Re: Inside for awhile

On 20 Jan 2025 05:53:42 GMT, Roger Merriman <roger@sarlet.com> wrote:

Frank Krygowski <frkrygow@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

On 1/19/2025 8:41 PM, Mark J cleary wrote:

Well in Central Illinois is now 3 degrees a bit warmer than my north
neighbor Andrew but still too cold to ride anywhere. Hell it is too cold
to go anywhere too unless emergency. I see Minot ND is going to -55
windchill tomorrow night.
 
Do you you think the bike manufactures can build a bike that you can
ride and stay warm in that environment? They keep going for fast a light
and want warm and usable daily.
 
Let see......a generator heater that works off the hub and keeps the now
enclosed cockpit warm. Then you have some wires leading to the feet for
heat. A glove that plugs into the hub to keep the hands warm.
 
Someone here for sure this is Rec.bicyles.tec after all.

 
Let's see: A bike to stay warm below zero? The first step is, as you
say, an enclosed cockpit. I don't have any experience riding such a
thing, but I wonder if that plus warm clothing might be all you need.
For a while, many decades ago, I had a Zzipper fairing on my bike when
commuting in cold weather, and it seemed to help. And IIRC, the fully
enclosed and streamlined bikes used for speed record attempts have some
problem with riders overheating.
 
Human muscles, metabolism etc. are only about 25% efficient at producing
power. That means for every 100 Watts you output in pedaling, you're
delivering 300 Watts heating to your body. If you're inside an enclosed
fairing and you use enough insulated clothing to keep that heat from
being lost, I think you'd be fine. I'm including feet and hands, which
would not have the wind chill if they were inside a fairing enclosure.
 
But I can envision other problems. When it's intensely cold, seeing
where you're going through a windshield could be a challenge. Enclosing
an upright bicyclist would probably lead to big problems from crosswinds
due to the huge lateral area, and you'd have some problem with that even
if you reduced lateral area with a recumbent posture. So to prevent wind
toppling you, you might need a trike instead of a bike. That leads to
further complications, like finding three clear paths instead of one
through snow, ice or whatever.
 
Sorry, I can think of no practical way to ride very far when it's very
cold. My record was -4 Fahrenheit, but it was just a brief and
uncomfortable utility ride. I don't plan on trying it again.
 

I don’t think a road ride at such temperatures would be particularly
pleasant with added windchill etc.
>
In my experience off road removes a lot of that, as you tend to be riding
slower, plus riding in the woods can get shelter from the wind.
>
Clothing helps a lot, as does being young! Noting that despite being sub
zero temperatures last week the young lasses still had their crop tops on!
Which was slightly painful to view in such temperatures!
>
I’ve certainly ridden and comfortably in similar temperatures though not
necessarily same type of conditions on the MTB.
>
Ie larger more bulky warm clothes plus extra load ie effort of riding off
road potentially snow etc.
>
But utility and certainly road cycling is going to be unpleasant!
>
Roger Merriman

I had an office for a while in downtown Madison, Wisconsin near the
Capital. This was in the era of miniskirts. We used to go out for
lunch and we'd see the young girls on the street, all bundled up with
fluffy jackets on top, bare legged below. My friend used to say,
"those gals aren't cold, they got a little heater under those skirts.

--
C'est bon
Soloman