It has been a cold December so it has not been easy to get out for a ride. The key to getting out in the cold weather is the proper clothing and the right attitude. Riding in the cold sucks but as long as you accept that fact and wear the right cloths you can still get out.
My wife says that when I come back from a winter ride I have a full load of laundry and she is probably right. Here is a picture of what I usually wear when I go out for a cold ride.
On the left is my bike shorts and long sleeve thermal shirt to provide an extra layer of warmth and wick the sweat away from my skin. On the right I have my wool socks, tights (I have tights with different thicknesses for different temperatures), A heavy long sleeve shirt and then a windbreaker coat. The jacket I wear is a gore tex wind stopper that is really good at blocking the wind and offers some protection from rain. It also has a couple of big pockets in the back to hold extra gloves and other things I might need for a cold ride.
And because I'm follically challenged I have a thermal skull cap as well as a neck gator to keep my head and neck area warm. Then there is the hand and feet.
Using all this gear I can ride comfortably down to about 35 degrees on the road and 25 degrees on the trails. Even with all this gear there will be parts of you that will be a little cold (like your face) and parts of you that will be sweating (like your torso). I'm usually a little cold when I start a ride but warm up quickly once I get a few miles in. Winter rides are shorter and I don't stop if it's below 40 as I don't want to get chilled.
The only thing that keeps me from riding in the winter is snow. It is just too dangerous to ride on the road with snow and ice on it. I will do trail riding if there is a couple of inches of snow as my mountain bike can easily plow through that but anything over 3 inches is just too hard to ride through.
This past weekend we got 6 inches of snow so riding was not an option for a couple of days. My wife and I actually took a ride down to the beach on Tuesday. She wanted to buy her beach badges for the summer and I wanted to see the beach with snow on it. It was 25 degrees so we didn't spend much time by the beach. It was weird to see snow where the sand should be and it was good to know that they clear the boardwalk when it snows.
I did take my mountain bike out on the roads on Wednesday for a short ride. The roads were mostly clear and at 40 degrees I expect any snow on the roads will be gone in another day. Thursday is going to be even warmer so I plan to go out again. Winter riding is not my favorite type of riding but if you gear up properly and get out on the warmer days you can still get some miles in.
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