I rode today. Did you?

Nice first ride in the COLD.

 

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Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on November 18, 2014 at 11:17am

I can see Bar Mitts won't work for everyone. Let me expand my original response with some context and the negatives as I see them.

My commute (and cycling, in general) environment rarely consists of locking up a bike I care about where thieves and vandals can get to it. (Once burned, twice shy.) So JeffB's concerns about theft don't pertain to my situation. I'm also fortunate enough to be able to park inside at both ends of my commute, so I have no problem with cold handlebars. I readily admit that if you have to leave your bike outside for any amount of time, leaving what amounts to an expensive set of gloves behind would be problematic.

As to functional negatives, at the moment I'm only using my drop bar mitts, though I think most problems would apply to the flat bar version as well.

  • They have a more-or-less vertical orientation. Something like this looking from above: |___bar___| ... As this is lighting season for most of us, this can be problematic, as the bar mitts tend to block view of your lights from either side.
  • Restricted insert/remove. As someone else mentioned, you are restricted in how you pull your hands off the bars. The same goes for connecting your hands to the bars (and thus to your brake levers). Yesterday evening, I was a few blocks from home and happened to have my hands out of the mitts (probably blowing my nose). Not paying close enough attention, I didn't notice someone approaching from my right at an intersection. I wasn't going very fast, but I still couldn't react fast enough to insert my hand into the mitt. I wound up braking in the usual fashion, just grabbing my levers from outside the mitt. This worked, but probably isn't recommended practice.
  • Fewer hand positions. If you want your hands warm, you leave them in the mitts. I can still use the tops of my bars, but there is a bit less space (mitts and lights), and as demonstrated above, you need a bit more time to get your hands out of and into your mitts. Also, in this weather, you won't want to leave them there for very long. I rarely ride in the drops, but I suppose that's feasible as well.

All that said, the positive aspects outweigh the negatives for my needs. Before using them I was never really able to find a good solution to keeping my hands warm, and would have effectively stopped riding my bike to work by the time the temps got down to freezing. My commute is about an hour each way, so my hands are probably a bit more exposed that most folks here with shorter commutes.

Permalink Reply by Haddon on November 19, 2014 at 2:59am

I don't get cold hand issues but rather cold toes and have taken to the classic (moms) plastic baggy technique.  When people say "you rode?"  I answer "Yes and or some reason I am just famished for seal meat" which either gets a laugh or drops dead.

Permalink Reply by Chitown_Mike on November 19, 2014 at 4:27am

Did anyone else feel like it was way warmer today than yesterday?

I was sweating to beat the band by the time I got to work today, felt like I rode in 50 degree weather dressed way too warmly, but I didn't change anything from yesterday and then I was a lot colder.

Permalink Reply by Mitch Johnson on November 19, 2014 at 4:38am

Road my fat bike to work.  Not as bad as yesterday.  Can't claim to be hard core as it's only 2.5 miles. 

Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on November 19, 2014 at 4:43am

I suppose it had a lot to do with the direction you were riding. I was riding north-to-south. Very windy. I was not too warm at all.

Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on November 19, 2014 at 6:15am

Dressed lighter today. Felt warmer. Completely comfortable today. Mostly comfortable yesterday. Go figure.

Permalink Reply by Chitown_Mike on November 19, 2014 at 6:21am

rwein5 - I never thought that 15 degrees when still below freezing would be such a heat wave!

Skip - Yeah, I am sure I'll be cold on the ride home.  I felt like the wind was helping versus hurting this morning...for once.

Skip Montanaro 12mi said:

I suppose it had a lot to do with the direction you were riding. I was riding north-to-south. Very windy. I was not too warm at all.

Permalink Reply by Beans on November 19, 2014 at 6:24am

She ain't singin' yet...

50° on Sunday. I hesitate to pack my shorts and sandals for the season.

Permalink Reply by Gene Tenner on November 19, 2014 at 6:29am

Permalink Reply by Haddon on November 19, 2014 at 2:36pm

For as dry and tight as I get I think if I rode a bit longer I could just turn my legs into the equivalent of Beef Jerky.

Permalink Reply by daWillinChi on November 20, 2014 at 3:04am

This morning was tough with the wind blowing from the south.

With the wind gust in one of the intersection, I think I moved backward while pedaling forward.

Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on November 20, 2014 at 3:39am

Wind, wind, go away and skip it on another day!  It could be worse, of course; we could be on the east side of a Great Lake buried in five feet of snow with more on the way.
 
Andy Moss 9.5 said:

My legs are fried from 2 days of riding into these winds.  But think of how you're preserving your brake pads, by not needing to use them.
 
JustWill said:

This morning was tough with the wind blowing from the south.

With the wind gust in one of the intersection, I think I moved backward while pedaling forward.

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