favourite cycling weather

flickerx

Today when I woke up my room was like an icebox and I had to fight hard to get out of the bed and not hit snooze for the umpteenth time. But once I was dressed and had some toast in me, I was pretty happy to be up on the bike. This morning was my favourite weather for cycling in - cold, crisp, clear, with no winds. I could cycle around all day in it (if I didnt have to go to work). I actually prefer this to scorching hot summer days, because on those days you build up way too much of a sweat and there's a greater chance of getting sunburned, and you end up drinking way too much water and having to go for a piss every hour.

Anyone else in agreement with me here?
Any sado masochists out there who like beating through rain and wind?

davidsatelle100

cold, crisp, clear, with no winds

With you on that love these mornings, although anything without wind suits me fine

High&Low

Most pleasant cycling day since I started about 3 months ago - only thing I would have preferred was if it was a little brighter

Raam

I love these days too. I usually find the first 15 minutes crispy, then I start to warm up. That gives me 10 minutes of feeling warm before I get into work. On the weekend rides you get to experience it properly.

tunney

Eh, wtf?

Favourite weather has to be 27 degrees plus and sunny.

trinewbie

Any weather that does not involve wind is great. I dont even mind rain..its the wind....the goddam wind..hate it.

Ken77

flickerx wrote: »

Today when I woke up my room was like an icebox and I had to fight hard to get out of the bed and not hit snooze for the umpteenth time. But once I was dressed and had some toast in me, I was pretty happy to be up on the bike. This morning was my favourite weather for cycling in - cold, crisp, clear, with no winds. I could cycle around all day in it (if I didnt have to go to work). I actually prefer this to scorching hot summer days, because on those days you build up way too much of a sweat and there's a greater chance of getting sunburned, and you end up drinking way too much water and having to go for a piss every hour.

Anyone else in agreement with me here?
Any sado masochists out there who like beating through rain and wind?

I agree...great weather for cycling...try cycling the Dublin moutains in thsi weather....any weather...

Raam

I don't mind head winds too much, you know what you are getting, but cross winds, they're a bugger. You never know where you are with them.

rubadub

Yep I am with the OP on this, along with good gloves and possibly a hat. I hate summer cycling, arriving like a sweating animal. There is incentive to cycle hard to keep warm, and when inhaling nice fresh cold air it seems you get more out of it, feel like a machine.;)

If raining and I have my good gear on I do not mind, since I am bone dry and at least I am not stuck in mad traffic. Not my favourite but still better than a car.

seamus

Yeah, I like clear and crisp mornings, but I much prefer clear sunny days @ around 15 degrees.

The freezing cold air just ends up getting to me (and my lungs) that tiny bit too much.

TheThing!

I like cycling into head winds so strong that the rain falls at an acute angle to the ground, it makes you feel like a legend

blorg

This is decent weather compared to the wind and rain we've been having, but I'd have to say I'm with tunney on this, prefer a warm sunny day in summer.

Danbo!

id say typical spring weather is the best. a lot like today yet not as cold. Although, im not a huge fan of the hot summer mornings when i get to work dripping sweat. I have to say tho, after the weather we've been having in the last month or so, today was fantastic. if only i hadnt lost my gloves

niceonetom

i went for a spin on monday afternoon and it the weather was near perfect. at noon the sky was electric blue with any cloud at all. amazing.

i like summer mornings too. in july, at about 7am can be sweet. i love being able to go for a spin a 5 or 6 pm and still have daylight too. that's cool.

there's no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.

tunney

niceonetom wrote:

there's no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.

Emmmmmmmm, b*ll*cks.

You can be wrapped in the the best Assos winter gear, with multiple thermal layers, dogs bollocks rain jackets, the best of gloves, shoes, overshoes and hats but if its wet enough and cold enough and you're out for long enough you will succumb to the "bad weather" (and get hypo-thermia). Lords knows I do it a few times each winter.

If you honestly believe there is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing then you're not putting the miles in over the winter.

Treade

I love the crisp dry mornings but the only problem is if the roads are icy. I fell off the bike a couple of times a few years ago on icy mornings so I prefer to leave the bike at home if it is frosty. Therefore I prefer a calm but not too hot summers morning.

flickerx

tunney wrote: »

Eh, wtf?

Favourite weather has to be 27 degrees plus and sunny.

Ugh. This reminds me of the time I cycled from Albany to Goode Beach and around that area in Western Australia. I was on a crappy rented bike, with the most uncomfortable saddle that really tore into my skin. I stopped in a few places along the way, but by the time I got to Goode Beach the sweat was pouring off me and the heat was making me sick. I plunged myself into the water (only person on a beach about half a mile long, with the sand nearly burnt white and as fine as cocaine powder, with crystal blue water... nice memory) and that was great, but the cycle home afterwards was torture. The next day I was like a rasher, with streaks of red burn lines all down my face and arms (despite covering myself in sunblock), and the skin around my saddle area was raw like a baby nappy rash from the sweat and heat.

