People on Bikes: Cold Commute Edition

Rider number 4 is hotttt! I love those jeans. Reminds me of my Levis 511 commuters. It is nice not to have a flapping jacket. Today it was 27 F as I rode my a.m. commute here in Cbus, OH. I wore my fleece lined leather mittens and just a yellow midweight fleece jacke over my butterfleece midlayer. Black stretch chinos stay outa the chain… its all good.

On my bikes, I use toe cages (per photo 10) and have made covers that fit over them out of heavy waterproof nylon. The covers stay attached to the pedals, so you don’t have to keep track of them. You slip your toes in and they stay dry and suffer far less wind cooling effect. Highly recommend. I also wear snow gaiters and with this combination stay pretty dry and warm.
Neoprene gloves, such as kayakers wear, are great.

No matter the temp, I still just roll up my jeans to keep them out of the chain and trust my leg hair to keep me warm. It’s fine unless it’s raining. Then things must be done.

‘Twas cold, indeed! A preview of more to come, I’m sure.

it’s amusing to me how strange a facial expression can look when it’s frozen in time. some of the looks captured are just comical (namely 13 & 18).

I love these photo streams. Reminds me of Urban Weeds, but for Portland bike commuters rather than Portland “pedestrians” – http://www.urbanweedsblog.com/

Jonathan, would you say photo streams like this are a good cross section of the people passing by you at that point in time, or do you favor photos of more interesting people/bikes? I’m just curious how accurately the photos portray Portland bike commuters at the time and location you are shooting. Not that there would be anything wrong with editing out some photos – it’s not meant to be a research project. =)

I stopped for the light at Washington and 3rd at about 6:30 this morning and another cyclist pulled alongside. We chatted about the cold, then I noticed he was wearing shorts. Not knicks, but geniune above-the-knee shorts.

But won’t they freeze to death without a helmet on? I don’t understand.

Thankfully Portland isn’t nearly so cold as say Minnesota. There you really do have to watch for frostbite.

Alaska has the Iditabike, and then there’s Ride the Divide, what about Portland?

Sent the link to my buddies in Minnesota – they are laughing at us pretty hard right now. “I could wear a tshirt in the thirties!”

Let home about 7:15 this morning for the 4 mile ride from NE to downtown. Didn’t get cold but I did hold my breathe a few times worried about black ice.

the chain on #8 has seen better days.

Since we’re rating them, #7 has to be my fave!

im suprised so many people wear helmets! kinda disappointed.

My wife suggested it might be too cold to ride today and that I might perhaps take the bus instead. As if! I don’t think most folks realize how warm you get once you really get moving.

under 40F and I need ski goggles, otherwise my eyes are puffy & tearing up all day…guessing i’m the only one?

Nice looking bunch, but after reading the comments I may have to go back & take another look…. 🙂

Isn’t that NW (not SW) Broadway & Davis?

I’m surprised that none of the helmeted riders are using a helmet cover, especially the ones wearing well-vented, sporty helmets. It’s a great way to block some of the chill on your head.

I like the wool helmets; fashionable and “safe”.

#3! Shoes! No rain in the winter!? Just a little cold? Count me all sorts of in!

All,

Let’s put cold in context 🙂 Up here in the Great White North, we have yet to see cold (-10C / 14F has been my coolest commute this autumn). I have just mounted my winter tyres, but have yet to break-out the insulated cycling boots and ski gloves. typically bundling-up before it hits -20C (-4F) only leaves me overheated and sweaty, which then creates problems if traffic delays are encountered (during which you cool-off).

I picked up a pair of very inexpensive shooters fleece mittens. Fingerless gloves on the inside with a mitten to go over the fingers. I put on cycling gloves under and glove liners when it’s really really cold. They also ring right out when the get soaked and are quite warm when wet.

When you take these mittens off, pull from the bottom or you get to resew the mitten back on. What do those lobster gloves cost $75 and these are less than $10 and give you easy access to your fingers, that might be handy, pun intended.

I don’t find it that cold. I lived in Idaho and the cold is no big deal as long as you carry your water in a jersey pocket, unless you want to chew your water.

I’ll say that my favorite new cycle accessory are “ear bags” – little ear warmers that “snap” over your ear. With limited holes in my bern helmet, I find a liner hat or the snap in liner are too warm once I get going, but my ears do get cold when it’s below about 30. Only problem is that the straps tend to knock them off, which I’ve solved by sewing little “leashes” which snap around the helmet straps- so even if they fall off my ears, they aren’t lost.

I was riding towards downtown behind the prototypical fixie rider on Interstate blvd last week at about 10 at night, when it was around 25 degrees. Sporting jorts and headband.

Passing a fellow biker at a high rate of speed rarely feels that good.

The cold dry air wreaks havoc on my ears, nose and mouth, so a face mask is actually a necessity for me. I used to be able to go without one, but maybe age is just catching up with me.

The conditions this morning, Mon., Dec 5, were far worse for me than last week’s. There was hoarfrost in the bike lanes and on residential streets for nearly the length of my 12-mile commute. I nearly crawled on descents and around corners. I saw one rider near the north end of Springwater who’d fallen taking at a corner (she was OK). I might delay tomorrow’s commute to wait for the sun to rise and thaw the roadways.

Burrrrrr yes, but it’s really not all that cold! Here in the land of the Nanuk, or the most N.E. PDX SUBURB ie Spokane WA my commute this morning was more typical of January and February weather @ 9˚F with a wind chill that I won’t bother to commute, I mean compute & no lycra to boot. Standard issue for today’s daily fashion statement: On top; Outdoor Research WS Peruvian cap topped with a hand made wool hat I bought on my last trip to the PDX bicycle show, also a 20 year old REI neck gaiter. Just below on torso; an icebreaker tech T layered with a 200 w zip t overtop, followed by my other layer, an Arteryx Alpha LT jkt. Down below: covering my bottom; capalene leggings under cheap non-designer jeans & Smartwool hiking socks tucked into Keen Siskiyou WP ankle high shoes. The only variance for colder and or wetter conditions is on top a ski SCOTT goggle and below an OR Packlite Gortex angle zip pant. –cheers and spin hardy!