Saturday, February 03, 2007

Saturday in the sun

Carlos rolls a fatty
through "The Swamp of Doom."

Mr. New York Times climbs out
after taking a snaux sample.

What is this, some sort of bizarre paceline?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

What are you using to keep your hands warm in the pictures? I commute in the winter but haven't found a warm enough pair of gloves. Also do you still ride clipless down to the negative temps? My shoe covers do ok down to about +10 F.

Tim said...

Gloves are only one part of keeping your hands warm. Those things you see in the photos are called pogies or handlebar covers, depending on where you shop. They are indispensable. I wish I’d bought a pair years earlier. They block the wind and keep it from blasting through the seams of your gloves. After two winters of using them them, I’ll never ride without them in cold weather again.

You can spend $100 buying them in a bike shop or ordering online. I recommend going to Cabela’s website or a shop that sells snowmobiles and/or ATVs and spending $30 on a basic pair. That’s what I did, and they keep me plenty warm. When commuting at temps below 10 F, I wear inexpensive ski gloves and put chemical warmers in them for longer rides below zero. Otherwise, I wear lighter, full-fingered gloves.

My toes freeze easily, so I give up clipless pedals for winter and use pegged platform pedals instead. I ride in heavy winter boots made by Baffin. They’re heavy, but I stay warm. Most riders I know up here use platform pedals in winter, but a few stay clipless with Lake boots, or other shoes/boots they modify to accept cleats.

Click on that first photo of Carlos and look closely at his feet. He’s experimenting with some seriously modified “sandals” that he equipped with cleats. He straps them over his shoes.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your help.
Too often that is the case that something that is bike specific is terribly expensive and an alternative can be found in another market. I found that with goggles. I toss out the riding glasses below about 30 F because the plastic is cold to the point of painful on my skin, but ski goggles are terribly expensive. Also most are tinted. I commute a lot in the dark. If you go to a snowmobile outlet you can get a set of clear goggles for night riding for under $30.
The same can be said for most of my riding gear. I own very little actual bicycling clothing. I have found something less pricy that works.
Tell Carlos his idea rules. He should patent it before some big company tries it and makes a ton of money.

Tim said...

Sometimes, cheap is the way to go. Back when I used to wear contact lenses, I routinely rode home from work at night wearing a pair of amber-tinted Remington shooting glasses. I bought 'em in the sporting goods department of Kmart for $8.

Why spend $125 on Oakleys?