Obviously it doesnt get as hot as that here, but its still rotten cycling to work in the heat, and you arrive in with pools of water in the armpits of your t-shirt. This weather is definitely my favourite commuting weather.

That plunge into the water at Goode Beach though was a near orgasmic release though. And I guess it is nice to have days like that at the weekend in the summertime, when you can head out to somewhere like the 40 Foot and drop yourself straight in like a heavy stone. But overall I much prefer this crisp winter weather to heat, probably not even just for cycling but in general, for everything.

niceonetom

tunney wrote: »

...if its wet enough and cold enough and you're out for long enough you will succumb to the "bad weather" (and get hypo-thermia). Lords knows I do it a few times each winter.

If you honestly believe there is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing then you're not putting the miles in over the winter.

i have no pity for masochists. and i was only quoting the great b. connolly.

unionman

Yep, with you on that. Cool crisp clear and no wind. Thankfully the frost is gone by the time I hit the streets. Weather like this compensates the really bad days of wind and rain.

Mothman

This morning was brilliant weather, did an hour with 5yo daughter in tow She's my little engine for the hills

rubadub

niceonetom wrote: »

i have no pity for masochists.

Chainreactioncycles have a great deal going on cannondale studded leather masks, and those leather pants with the arse cut out stop any soakage back there, no need for mudguards

niceonetom

rubadub wrote: »

Chainreactioncycles have a great deal going on cannondale studded leather masks, and those leather pants with the arse cut out stop any soakage back there, no need for mudguards

nipple wrenches. i'll say no more.

flickerx

rubadub wrote: »

Chainreactioncycles have a great deal going on cannondale studded leather masks, and those leather pants with the arse cut out stop any soakage back there, no need for mudguards

They've also got good Christmas deals going on saddle-less offroad MTB's

Ryder

Depends; for commuting, a cool crisp bright spring morning at around 7am

For distance, a summers evening. Spent the last year in galway. will never forget long summer evenings on the bike cycling out to Spiddal on the coast road....magic

kona

st stephens day, or christams day mountain biking...........glorious, cold, crisp, dry, no wind.:D

Prowetod

Either cold and sunny and dry or with a light drizzle/mist.

The wind is an enemy!!!

uberwolf

I'm all for the crisp still mornings. With ten minutes for your hands to pass into warm, and no one else on the back roads, just you and your hrm.

The warm weather is so much easier for miles though. Early season training on the Costa, add 2 hours to your spin and despite that you're fresh the following day. It has a certain appeal.

Long evenings, for that sense of life after a day at a desk.

It's the crisp mornings for me. But I just love being on the bike, becoming a machine with it, and the less the weather interferes the better!

Sometimes the soaking wet days, with constant rain, heavy drops whilst relatively warm are good. because they put you in a zone.

flickerx

flickerx wrote: »

This morning was my favourite weather for cycling in - cold, crisp, clear, with no winds. I could cycle around all day in it (if I didnt have to go to work).

Jesus. I might have to backtrack on this a bit. This morning when I was coming out the Navan Road, my right hand was so cold (from the collision with the bus, the bone in my thumb still is nowhere near fully healed yet) that I had to stop cycling and put my hand under my armpit for ten minutes to dull the searing pain from the cold. That and two Tylex on an empty stomach. Now I'm in work in a nice foggy drug haze.

Ghost Rider

This morning is something else, though. My EYES were cold. I thought I was going to need anti-freeze for my eyeballs.

niceonetom

Ghost Rider wrote: »

This morning is something else, though. My EYES were cold. I thought I was going to need anti-freeze for my eyeballs.

fúck sakes lads, you're scaring me. i'm sitting here having a quick cup of tea about to put a couple of hours in on the bike and now the inner fat-bastárd is saying 'NO, relax, it's too cold out there. have a mince pie instead.' thanks.

oobydooby

flickerx wrote: »

Now I'm in work in a nice foggy drug haze.

Nice work if you can get it;)

On the clothes/cold thing, being a bit of a pussy I swim with a wetsuit in the Irish sea. Or put it this way, I enjoy swimming in the Irish sea in Winter with a wetsuit on (winter suit too - so I bob about like I'm in the Dead Sea, minus the laminated newspaper). Pain in the nads changing/carrying gear if on my own so I've taken to cycling to the sea in the wetsuit. Since it's a few miles I stick civilian clothes over it! However it's seriously toasty in there, I reach the sea dripping in sweat and the wetsuit is nice and tight on the thighs like cycling tights. It's like a mini workout and it's great craic whatever the weather. Sometimes I put a mask and snorkel on my face too while cycling and I feel like Alan Turing.