I think non-cyclists feel the weather is about 5 degrees colder than we do. They are soft and unfit and move from air-conditioned house to air-conditioned car to air conditioned office and back again. They are never happy, it’s always too hot, too cold, too wet, etc. They don’t know what they are missing – almost everything worthwhile, really.
you are right but those guys are goin sledding. sledding is fast, dangerous, bursts of snow and ice hit your face while you’re goin down a street or hill at hilarious speeds just a few centimeters above icy grounds and no matter if you use a cable car or if you pull the sledge yourself it is exhausting.
And sledding results frequently in head injuries but has no safety equipment used even by convention let alone law. My sis busted her nose as a kid by running into a poorly placed wall while tobogganing. I mean, who puts a wall at the bottom of a toboggan hill anyway?
Weird word, toboggan.
This is so true – I’ll cycle somewhere and arrive warm (OK, I’ll have had a few minutes of feeling a bit chilly when I start off), friends will drive and complain about how cold it is outside and how I must be some sort of freak to even contemplate “going outside” in temperatures like these.
That old saying about no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing, seems true. You can protect yourself from cold weather much better by layering up and pedalling through it rather than hiding away in a heated box, it seems…
I’m not sure it’s all just perception. When I ride to work, I’m warmed up when I get there even though it’s only a 2 mile ride. But when I drive, I’m definitely colder in the winter. With such a short drive, the car doesn’t have time to warm up, and I’m not about to let it run in the driveway for 5 minutes. Silly mechanical heating system. A metabolic one is much more efficient.
I have noticed people think its at least 10-15 degrees hotter or colder than I do. The differences in our temps may be because I commute to my job as a pedicabber. More outdoor riding before I ride back home.
I hear that… it’s the people who complain about how hot and humid it is all summer. Of course, those are the exact same people who complain about the cold and occasional snow in winter!
That’s what clothes were invented for, you know ?
to keep out the cold you don’t need a heated steel cage.
A few layers of good old fashioned wool will do.
Pure truth. I ride my old “Aist” these days here in Moscow (yep, Russia), around
-17 ºC… and they -muscovites- still say the same thing! While they freeze waiting for the trolley, trapped in neverending traffic jams… or going to do some ski cross country. I really don’t get it… They are Russians, THE russians, old feared Ivan… and they are afraid to use de bycicle to cover a couple of miles?
And the funny thing… I’m spanish, yep, Spain!
Having lived in Moscow for a spell and in Ukraine for an even longer spell, I know what you’re talking about. Much as I liked Russians and Ukrainians personally and had lots of friends, I could never get over how people who live in such cold climes were so fast to freak out if I stepped outside for even a minute or two without bundling up in a ridiculous number of layers of clothing. They were all convinced that cold air alone was enough to make you sick.
I once explained to a university educated Ukrainian that I wasn’t concerned about brief exposure to the cold air, since it was viruses and bacteria that cause illness and not simply cold air. She looked at me like I had three heads.
I assume the reporters of the above lived in bigger towns or cities with spoiled inhabitants. Maybe a visit at some far off Siberian villages would help?
Couple of years ago we had a Big Freeze and the local school was shut after a frozen pipe installed a new indoor skating rink for them over the Christmas vacation. So of course all the kids spent the time sledging, throwing snowballs at one another and similar, but as soon as school re-opened they were hustled straight inside and kept in all day because it was “too cold” for them to go outside…
Slip sliding away, slip sliding away
You know the nearer your destination, the more you slip sliding away
Whoah God only knows, God makes his plan
The information’s unavailable to the mortal man
We’re workin’ our jobs, collect our pay
Believe we’re gliding down the highway, when in fact we’re slip sliding away
I rode my Raleigh DL-1 to work today, people think I am crazy. (I live in northern Minnesota) The funniest thing I have ever personelly seen was when I worked in public health and some nurses drover their car one block to the gym I worked at to walk on the tredmill than get in their car and drive back.
I forgot the name of the politician that commented at the opening of a bit of bicycle infrastructure, “Let us all stop and contemplate the person stuck in a traffic jam on his way to ride a stationary bike at the gym.” But I think that is an appropriate commentary to your post.
