Eszter Horanyi Arrowhead 135 Blog: No bad weather, just bad clothing

Winter has arrived and with it, the opportunity to fine-tune cold weather clothing.  Or so I hope.

Last winter, my first winter here in the Gunnison valley, I was blown away by the cold in late December and early January.  Our car thermometer would be a major point of interest on the drive into work as it would steadily drop when we first started driving, drop even more as we dipped down by the Slate River and then rise a degree or two as we climbed up the mountain.  One morning, it started at -27F.  It didn’t drop and it eventually occurred to us that it wasn’t dropping because it wasn’t getting colder, it wasn’t dropping because -27F was the lowest the thermometer read.  That day, official temperatures were -40F and they didn’t start the school buses to get kids to school.

I figured that if I could keep myself warm on mornings like that, I’d be well on my way to keeping myself warm during the Arrowhead 135.  I’ve been known to be delusional in the past, so I was going to find comfort in the fact that I’d have plenty of opportunities to prove to myself I could keep myself alive in the cold long before shipping out to MN.

I started gathering gear in early December.  I ordered a Vapor Barrier vest and Dogwood Design Pogie Plus’, courtesy of an early Christmas present from my parents.  I bought a nice pair of Nordic pants, dug through my collection of gloves and ski gear to outfit the rest of me and started riding to work, everyday. 

I’ve gotten a fair number of questions about my riding in the cold.  More often the question is ‘Why?!’ rather than ‘How?’ but the latter is easier to answer in a way that most people who wouldn’t dream of signing up for an adventure like the Arrowhead would understand. 

Starting with the core, I’ve adopted the Vapor Barrier method for staying warm.  The premise is simple: We sweat. Instead of wearing wicking materials, wear water-proof materials next to the skin and keep the sweat in rather than let it soak your clothing and evaporate.  It’s counter-intuitive and I was skeptical at first, but after a fair amount of internet research (because if it says so on the internet, it must be true) I was willing to give it a try.  All I can say is that if you ride long distances in the cold, check some vapor barrier clothing out.  Underneath the vest I wear either a super thin polypro top or a microweight wool baselayer depending on which one smells better in the morning.  On top, I put a light soft-shell jacket and seem to be a pretty happy camper down to at least 0-degrees.  On long down hills, I’ll toss a thin down jacket on underneath the soft-shell or on top of it if it’s a short descent.

On the legs, I went with the expertise of the Nordic skiing industry and bought a pair of pants from Swix that I wear with a uber-thin pair of long underwear.  For my hands, I’m the new owner of a pair of pogies.  Again, if you ride often in cold weather, buy a pair of these.  They have kept my eternally cold hands warm for hours in -10 degrees with just a thin liner glove on.  They also store a camera and snacks right at your fingertips.

From what I can tell, most people forgo the helmet for snow riding and wear a combination of hats and balaclavas but since my commute is on a highway, I still feel safer wearing head protection.  The helmet also helps it when I deck it on the icy streets in town.  I’ve had success with a single balaclava that leaves my nose exposed for most mornings, but one cold morning, I wrapped an ear warmer around my nose and immediately had issues with my glasses fogging.  I rode blind for about 5 minutes before I decided that I was greatly increasing my chances of disaster by not being able to see the road, so I rode without eye protection.   This was cold on the eyeballs and I got a generous helping of icicles on my eyelashes.  While I felt hardcore when I walked into work that morning, I admitted I had some figuring out to do.  I’ve seen goggles used and I’ve seen specially modified full-face balaclavas used with glasses.  My system is not yet perfect.

The other sub-perfect system is my feet.  Many snow-bikers simply use platform pedals and boots, but I’d love to be able to use clips.  Currently, I’ve been running a pair of ski socks, a pair of winter shoes, and a pair of booties and can stay relatively warm down to -10 degrees as long as I’m willing to jump off my bike and run for 100 steps ever 30 minutes.  Still, this system isn’t going to work for Arrowhead and there are plenty of resources available with instructions for making winter cycling shoes work.  Most of them involve buying a shoe 5 sizes too big and stuffing a lot of insulation in.  

Hopefully I’ll have the above two systems worked out soon.

While getting my clothing system dialed, I’ve been watching the weather forecast closely.  Last year, I’d groan every time I saw lows in the single digits, this year I’m groaning every time I see lows in the teens for the opposite reason.  Accompanied by a significant lack of snow in these parts thus far this winter, we’ve also been cursed with warm temperatures with forecasted temperatures expected to be near 40 degrees F (positive, not negative) for this New Years weekend. While I know I should enjoy these temperatures, it makes me nervous not being able to test gear out in the frigid cold that I had been hoping for.  But, with 4 weeks to go, I’m sure we’ll get some cold nights and I have every intention of being out when the first arctic blast hits us this winter.

Heck, it may even snow.