Balancing Speed and Duration
Posted On Friday, December 5th, 2008 By David Veatch
Temperature at Departure: 16°F
Average Speed: 13.2mph.
Wind Chill Factor: ~0°F
That, my friends, is cold. It may not be Antarctica cold, but it’s cold. I did OK in the clothing department, though my face suffered a bit. I’ve not bothered yet with the balaclava, on account of not liking the affect it has on breathing and how grungy they get, though this morning gave me cause to seriously reconsider that position.
I’ve found, that on days as cold as today, that as much as clothing, the trick to keeping warm is to balance the time you spend out in it, and the speed at which you ride in it. You can’t go too fast b/c the bitterly cold wind will work it’s way through clothing eventually. For me, it starts with the fingers and toes and moves in from there. Then again, you can’t go too slow b/c the cold air will, eventually, work it’s way through the same clothing.
The thing is… the trick, you see, is that it’ll take a lot longer on a calm day to get cold than on a windy day. So…
For that reason, I typically err on the side of taking it real easy on cold days and minimizing the break away sprints. Even on the downhills, I’ll feather the brakes in order to keep the speed down. For me, today’s temperature, at 16°F, and wearing my claw finger Toastadas, 16mph was about all I could manage before the digits felt the bite of the frigid wind. Faster than that, and they started to ache a bit.
So take it easy out there. It’s cold out.