“Let’s have a moment of silence for all those Americans who are stuck in traffic on their way to the gym to ride the stationary bicycle.” — Earl Blumenauer, Oregon Congressman http://www.horstmann.com/quotes.html
Many years ago, pre-LeMond, I saw a cartoon that presented a European’s view of an American bicycle club meeting. There was a modest building identified as the clubhouse ….. surrounded by parked cars.
And nothing has changed.
This morning, a well-meaning coworker asked if I have some way to warm up when I get to work.
Warm up, ha! I usually need a way to cool down, particularly this morning, since I was battling 25-30 mph headwinds.
I guess this explains why the bundled up people look at me funny when I get on the train in a T-shirt and a rain jacket.
My only observation to Thistle would be that Fizz would stay warmer on a trailer bike or Child stoker attachment.
I see the same thing when I get on the bus part of my daily commute. People in hats and parkas, with gloves and scarves giving me funny looks, while I’m peeling of layers to stay cool.
I cycled to wok in shorts and a t-shirt this morning. And yes, I live on the northern hemisphere, the Netherlands. Although I must admit it is well above freezing now (5 °C in the morning). Now it might help I ride in a Quest…
The only part of riding in the cold that bothers me is my hands. I have yet to find a glove/mitten/whatever that keeps my hands warm enough that still lets me work brakes and shifters properly. Thinking about designing something like the old-school racing motorcycle fairings to fit in front of the ‘bars.
You might try finding some handlebar muffs. Apocalypse design (http://www.akgear.com) out of Fairbanks AK used to make a set but a cursory examination of their webpage makes me think that they’ve discontinued them. I’ve never personally used a set of muffs, a good pair of mittens was always good enough for me, but you might want to give them a call or email them.
I love the last panel… Thistle’s eye. “You’re kidding me… Right?”
No, not kidding, just caught in a reality distortion field.
But but…. if you went “outside”, you’d die!
I think non-cyclists feel the weather is about 5 degrees colder than we do. They are soft and unfit and move from air-conditioned house to air-conditioned car to air conditioned office and back again. They are never happy, it’s always too hot, too cold, too wet, etc. They don’t know what they are missing – almost everything worthwhile, really.
you are right but those guys are goin sledding. sledding is fast, dangerous, bursts of snow and ice hit your face while you’re goin down a street or hill at hilarious speeds just a few centimeters above icy grounds and no matter if you use a cable car or if you pull the sledge yourself it is exhausting.
And sledding results frequently in head injuries but has no safety equipment used even by convention let alone law. My sis busted her nose as a kid by running into a poorly placed wall while tobogganing. I mean, who puts a wall at the bottom of a toboggan hill anyway?
Weird word, toboggan.
Yes but it was a grass bank in living memory, before global warming brought the snow!
oh yeah.. i love sledding. and gladly i hardly get a chance to do it.
This is so true – I’ll cycle somewhere and arrive warm (OK, I’ll have had a few minutes of feeling a bit chilly when I start off), friends will drive and complain about how cold it is outside and how I must be some sort of freak to even contemplate “going outside” in temperatures like these.
That old saying about no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing, seems true. You can protect yourself from cold weather much better by layering up and pedalling through it rather than hiding away in a heated box, it seems…
I’m not sure it’s all just perception. When I ride to work, I’m warmed up when I get there even though it’s only a 2 mile ride. But when I drive, I’m definitely colder in the winter. With such a short drive, the car doesn’t have time to warm up, and I’m not about to let it run in the driveway for 5 minutes. Silly mechanical heating system. A metabolic one is much more efficient.
I have noticed people think its at least 10-15 degrees hotter or colder than I do. The differences in our temps may be because I commute to my job as a pedicabber. More outdoor riding before I ride back home.
I hear that… it’s the people who complain about how hot and humid it is all summer. Of course, those are the exact same people who complain about the cold and occasional snow in winter!
I like to think that there’s no bad weather, just unappropriate clothing.
That’s what clothes were invented for, you know ?
to keep out the cold you don’t need a heated steel cage.
A few layers of good old fashioned wool will do.
Pure truth. I ride my old “Aist” these days here in Moscow (yep, Russia), around
-17 ºC… and they -muscovites- still say the same thing! While they freeze waiting for the trolley, trapped in neverending traffic jams… or going to do some ski cross country. I really don’t get it… They are Russians, THE russians, old feared Ivan… and they are afraid to use de bycicle to cover a couple of miles?
