For a lot of people, winter is a time to hang the bike up in the garage. I do take some time off the bike over the winter, but generally it’s a time where I can train without the constant fatigue of frequent racing. It’s a time where I find that I can really build my fitness.
The only problem is that it’s really cold in Colorado for the type of riding I like to do. Most of my winter rides involve riding up and down the canyons outside Boulder. Riding to Gold Hill via Sunshine Canyon is one of my favorite rides and is a great bang for your buck. It can be done in 2.5-3 hours depending on your fitness level and gives you about 3500′ of elevation gain. Going up is a challenge for the legs, but coming down brings up other problems. You probably sweat going up and now you have to endure sub freezing windchill temps at 30-40mph!
I carry a backpack with clothing that I add for the descent. The only thing I could never quite figure out is how to keep my hands warm. I equate winter with painful, frozen hands from descending down the canyons. It’s extremely cold and uncomfortable. I finally bought some Bar Mitts after a few friends’ recommendations. I don’t know why I waited so long!
I did my normal Gold Hill ride to bring in 2013 yesterday and used Bar Mitts for the first time. I used my Hestra leather winter riding gloves under the Bar Mitts. It was about 25F outside. My hands were overly warm going up. Coming down, my index and middle fingertips got cold, but NOTHING like the pain and suffering of simply using warm gloves. I’ve tried all different kinds of gloves including heavy winter mountaineering gloves with handwarmers!
I will also be trying handwarmers in the Bar Mitts on the days when I ride with temps in the teens.
The Bar Mitts were a great step in the right direction and I will not leave without them on another winter ride. They make them for mountain bikes – with and without bar ends and also road bikes. I bought a pair for both my bikes!
I wanted to pass this along in case you are suffering from frozen paws and were looking for something new to try! The next problem is finding a way to keep your water bottles from freezing!
