not needed but after 3hrs riding with poor circulation they are fantastic.

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