You know you have been winter cycling when

[DarkNewt]

Your water bottle is frozen completely before you get to work!


humerous anecdotes please

[jamesbradbury]

You can actually find a space to park your bike.

[Stradageek]

You didn't even make it to work because the, somewhat neglected, gear and brake cables all froze solid within 400m of leaving home!

[TrevA]

Tried hot Vimto in my (insulated) bottle on Saturday. It worked for a while but was still cold after 2 hours on the bike, but at least it didn't freeze!

[Ben@Forest]

Your water bottle is frozen completely before you get to work!

Do you really mean the water inside was frozen solid? I'm interested because the 1) all the water inside would have to be at at least 0 degrees C to freeze and 2) the water would evidently be moving in the bottle as you rode, further lengthening the time taken to freeze. Depending upon the length of the ride and the amount of movement I'd say you'd be looking at at least minus 10 degrees C for that to happen.

A couple of times recently I've been out to get the bike out of the garage early morning (when the weather forecast has mentioned overnight temps as low as minus 4 or 5) and the water in the bottle has barely frozen, just a crust of ice where drips were clinging to the sides and the faintest trace of 'slush puppy' in the body of the water.

[[XAP]Bob]

You peel a sheet of ice off your arms when you get to the office(/cafe/pub/home)

[Graham O]

You get into work and you post on a cycling forum

"You know you have been winter cycling when"

[DarkNewt]

Your water bottle is frozen completely before you get to work!

Do you really mean the water inside was frozen solid? I'm interested because the 1) all the water inside would have to be at at least 0 degrees C to freeze and 2) the water would evidently be moving in the bottle as you rode, further lengthening the time taken to freeze. Depending upon the length of the ride and the amount of movement I'd say you'd be looking at at least minus 10 degrees C for that to happen.

A couple of times recently I've been out to get the bike out of the garage early morning (when the weather forecast has mentioned overnight temps as low as minus 4 or 5) and the water in the bottle has barely frozen, just a crust of ice where drips were clinging to the sides and the faintest trace of 'slush puppy' in the body of the water.

Yes absolutely, I left Birmingham at 5:00 am to get to work in Coventry and half way there my water bottle was frozen a few days ago, there were a few droplets left at the top but the rest was solid. It made me laugh because I was a warm as toast, lobster gloves and several layers

I would suggest you put a thermometer in your garage as I suspect it's warmer in there, if it's freezing outside and you leave something on the step it will definitely freeze so inside the garage is probably the main difference. However my water was added just before the ride so it happened on the way, and the day in question believe me was very cold thick frost on all cars and slippy roads on my route which is 25 miles.

[Vorpal]

You steam when you stop.

p.s. I have ridden an hour in -8 without my water bottle completely freezing (I could hear & feel sloshing). However, I couldn't get any water out after about 25 or 30 minutes because the mouth piece froze & I couldn't get it open

[DarkNewt]

ROFL - A friend (not so sure now) suggested anti freeze...

However it reminded me of an experiment I did when I was studying Materials a long time ago, adding sugar or salt will make it harder to freeze... I will go with sugar, don't fancy drinking salt water

[axel_knutt]

During the cold winter we had a while back (09/10 I think), I was filling my bottles with hot water, and they were freezing in 40 minutes. Not completely solid, but about 50% ice.

[DarkNewt]

During the cold winter we had a while back (09/10 I think), I was filling my bottles with hot water, and they were freezing in 40 minutes. Not completely solid, but about 50% ice.

Again going back to school physics or my long ago materials study, isn't there something about impetus of cooling which means a warm liquid will freeze faster?

[NUKe]

when your beard is frozen

[botty]

Your nose hair goes 'crispy' as you breath in.

[DarkNewt]

Your nose hair goes 'crispy' as you breath in.

someone had to bring in nose hair - try clippers for streamlining