Cold weather ride and general winter advice

So a while back my main ride was a 82 GS850GL, awesome bike but finicky as hell. I rode it as my only mode of transport through the 2007 winter in Baltimore, MD. Its not North Dakota, but pretty damn chilly. Anyways one February evening I embarked upon a trip from DC to Baltimore to visit the folks, approx 45 mins. The temp was definitely sub freezing so I wrapped up, long underwear, two sets of jeans, two turtlenecks, a wool sweater, leather jacket, my face mask under my helmet, and a very heavy pair of leather and sheep fleece lined gloves. I was alright for a while until about halfway through the trip, when I started to get quite cold. I couldn't imagine how the cold was seeping through, I even made sure not to dampen the clothes with my sweat before leaving... this really should have been enough protection.

As I neared my parents home I found myself getting fuzzy in the head, and all of my joints were stiffening up (I was 22, this was definitely a new sensation for me). Although I could still shift relatively easily and control the throttle with brute wrist action, my knees were totally frozen to the point that I couldn't extend them. My hands were beyond numb to the point of pain, and my elbows were stuck in the position they were in. It got to the point that I didn't think I would be able to get off the bike. I started gliding through stop signs and making rights on red when I needed to go straight, all because I couldn't put my foot down.

When I got to my parent's house I slowed to a crawl, and started to mash the horn. I circled the house a couple times (flat land, no snow thankfully) blasting the horn. Finally my dad came out to see what was all the ruckus, and I idled up to him, and then popped the clutch, killing the bike, and allowed him to catch both me and the bike. I fell off it but at least he kept the bike upright, and he and my brothers helped me into the house.

The impudence of youth prevented me from stopping at a cafe to warm up, at that time I was always hell bent at getting to where I was going. However another lesson I learned that day was how easily the cold got into my body, because I left a critical part exposed to the wind. Although my hands were inside a quality pair of deep winter gloves, and my arms had several layers on them, the gloves left my wrists exposed by about a quarter of an inch. That radial vein is a big one, and I lost a lot of heat there, which robbed from the rest of my body. Its fairly safe to say that despite my cold weather gear, a 45 minute ride chilled me to a dangerous area. At 22, it was definitely sobering to be so cold and stiff.

As the temperature drops it is always a good idea to go over your cold weather gear, and assess it for both safety and heat retention. Helmets easily fog up in the cold, sometimes a good handkerchief which directs your breath down into the front of your jacket is better than an expensive riding face shield which pushes your breath up into the helmet. Some gloves can be warm but restrictive to movement, I now favor hard leather gauntlets for my longer rides, and the old fleece gloves for shorter ones. A couple of pairs of jeans tucked into the boots can be as warm as an expensive riding suit, although they definitely encourage torrents of sweat as soon as you go into any kind of heated environment. There is a lot to be said for a good faring. Hand warmers can be great to jam into your gloves, although there is nothing better than just grabbing your engine block while waiting at a red light. Everyone has their preference.

Stay warm out there.

When ever I ride in the cold I usually wear some wind proof/water proof snow boarding pants from Columbia Sportswear and I have a Fieldsheer Corsair jacket with liner that I wear and if it gets real cold I wear a Columbia Snow Boarding Parka. I have been into the 20's wearing this stuff and find that my main issue is my hands. I had a problem with finding gloves that would keep my hands warm enough. I found that if I had gloves that would keep my hands warm they were usually too thick to allow me to work the controls. I have found that my leather riding gloves do a pretty good job keeping my hands warm and have found that if necessary a thin liner usually does the trick. I got caught unprepared on a ride once. It was in the mid 80's when I left and dropped into the 40's on my way home and I only had a T-Shirt on and by the time I got back home I could hardly pull the clutch in. Now I usually just keep at least a sweatshirt and my rain gear in my backpack and take with me when ever I leave the house that way I at least have some protection should the weather take a change for the worse.

Good advice, Everyone handles cold differently, some better than others. The cold rides I remember where I nearly had hypothermia were all in my young days too. once I left at like 60 degrees and rode 60 miles north and nearly froze to death and the next day found out they had a high of like 27 degrees only 60 miles away, but my major downfall was going to pick up a brand new Yamaha FZ750 in 1985 20 miles from home. It was 7 degrees out, remember that like yesterday and I ride that FZ home. Gosh DAM was my fingers froze and to this day have never came back. Remember some injuries may never heal from your younger, foolish days:)
That being said, I have an old friend, a Harley friend and this guy is coming up on 90 years old, well he rode to Chicago from Denver in January a few years ago. I'll say a few, but been 20 yrs probably. He said it was 8 degrees and his beard was frozen solid. My God you must have been frozen I said, mainly your fingers. My fingers never get cold was his reply. Like Rambo and first blood, ignore weather, ignore pain. :laugh: I ride all winter still, but the pain is there, and that's the way it is after 50 yrs of abuse of the body.

I've been riding around here for the last month or so in 30's-60's F temps. 1/2 hr to 1 hr rides. I bought a heated coat that plugs in to your 12V battery system and it works great. Tee shirt, heated coat, Joe Rocket Meteor jacket with liner removed, that's it. No more coming home frozen to the bone.

Here's an old pic. It's my avatar right now. There was a good snow storm happening at the time of this pic.
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I ride in the cold all the time getting sick of people saying"are you nuts?" Arent you cold?
No im not cold My answer is always "how cold is it when you ride a sled?" Gear up a shut up its only cold.my winter ride is a KLR650 with dunlop 606s a small fairing heated grips and a lot of fun.I ride whenever I feel the need to its the only way Ive found to make it through the winter without goiing CCRRAAZZYY.What the hell I pay for the insurance,its all legal,Im gonna ride.
I have been known to stop for a bowl of soup at the local coffee shop on ocasion

heres a pic

Tony wrote:

There was a good snow storm happening at the time of this pic.
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Haha that's crazy, I never did summon the courage to ride in a snowstorm.

I remember reading the DMV literature while I was studying for my moto license test, it suggested the following: "If you must ride over ice or snow, keep your feet out to the side and maintain a speed of less than 15mph."

I was like... what? Are you serious? Ice or snow?

img146.imageshack.us/img146/8841/004fj.jpg
WHY IS IT SO ****** UP TO POST A PIC HERE? ill try a link

havent put the dunlop 606s on yet, Just got em today gonna get some studs in em.Ill show YOU WINTER ya BASTARD.Just try and stop me

jeffasaki wrote:

img146.imageshack.us/img146/8841/004fj.jpg
WHY IS IT SO ****** UP TO POST A PIC HERE? ill try a link

Here ya go...
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Nice KLR!

Thankshttp://img715.imageshack.us/img715/7892/002das.jpg Tony lets not forget this eh

Uncertain whether pic size is the issue, but thinking KZR posting limits are:

Width: 2400px
Height: 1200px
Size: 2048kb (2 MB)

This one was arbitrarily re-sized to 460 x 350 and saved as jpeg.

Good Fortune!