• ST-Owners and the event organizer(s) are not responsible for the actions taken during any ride. Each member is responsible for determining if conditions are acceptable for riding and for their actions.

🥶 The Paulcb coldest ride of Winter 2025-2026

Thread reminds me of my trip to San Francisco years ago, took use two days on the I5 to get home, stopped at a Rest area and used the hand drier to warm up. Was a cold October that year.
 
My hands... and apparently my phone... are the only parts of me that cannot handle the really cold temps while riding without electrical help. The bar muffs are good enough down to just below freezing but below that I find I need some electric heat for my hands (and phone). Otherwise the rest of me is layered enough to stay warm down below zero*F. Even on a naked bike.

When I was at the bank earlier today I put my phone in one of my gloves with the heat still turned on high to warm it up a bit faster. That worked.
 
rjs987 said:
My hands...are the only parts of me that cannot handle the really cold temps while riding
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Reminds me of a lesson I learned the hard time. Just after I retired, I went to the Boeing Rec Center for a workout. When I came out, the temp was 25F. Home was about 10 miles away. A wire broke leading to the left heated glove. My Gerbing heated gloves have some ventilation in them to keep the hands from sweating. With no heat in the glove, and some minor wind chill at 25F...it was all I could do to get home. Absolute torture.

I always bring warm non-electric layers and gloves with me in case the heated gear fails.

Chris
 
I had that happen once... or similar. I had a coiled cable to my Gerbing gloves and a wire broke in the cable. This was 25 miles into a ride at -5*F on the Interstate and I was still headed away from home. I turned around and headed back and stopped at every exit to warm my hands on the cylinder heads of my ST1100. Every 5 miles or less.
 
You guys and this thread got me a back to the joy of just riding today. Thank you! Quite a PITA to get all the clothes together last night and this morning, but now they are out. And yes I needed to go to plan B when not finding a connector for the heated gloves/jacket to both work. That was battery powered gloves that I got out to survive an indoor unheated hockey game that didn't happen last night because many just don't think cold is safely tolerable. And I agree with that for many having coached spring/fall sports where poor preparation makes some miserable folks. Today would have been dangerous if unprepared.

I appreciate Kent's comment about riding for a number. No I won't go out tonight at 10pm when it might be less than 30 below. It's just fun to hear people's comments when they comment about how "nuts" that is. But the mighty KLR went back into the walkout basement for possible pleasure riding this weekend in the fabulous sunlight. This afternoon was quite refreshingly sunny so I double back a couple times to get it's full blast in my face. In the meantime I best find a spare key to be able to open the tank cap and risk burning up the bike filling up with the bike running so I don't worry on whether it will get finicky and difficult to restart.

And if you like pics, I'll try to do thumbnails to preclude excessive scrolling - walkout basement entry and Icy gravel path to freedom of the road seems a less slippery below zero. Cheers.gravel ice.jpgbike walkout.jpg
 
They are predicting 8-11" of snow starting at 2:00 PM, so I was on the road at 10 AM .... 31 miles @ 9 degrees and cloudy

We are going to have from zero to 8-degree lows and below freezing highs for the next 7 days. Brrrr. Unusual for us

Now that I think about it, it's probably @rjs987 Robert's fault :mad::rofl1:
 
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Story of December and much of January here except for the thaws where the salt was wet with melting snow. When I grew up out in SE Pennsylvania it was weird to me that so many folks feared snow. Like deathly fear. Glad we're all are just finding it inconvenient at worst. Entertaining or great joy for some of us.

BTW that driveway heading uphill to the left of the mailbox shows signs in the picture of black asphalt with only snow in the cracks between the old chunks that somehow have survived 34 years since the house was built (by other owners). The road there is flat with only moderate hill around the corner that is only patchy with ice. And at below zero ice provides more static friction.....until you begin to slide.

Yeah, and from a different reply, yesterday my plan B after a 5 miles to the gas station was to abort mission. Evidently an old spliced power cord gave up the ghost and shorted. I'll have to figure out for sure it wasn't the chaps/socks combo or the gloves and jacket combo. Fortunately the smoking by the forks was a ground wire's insulation melting. Maybe I'll just use that connection for the GPS as it was intended when installing it. Oops.
 
