Even Colder Weather Riding

Temperatures keep dropping.  I keep upping my cold weather riding gear.  But I suppose I too I keep getting more used to cold temperatures.  I remember a while back, 50 felt cold, now I'm happy if it hits above freezing.

My latest upgrade are some serious winter gloves: REV'IT! Taurus GTX Gloves.  These are nice.  Besides winter, they actually feel like they are protecting my hands.  My Harley feel like they offer slightly more protection than gardening gloves, but not like these.  I don't think I'll ever buy Harley gloves again.  This spring I'll look at Rev'it and some of the other brands and check out what they have to offer.

My hands started to feel warm indoors.  They are bit bulky.  I had to move my mirrors on the bike so I wouldn't hit them with the gloves.  I think part of it too is the break in.  After 20 or so minutes, feels fine.  I still felt comfortable quickly adjusting operating my hand controls.



My first ride out was at 40 degrees.  I was out for 45 minutes or so.  My hands started to get cold near the end and I came back in.  But my hands quickly recovered.

On my second and potentially last ride of the year, it was 29 degrees.  This was before any snow.  It was bright and sunny out.  I couldn't resist.  I took a 15 minute or so trip around the block.  Man it was cold.  The gloves were pretty good.  Again near the end my hands got cold and had a quick recover once back inside.

I could go with eleetric vests and such to help with the cold weather.  But, I still think I'll hold off on that.  With the colder tempatures comes snow, ice, and salt on the roads.  Plus, I just feel like I'd be out in the middle of nowhere and have a short.  Maybe, I won't say never.  But at least I'm holding off for now.

The other thing is it takes away some of your attention from your ride and the traffic.  You keep think "Man, I'm cold."  That's a somewhat distracting thought :)  But still it was good to get in these last two rides of the season.

Every once and awhile, there's a freak warm day in late December or in January.  I might be able to get some riding in then.  On the other hand, every once and awhile, there's a freak snow blizzard.  Thus, we'll have to see.