Monday, May 19, 2014

How cold is too cold to ride?

I've been reading Brenda's adventures over at the white shadow diary. For those who haven't read it a short synopsis they were riding over Mt Hotham (1861 m or 6109 ft) in the Victorian highlands when it rained then snowed on them forcing them to stay in a ski lodge for a couple of days.

They looked wet, cold but were still in remarkably good spirits. I've ridden through this same area and in similar conditions but not snowing. I vividly remember one time coming across the top of the mountain and coming down towards Harrietville and there was a huge storm sitting on the western side of the mountain. It was blowing pretty hard and it had that biting cold mountain air that goes straight through you. I nearly had to stop on the way down. I was riding so slowly and couldn't feel my fingers and most of my upper body had gone numb. It was hard to move and I couldn't shift about in the seat making me frozen in position. Not ideal to ride in at any rate. Luckily about 30 minutes of that I made it down low enough that it warmed up enough that I thawed out and could move again.

The following photos are from two separate rides across the top of Hotham in very poor conditions. The first one was in 5°C (41°F) in thick fog with snow on the ground. We were headed for the motogp at Phillip Island.

5°C at Hotham central




The next 2 photos are of me on a group ride with friends on our way to Phillip Island for the World Super bikes. Another wet foggy 1°C (33°F) morning on the mountain.
1°C again at Hotham Central


The last one is my very first blog header picture. It's somehow one of my favourite photos from my riding in the early years. I don't have many photos from those days as I never thought to take many. Thanks Brenda for bring back the memories and made me dig up these old pics. When have you ridden in the cold and thought that it was too cold to be riding?


14 comments:

  1. Believe it or not, I have ridden in 0 Degree temperatures here in Florida (and have the pics to prove it). It's not something I would recommend due to the possibility of black ice but lucky for me it's a rare occasion. What would scare me more then the cold would be the fog. Your visibility is reduced and so is that of the cagers. I would be more worried about one of them coming up to fast for conditions behind me. For me the question is..."Is it safe for me to be out in these weather conditions?" If the answer is yes, then I ride. If no, then I take the car.

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    1. Hi Robert
      I've ridden in -5°C conditions which isn't much fun, but the pictures above weren't that cold. I agree the fog is pretty dangerous but also the cold can be a danger as well.

      Thanks for stopping by.

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  2. I think how cold too cold can be is relative to the rider, their skill set and gear, and also the road condition.

    I've ridden below freezing in town with frost on the road. Heated jacket liner on and heated grips on but it was still chilly and wouldn't do it again just for fun.

    I don't like to ride in temps below my age so for right now that is 42˚F. (5.5˚C) Just not that comfortable and I have poor circulation to try and keep warm.

    I am sure there are people that would ride in colder temps and be happy. Like Dom from Redlegs Rides in Colorado or RichardM in Alaska. Not this cat, I am turning into a weather weenie.

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    1. Do you mean temp below your age in F or C? 41C would be rather hot, but yes in F thats pretty cold. Dom rides in half a car and not an naked bike. Bet he wouldn't do it on a Gladius.

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  3. I didn't think it got cold over your side of the pond?

    I've only ridden in snow once (and that was pretty light) but have definitely ridden at zero (or maybe even slightly less) on several occasions. My big worry is ice - I have ridden on it and it freaked me out big time!

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    1. Mate it does get cold here, even in Sydney it can get down to about -2°C in the west and colder in the blue mountains. The snowy mountains are like your southern alps in winter -20 odd.
      Yep don't want to ride with black ice on the road, thats a recipe for going tits up.

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  4. Was I on that ride in the last photo? Looks a bit like my ZX9 second from the front but I can't remember for sure. I do remember at least 2 wet, cold trips over Mt Hotham back in the day.
    Anything below 10C is too cold for me these days though.

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    1. Nope you weren't there, thats rods blue R1. I'm with you on the temp below 10, but we dont get too many of those days here in sydney.

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  5. Interesting post, love those pics they make me shiver, but they also make me feel not so alone now.

    Too cold is well when you cant feel your fingers anymore, like Brandy said, if you have the right gear then you can usually cope with colder temps. And the person, I dont really feel the cold (I'm one of those people who wears t-shirts unless it's below zero.) but then you have to take into account the road conditions, visibility and rider experience.

    I didn't enjoy that ride, I didnt hate it either, it was great experience but I was very glad to see the top of the mountian and shelter!

    Oh and Andrew, out here in the middle of what I always thought was desert, it snows about every two or three years in a town about 150km south/east of me, we usually get a couple of weeks of minus temps in winter .. couple that with over 40 days in summer, it's a great place to live!!

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    1. Thanks Brenda. You bring up some great memories for me with your post.Yes gear is important in stopping getting to the point where I got to. You might say I wasn't prepared for those conditions in leathers with only a t shirt under.

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  6. Steve:

    The cold doesn't bother me much but I hold the line at 5°C due to frost and ice in the shadows, or whenever there is fog or marine mist where visibility may be a problem. I have heated gear which I seldom use but I do turn on my heated grips once in a while, but more on a summer's night rather than in winter

    bob
    A weekend photographer or Riding the Wet Coast

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    1. I prefer it to be cooler than warmer. Fog and rain makes it worse. There is not heated grips on an R1, but maybe I could put some on?

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  7. Steve, I've also ridden over Hotham in fog and rain. I just followed Marty's tail light - if he had ridden over the cliff I would have surely just followed as I couldn't see a damn thing! I'm always helpful that my years of riding experience and lots of wet weather riding are an advantage in poor conditions. The new ZX14 has adjustable engine mapping and traction control to assist in bad conditions - I just haven't had to try them out yet.

    Hypothermia is quite a risk actually. I once got home absolutely frozen and just stepped off the CBR600 in the driveway without putting the side stand down and then wondered why it fell over! It was an expensive (dented tank) and valuable lesson.

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    1. I reckon I did the same in the fog on Hotham. It was a game of lemmings, just lucky that first bike stayed on track.
      Hotham can be f-ing cold at time even in spring and summer. Doesn't help I only had leathers and tshirt on.

      Bummer on the dropping the bike due to the cold, I total understand that.

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