And the funny thing… I’m spanish, yep, Spain!
You know, one thing I’m going to miss when YM goes into hiatus is these little slice of life reports from around the world…
A great big LIKE for this one
Having lived in Moscow for a spell and in Ukraine for an even longer spell, I know what you’re talking about. Much as I liked Russians and Ukrainians personally and had lots of friends, I could never get over how people who live in such cold climes were so fast to freak out if I stepped outside for even a minute or two without bundling up in a ridiculous number of layers of clothing. They were all convinced that cold air alone was enough to make you sick.
I once explained to a university educated Ukrainian that I wasn’t concerned about brief exposure to the cold air, since it was viruses and bacteria that cause illness and not simply cold air. She looked at me like I had three heads.
This is the same country where people go walrussing?
Amazingly yes.
I assume the reporters of the above lived in bigger towns or cities with spoiled inhabitants. Maybe a visit at some far off Siberian villages would help?
The classic line we always get is people in big cars telling us our cargobike must have been “expensive”.
Couple of years ago we had a Big Freeze and the local school was shut after a frozen pipe installed a new indoor skating rink for them over the Christmas vacation. So of course all the kids spent the time sledging, throwing snowballs at one another and similar, but as soon as school re-opened they were hustled straight inside and kept in all day because it was “too cold” for them to go outside…
Slip sliding away, slip sliding away
You know the nearer your destination, the more you slip sliding away
Whoah God only knows, God makes his plan
The information’s unavailable to the mortal man
We’re workin’ our jobs, collect our pay
Believe we’re gliding down the highway, when in fact we’re slip sliding away
(Simon & Garfunkel)
I know it’s rude to correct, but for the record, that was just paul simon I believe. I think that song was after the “breakup.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greatest_Hits,_Etc.
I rode my Raleigh DL-1 to work today, people think I am crazy. (I live in northern Minnesota) The funniest thing I have ever personelly seen was when I worked in public health and some nurses drover their car one block to the gym I worked at to walk on the tredmill than get in their car and drive back.
I forgot the name of the politician that commented at the opening of a bit of bicycle infrastructure, “Let us all stop and contemplate the person stuck in a traffic jam on his way to ride a stationary bike at the gym.” But I think that is an appropriate commentary to your post.
“Let’s have a moment of silence for all those Americans who are stuck in traffic on their way to the gym to ride the stationary bicycle.” — Earl Blumenauer, Oregon Congressman
http://www.horstmann.com/quotes.html
Many years ago, pre-LeMond, I saw a cartoon that presented a European’s view of an American bicycle club meeting. There was a modest building identified as the clubhouse ….. surrounded by parked cars.
And nothing has changed.
This morning, a well-meaning coworker asked if I have some way to warm up when I get to work.
Warm up, ha! I usually need a way to cool down, particularly this morning, since I was battling 25-30 mph headwinds.
I guess this explains why the bundled up people look at me funny when I get on the train in a T-shirt and a rain jacket.
My only observation to Thistle would be that Fizz would stay warmer on a trailer bike or Child stoker attachment.
I see the same thing when I get on the bus part of my daily commute. People in hats and parkas, with gloves and scarves giving me funny looks, while I’m peeling of layers to stay cool.
Just looked at the windspeed on the weather report- make that 25 to 40 mph. Going down a steep hill felt like pedaling up one…
I cycled to wok in shorts and a t-shirt this morning. And yes, I live on the northern hemisphere, the Netherlands. Although I must admit it is well above freezing now (5 °C in the morning). Now it might help I ride in a Quest…
I think riding a recumbent helps as well, because I never really need an extra layer of clothing in the winter unless it really is freezing outside.
The only part of riding in the cold that bothers me is my hands. I have yet to find a glove/mitten/whatever that keeps my hands warm enough that still lets me work brakes and shifters properly. Thinking about designing something like the old-school racing motorcycle fairings to fit in front of the ‘bars.
You might try finding some handlebar muffs. Apocalypse design (http://www.akgear.com) out of Fairbanks AK used to make a set but a cursory examination of their webpage makes me think that they’ve discontinued them. I’ve never personally used a set of muffs, a good pair of mittens was always good enough for me, but you might want to give them a call or email them.
You will like Bar Mitts.. Http://barmitts.com. I have a few pairs and I can ride down to at least 30 with regular no finger riding gloves…