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Gee thanks @rjs987 for sending this crap my way. The only riding I'm doing today is on the quad with snow blade. Already plowed the first 6" off the drive by 11 this morning, and it's been snowing so hard it's hard to tell I even touched it. They upped the 8-11" prediction to 9-13". I'll have to plow again before dark and then probably again in the morning, And it's freaking cold to boot, so nothing is going to melt on it's own for maybe a week or more

We are under a level 2 snow emergency, so no one is supposed to be on the road unless absolutely necessary anyway.
 
the Ferret said:
Gee thanks @rjs987 for sending this crap my way. The only riding I'm doing today is on the quad with snow blade. Already plowed the first 6" off the drive by 11 this morning, and it's been snowing so hard it's hard to tell I even touched it. They upped the 8-11" prediction to 9-13". I'll have to plow again before dark and then probably again in the morning, And it's freaking cold to boot, so nothing is going to melt on it's own for maybe a week or more

We are under a level 2 snow emergency, so no one is supposed to be on the road unless absolutely necessary anyway.
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Wish I *could* take credit.
We only got 1/4 inch over Friday night. I could have used a push broom to clear the driveway but used my wide shovel anyway. I guess the sky withheld the snowfall until it got a few states east of me. Temps are still low however. Still 8*F right now and expecting -7*F in the morning. Still streaks of compacted snow on the streets but the sun and sublimation are slowly resolving that situation. So I'm also just sitting at home waiting for things to clear enough for a ride.

I could never wear my Gerbing heated gloves while clearing the driveway and sidewalks in this kind of cold since I would need a power source to plug into. With my cheap battery heated gloves I can. So I did. Just exercising the batteries.

Oh BTW- maybe in the next few days I'll have a chance to catch up a little bit on annual miles. :unsure-2x:
 
I decided to go to the 8 o'clock service at church today. I figured that if I'm going to ride to church in the cold, I might as well make it worth it by jumping up a couple spots.

20 F on the way there. Roads were dry; no moisture. Almost noon now and there's still frost on the roof.

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For some reason, no one else rode to church today...

Chris
 
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I see that and the bike's not coming out of the garage in the first place. If it gets down to 50ºF the WnS jacket liner and heated H-D gloves come out.

Years back there be a spate of days every year when the air was clear and the sun bright with high contrast. The temps were in the cool 50s and crisp in nature. Riding was a blast for me. All was right with the world. I've looked but those days seem gone. There is still joy in riding but it isn't all it was. Somethings never are.

No riding for a number for me. Riding is joy for me and there's no joy in Mudville if it's cold or rainy. I would have added snow but there hasn't been any in my county since 1976. I like being comfortable. If I can't be comfortable when I ride I can be comfortable when home with my feet up sipping hot chocolate. With marshmallows.
 
ST Gui said:
Years back there be a spate of days every year when the air was clear and the sun bright with high contrast.
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That's when I've taken the bike out for the last couple years and gotten on the list. Not for a "number", but just to record what I was already doing. I was already going to church. Wouldn't miss it. And unless the conditions are like your picture, I ride each time anyway.

What worries me sometimes is people trying to imitate me without going through the mental preparation. A friend of mine rode his Suzuki Burgman 400 scooter home from work one night. He didn't use his head and take the more flat route the last few blocks to his house. Instead he took his normal route which had a number of turns and hills. He dropped his bike three times in the last few blocks, screwing up the fairings on both sides of the bike. Worse yet, he broke his ankle. Ouch.

As Mellow wrote in the first post, do this at your own risk. And if you live in Florida...you can just laugh at those of us who enjoy this friendly "competition".

Chris
 
I've still been riding ....3 times in the last 2 days

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My problem is, where do you put over a foot of snow? :rofl1:

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Supposed to get to -9 tomorrow morning, but I can't ride the 2-wheeler anyway.... roads are still a mess and we are still under a Level 2 Snow Emergency...only necessary driving
 
I'm not sure what happened on my BMW XR. The snowflake has always been white. This time it turned blue twice. The temp didn't go down below 20F and the road looked the same. Maybe it was warning me of ice?

Several bikes get the snowflake. On the BMWs, it comes on at 3C or 37F.

Chris
 
the Ferret said:
Dang, that's hard core
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Well, since @the Ferret replied to the post I made and deleted, here it is again so his comment makes sense.

www.facebook.com

2.2M views · 25K reactions | Тамън да открия сезона и… #theroadkeeper #snow #bmwinstagram BMW Motorcycle club Bulgaria | BMW Motorcycle club Bulgaria

Тамън да открия сезона и… #theroadkeeper #snow #bmwinstagram BMW Motorcycle club Bulgaria
www.facebook.com www.facebook.com

I wish I could say that was from my backyard, but...

Chris
 
I'm NOT in competition with you polar bear guys riding in below-zero Fahrenheits.
If it ever gets that cold here in Alabama, it's because someone has detonated an ICBM and we're in a nuclear winter.
Let's not let that happen!
But I can move up a smidgen (that's Southern-speak for "just a little bit.")
21° this morning, but at least it's in positive territory.
 

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Sadlsor said:
I'm NOT in competition with you polar bear guys riding in below-zero Fahrenheits.
If it ever gets that cold here in Alabama, it's because someone has detonated an ICBM and we're in a nuclear winter.
Let's not let that happen!
But I can move up a smidgen (that's Southern-speak for "just a little bit.")
21° this morning, but at least it's in positive territory.
Click to expand...
1769534495621.png
 
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