Today was my second really, really cold bike ride this week. Conditions today were a little different from Wednesday. The air temperature was a steady 10°F, slightly warmer than Wednesday. The real story was the wind, which was around 13mph when I left, and 17mph when I arrived, with gusts up around 25mph. The wind chill ranged from -5° to -8°, which was enough for the NWS to post a wind chill advisory. I decided to shorten my morning ride from my usual 12-14 miles down to around 8 miles.
I wore the same clothes that I wore Wednesday, except I added arm warmers as a base layer, and wore a winter cycling jersey instead of a thin athletic pullover. This turned out to be too much, as my chest and back were sweating by the time I finished the ride. My feet were comfortable for the first half of the ride, but when I turned upwind, my toes got uncomfortably cold. Still hoping to find a good solution for cold feet. My head stayed comfortable, but I was getting winded on uphill stretches that ordinarily are no problem for me. I think the balaclava was interfering with my breathing. I might want to consider getting a balaclava with a mouth vent.
On the plus side, the constant wind kept my glasses from fogging up so much. There’s a silver lining to everything.
I have to admit that the ride was getting a tiny bit unpleasant at the end, mainly because of the cold feet and the breathing issues. I think if I can solve those two problems, and remember not to go too overboard with the layers, I should be fine riding in these conditions in the future.