Winter cycling

As an Associated Press story in USA Today reports:

“From Minneapolis to Milwaukee, from Alaska and Illinois to Sweden and even Russia, winter bikers — and the clubs and websites devoted to them — are springing up all over the place. Some are in it for the workout, some because they want to live in a world with fewer automobiles and less consumption of fossil fuels.”

The reporter proceeds to quote cyclists who commute one or two hours a day through subfreezing temperatures in Minnesota, run errands around windy Chicago during the winter on their bikes, or find Moscow winters the perfect time for icebiking. 

And to think here near the Pacific NW coast I gauge cycling comfort by degrees above freezing, as in: “I gotta pile on the layers. It's only 10 degrees above freezing!” Those icy winter nights in the Midwest where I bicycled home from my friend's house through crunchy week-old snow illuminated by my generator light whirring against my bike wheel are a distant memory.

Blue Collar Mountain Biking tipped me off to an important article about winter cold injuries at the International Mountain Biking Association website. The article asks the question:

“While riding your local trails this winter, you come across a cyclist fumbling with his jacket zipper and complaining of pain in his hands. When you remove his gloves, you find cool, red fingers with no swelling. His exposed face and nose is also red and cool. You are a 90 minute ride from the trailhead. What do you do next?”

That's sounds like a case for Dr. Frostbite. The article proceeds to tell the signs, symptoms and treatments for those two big dangers of winter cycling — frostbite and hypothermia.

It also tells how to prevent those conditions from occurring in the first place: dress appropriately, avoid perspiration, keep hands and feet dry, avoid constrictive clothing, alcohol and tobacco, eat and drink a lot.