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Doing Everything Wrong

11.26.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 8 Comments

Maybe it was Thanksgiving.  Yeah, that’s it.  I took several days off the bike as we went out of town to visit my sister-in-law for Turkey Day.  Now, that’s not unusual — the several days off the bike part, that is — because lately I’ve been taking several days off the bike each week because of the earlier onset of darkness and work obligations.

However, when we got back to town this afternoon, Pat wanted to get in a short ride.  The clock was approaching 4:30, so we wouldn’t have more than an hour of daylight, and she wanted to swing by a nearby post office to drop an important check in the mail.

The temperature hovered around 54ºF (12ºC), which isn’t far from our recent averages for this time of year.  We scrambled into bike clothes that had worked for us before in this temperature.  Well, actually, we departed a little from what we usually wear.  Pat pulled on her armwarmers, but although she got a windbreaker out of the closet, she decided to leave it lying on a chair.  I wanted to wear a base layer, but also wanted to save what appeared to be the only clean one for tomorrow’s ride, so I wore a summer weight short sleeved jersey under a nice long sleeved jersey.

I searched and searched, but couldn’t find my sunglasses.  I finally decided to skip them, since the sun would be at our backs for the return leg of our ride, and it would be getting dusky anyway.

We headed out, and in minutes realized we had both made mistakes.  Pat wished she had worn her windbreaker.  I wished I had worn a baselayer, a wind vest, and arm warmers.  We were both chilly.  Luckily, the wind was calm.

We got to the post office just in time to meet the departing mail truck, and Pat left the check with the driver.  We headed out on a favorite short neighborhood route, but to get there had to ride a fairly busy connecting road.  The good part is, it was slightly downhill, so we made good time.  The bad part is, by riding relatively fast, the cold penetrated our trunks.  We both started complaining about the chill.  We kept going, though.

We turned a corner, and I realized why I had been uneasy about not searching harder for my sunglasses.  Our route took us directly into the setting sun, which shone at a low angle directly into our faces.  It was blinding.  I rode much of the outbound leg looking down, just a few feet in front of my front wheel.

We got to the turnaround and headed back.  Again, the route was a slight downhill, and we made good time — but we also absorbed a lot of cold air.  I stopped to wait for Pat at a stoplight, and felt a wave of warmth spread across my torso and legs.  It was because I wasn’t cutting the air with the moving bike.  At rest, we were fine.  Moving, we were uncomfortably cold.

On my home computer, I keep a list of cool weather clothing combinations that work for me under a variety of different cool weather conditions.  As soon as we finished our chilly ride, I called it up, wondering where the problem could have been.  After all, I had ridden a number of times this fall in temperatures in the low to mid 50s, and never had I felt this uncomfortable.

Duh.  I turns out I completely misjudged what I needed to wear for today’s conditions.  I needed arm warmers and a wind vest — just as I had determined while riding.  The clothing combination I wore today was good for temperatures 10 degrees higher than we had.

Readers sometimes ask me why I call this blog Bike Noob, when I’ve been riding for several years.  As long as I keep screwing up my rides like I did today — I still consider myself a noob.

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Categories // Equipment Tags // clothing

Cool Weather — What To Wear?

11.09.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 16 Comments

Our Florida-based guest poster Jeff Hemmel is going to tell us how to dress for chilly weather.

The mercury finally dipped in Florida this past week, leaving me to once again ponder the question of what to wear when it gets cold. Sure, that term is relative — the cold I’m talking about is weather in the low 50s during the early morning hours. But often coupled with high winds coming off the water, it can feel downright chilly. Definitely not shorts and short-sleeve jersey weather.

But after years of riding through varying Florida winters, I’m still not quite sure what the appropriate outfit is. This past Sunday, with temps around 56 and winds gusting as high as 30 mph, I rode in a wicking base layer shirt, long-sleeve jersey, lightweight jacket and tights, and half-finger gloves…and was cold almost the entire way. Those high winds felt brutal, and got only worse as my entry-level name-brand jacket, not exactly the most breathable garment, just seemed to trap in the sweat and chill me to the core.

My legs never really seem to be the problem. It’s my core. In really cold conditions a thermal base layer, long-sleeve jersey and that very same jacket seem to do the trick. But in these middle temperatures I’m lost. That’s why I’ve spent a lot of time the last few days looking through the mail-order catalogs and perusing the clothing company websites.

Part of me thinks a good thermal jersey is what I need, eliminating the nylon jacket altogether, as it’s usually dry and sunny. Another part of me wonders if I just need a better, more breathable jacket, one that wouldn’t build up the moisture within, but instead vent it out. And then there are those that would say, in such temperatures, I should be able to get by with just arm warmers and a wind vest.

Or maybe it’s my hands and feet. Maybe I need full-finger gloves and wool socks to warm my extremities. After all, didn’t our moms all say that if we were cold to put on a hat? (Speaking of the head, I often wear a headband in the cold to protect my ears, which seem particularly vulnerable on cool, windy days.)

So I’m tossing it out for discussion. What have other riders found to be the best combination of clothing for such weather conditions? Obviously I don’t care to be cold, but I also don’t want to overdress and get chilled from the sweat.

Have you found a good combination of clothing that works for you?

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Categories // Equipment, guest post Tags // clothing, guest post, Hemmel

Odds ‘n Ends

11.07.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 5 Comments

Re-energized

Not me -- but the right idea.

After a week off the bike because of the derailleur situation, I went out for a 26-mile ride Saturday morning.  I wondered if the time off would make it harder for me to climb hills and maintain a strong pace.  I needn’t have worried.  My hill climbing was stronger.  Higher speeds came easier.  The week-long layoff did me good.

That got me wondering — what’s the point of diminishing returns?  How much time does it take before being off the bike translates into a noticeable loss of power and endurance?

Riding without a cell phone

I was making preparations to leave on my Saturday morning ride, but I couldn’t find my cell phone.  It wasn’t anywhere in the house that I could see.  It wasn’t left in the car.  Then I remembered.  At work Friday, I plugged it into a charger.  I must have left Friday afternoon and forgotten to take it with me.

Saturday was the first day in forever that I had ridden without a cell phone.  Funny how important those things have become.  Always, in the back of my mind, I was thinking: “What if I crash?  What if I need help for some reason?”  It was an extra careful ride.

Sunday, I rode with my wife, who had her own phone with her.  But when she finished, I decided to head back out for another 12 miles or so.  It was a little easier for me this time, and I wasn’t constantly thinking about the missing phone.  But you can bet I’ll make sure it’s with me when I leave work from now on.

Funny — it wasn’t that many years ago that we rode anywhere without them.

Christmas wishes

While riding with my wife this morning, she said, “For Christmas, I’d like a pair of those biking capris.”

“Huh?”

“You know, the bike tights that stop just below the knee.”

“Oh, those are called knickers.”

“Yeah — I want some.”

“I thought you wanted new cycling shoes?”

“Oh yeah — I want those too.”

Looks like it’ll be a cycling Christmas around our house.

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Categories // Odds 'n ends Tags // cell phone, clothing, training

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