It's Frigging Science: Too Hot? Ride Faster.

With a similar sweaty eye stinging heat wave sweeping the nation, almost four years ago to the day, I wrote a post about cycling wind chill and discovered that you can feel a teeshy tish cooler, if you ride faster.  Against all the recommendations from meteorologists and health departments, with a heat index of nearly full-on Africa hot, I went out for a ride.  For the record I did not die.  In fact, I felt cooler.  Not a whole lot, but on a scale of Sudan to South Africa, I felt Southern Congo.  Here's a revisit of that "It's so hot my hands are slipping off the bars" post.

Four years ago when zippin’ down Kellogg Ave (now Riverside), a slightly downhill road along the Ohio River in Cincinnati, at 27mph, I couldn’t help but notice I felt cooler than when I was climbing a hill at 10mph into Eden Park.  Does wind chill apply in warm weather too?

These are the thoughts that go through your head when riding by yourself.  If my memory would serve me better on bike rides, I'd have retired like a Jet Blue flight attendant a long time ago having acted on one of my brilliant bike ride induced million dollar ideas.  These thoughts are precisely what makes cycling such a great escape…and precisely why your co-workers think you’re a kook for wearing spandex.

So, when I got back from my ride, I did a little Internet research on this phenom-enom-enom-enah.  Some weather websites said their wind chill factor calculator couldn’t be used if it was over 40 or 50 degrees.  Huh?  But, I felt cooler flying on my bike in 90-degree weather at 27mph.  The dog doesn't stick his head out the window to catch bugs.  Surely there must be a wind chill effect while cycling…a cycling wind chill. 

So, I dug a little deeper, expanded my search, and wah freakin’ lah, I found a Wind Chill Calculator that did accept temperatures over 50 degrees.  (insert evil laugh here)  Here’s the link:

http://www.weatherdesk.org/converts.shtml

So, I started plugging in numbers.  And, for the most part, it seemed to work.  That is, until I plugged in 100 degrees.  Over 100 the calculations came back saying it would feel even hotter riding at 10-30 mph.  No way Al Roker. 

But, maybe not.  Maybe there’s a temperature where no matter how fast you're riding, your body just can’t dissipate the heat any faster and thus the wind chill effect wouldn’t be in effect.  Yo!  The cycling wind chill is not in effect.

Here are the results of the numbers I plugged in.

Temp Bike Speed Cycling Wind Chill

100      30                         104

100      20                         102

100      10                         100

90        30                          87

90        20                          87

90        10                          89

80        30                          73

80        20                          75

80        10                          77

It seems like to enjoy a noticeable cycling wind chill, the speed needs to be over 20mph and the heat preferably south of 90 degrees.  However, there are other ways to feel cool on a ride, like using white bar tape, having only one gear and keeping your sunglasses on the outside of your helmet straps.  If you can't do that, think of the other things that can impact on how cool you feel when you ride like: wearing a black plastic trash bag instead of white lycra or a shaded bike path along a river, as opposed to climbing with a 50 pound huffy up exposed blacktop.  Experience has proven to me on a mountain bike it feels hotter wearing a sasquatch outfit when riding in a field of tall grass as compared to riding naked in a shaded forest. 

So there.

The Toe Fist

It’s taken me about 15 years of white bloodless cold on-the-brink of frostbite bitten toes to figure out a process of getting dressed to keep my feet from turning into lifeless bricks on cold winter rides.  It is much more effective than dancing like Beyonce’ on the side of the road.  I’ve got friends who insist on a number of other comical solutions, like putting Saran wrap their forefeet.  After trying it, evening using the red color thinking it’d be hotter, I’m come to the conclusion that I’m not into the Saran Wrap foot fetish.  It doesn’t solve the real problem and disrupts the foot-sock-shoe-pedal connection too much.  Chemical toe warmers and foot beds work, but they are only a variable in the happy feet equation and require air to keep working their magic.  The real key to keeping your feet warm in the winter is maintaining good blood flow in your piggies.  It’s science dammit!!  Everything else is just icing.  Dedicated winter cycling shoes work fine, but snug them or regular cycling shoes up too tight and no amount of SIDI Italian leather goodness is going to get your core body heat to reach the ends of your pistons.  So how do you keep air in your shoe and avoid cutting off your circulation?  The toe fist my friend…the toe fist. 

Prior to putting my feet in my shoes, I make a fist with my toes and then lightly cinch up the straps/laces.  Combine this with some or all of the other bright ideas out there, even dancing and singing the chorus to “Single Ladies” and you’ll be golden.  The downfall is that, well duh, your shoes aren’t on tight.  However, you’re not trying to win a summer crit sprint or make the holeshot at the local MTB series.  I have tested my theory through cyclocross season and on both road and mountain bike rides this winter, works every time.  The longest ride I’ve had so far has been nearly 3 and a half hours, plenty for winter.  Cinder block feet are no longer the reason I start heading home.  Chances are some other ailment will get me first; such as being too out of shape to ride more than 3 hours, frozen water bottles or my suspension fork busting a seal. 

Here’s how I get dressed for winter and implement the foot fist technique using embrocation, winter cycling underwear, Toastie Toes and winter booties.

1 Starting naked, grab your warm weather cycling underwear, a towel, your cold & wet conditions cycling embrocation and your thickest warmest newest winter hiking style socks.  Go to the bathroom.  I don’t mean just go there, go there and do your business.  Trust me this is the best step one ever. 

2 Next, don warm weather cycling underwear.  This is the best step 2 ever.

3 Standing on the towel in your skivvies apply embrocation on your legs, feet, toes, forearms.  Use whatever is left on your lower back.  It’ll feel like magic fingers mid-ride.  I won’t get into all the details with embrocation, but there’s a reason you put on underwear and went to the bathroom first.  There are few things in life more painful than accidently causing your junk to catch fire in the middle of nowhere because you dredged your underwear through burning hot chili-pepper embrocation an hour earlier.  Do yourself a favor, when you’re finished wash your hands with soap and keep your hands off the giblets, out of your eyes and away from other tender areas for a while. 

4 Put on those socks.  Affix your Toastie Toes if you got ‘em. 

5 Put on the rest of your winter cycling related gear except for your shoes.

6 If you’re into wrapping your toes with Saran Wrap, do it now.  Then, put on a shoe. 

7 Make the biggest fist you can with your foot inside the shoe. 

8 Starting with the one closest to your toes and with your toe still in fist mode do all the straps and buckles on your shoes.  You should be able to wiggle your piggies inside your shoe and your shoe should be relatively secure on your foot.

9 Repeat with the other shoe.

10 Put on your warm winter weight cycling booties.

 Ride my friend.  Ride.  Unless you’re in freaking Siberia, Alaska or somewhere north of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, you feet will no longer be the reason you come home from a winter bike ride.