You went for a 20 mile ride yesterday morning?? Before sunrise? My outside temp showed -15 F at 6:30 AM. You, sir, are a lunatic! And I thought riding in the 20’s was cold..you win the Iowa coldest ride award!
Thanks!
Yeah, I did. Before sunrise. And I
am the winner in Iowa. I'm sure I'm the ONLY rider in Iowa that was out at those temps. At least the only rider that is known to have done so. The coldest temp that morning here was officially -14F sometime around 5:30-6:00 am and I'm certain we had at least -15F along some of the road I was on at that time. But it had "warmed up" to between -14F and -13F by the time I was out at 7 am. I use an Aquarium/Terrarium thermometer that has a range of -58F to +158F so it is perfect for this. It shows temps in tenths of a degree and can also show Celsius.
Yet I am only currently in second place on the ST-Owners PaulaCB Memorial Coldest Ride 2024-2025 contest. First place currently goes to a rider from Fremont, MN at a temp of -22F
This was my second coldest ride in the last 15 years. My coldest coldest ride was in 2011 when I rode 60 miles north of my home and the temp was -15.7F. On that ride I mistakenly turned into a driveway that was unplowed and had over 6 inches of snow. I was riding a ST1100... not a light weight bike.
Oh BTW, at that time I belonged to a fellowship group called the Rounders... or Year Round Riders... who made a point to write about their adventures riding in all weather or temp conditions. They had a scale and a few rules for categorizing fellow riders in the group. If you ride in every month of the year you were considered a True Rounder. And there was also a temp scale. I was known as a KHOF rider (Kook Hall of Fame) since a few years I not only rode every month of the year (here in central Iowa), but rode in temps from +105F down to well below zeroF, and every temp between, in each of those years. I know there are riders in every part of the world who have ridden in much much colder temps than I have.
I'm almost 70 (will be in a few months) so I don't know how long I'll be able to ride in such cold conditions. I do take care to be prepared for any conditions I ride in whether it be any temperature or any other weather and I know my limitations. The way I dress for the occasion I can be laying in the snow (if we had any) on the side of the road for a while and still be warm. I dress for the wind chill of at least 60 mph winds. I won't be able to ride in temps like this in future years and I already won't ride in colder temps like I could before. Hotter temps either. But glad I can still just ride and hope to continue to be able to ride for many years to come.
