How Cold Before you Throw in the Towel?
#42
We will ride when it is down into the 20's in the fall. I have heated grips and my wife has heated gloves. Once it snows we have to park it. The road I live on does not see a plow and turns into a glacier. I have to wait until the melt to get out in the spring. It was -17 this morning so the melt is still a ways off.
#46
#47
I guess for me it depends on the distance. If it's just a short ride or commute of 20-30 miles I can deal with about anything down into the 20's or so. Most of the rides I go on though are at least a couple hundred miles so in that particular circumstance I would have to say at least 40 degrees is good for me. Even at that temperature my hands get cold and am looking into getting some heated gloves.
I rode up into Death Valley in late November last year and while it was a comfortable 50-55 degrees in the valley it was pretty dang cold in the mountain passes and I saw a lot of ice in the shadows and turns. I stayed in Beatty, NV for two nights so I could ride around the DV park for a couple of days. The first day I woke up in Beatty it had only reached 38 degrees by 10am but I got tired of waiting for it to warm up and just high-tailed it down into the valley as fast as I could where it got up into the 50's once again.
It was all worth it but boy I sure could have used some heated gloves in the mountains. For those of you who haven't ridden in DV in the spring and fall you've got to try it. Do it during the week when everyone else is working and there is hardly ANY traffic at all. It's like having your own personal national park. Late October and EARLY November are my favorite times to be there. March and April are great too but you have a little bit more of chance of rain, but it's still warm and you won't freeze your butt off if you get wet.
Yes Dragon, I've done Arizona in the summer :-) I lived there for 11 years so I know what you're talking about. I think I can take more of the heat than my bike can though.
I rode up into Death Valley in late November last year and while it was a comfortable 50-55 degrees in the valley it was pretty dang cold in the mountain passes and I saw a lot of ice in the shadows and turns. I stayed in Beatty, NV for two nights so I could ride around the DV park for a couple of days. The first day I woke up in Beatty it had only reached 38 degrees by 10am but I got tired of waiting for it to warm up and just high-tailed it down into the valley as fast as I could where it got up into the 50's once again.
It was all worth it but boy I sure could have used some heated gloves in the mountains. For those of you who haven't ridden in DV in the spring and fall you've got to try it. Do it during the week when everyone else is working and there is hardly ANY traffic at all. It's like having your own personal national park. Late October and EARLY November are my favorite times to be there. March and April are great too but you have a little bit more of chance of rain, but it's still warm and you won't freeze your butt off if you get wet.
Yes Dragon, I've done Arizona in the summer :-) I lived there for 11 years so I know what you're talking about. I think I can take more of the heat than my bike can though.
Last edited by Skidrow; 02-21-2011 at 11:44 AM.