Brrr!

This entry is part 11 of 19 in the series Adventure Rider Issue #30

Cold is one of adventure riding’s toughest challenges. And if there’s one thing Adventure Rider Magazine likes, it’s watching other riders take on a tough challenge.

Lithgow in the Blue Mountains to the west of Sydney probably isn’t the coldest place in Australia. In the middle of Winter though, it’s fairly shithouse. We can remember lots of occasions where we’ve found ourselves either in the very early morning or evening, shivering like a dog crapping razorblades outside the Blackheath fish’n’chip shop, desperate for absolutely anything that would give some relief from the painful, artery-busting cold.

When we saw an ad from RideADV for its annual ‘Insanely Cold 2 Day Navigation Ride’ starting at Lithgow we thought, ‘Yeah! We can’t wait to experience that kind of misery again!’ We packed our winter woollies, grabbed some new gear we were keen to try, and headed west.

Still air is an excellent insulator, so a vest like the one Newcastle’s Brad Kendall wears under his riding jacket is good option. Brad has plenty of experience in the cold.

Basics

We’ve had a look at dealing with cold before. As with so many things in adventure riding, preparation is vital to survival. There are a few basic concepts all riders should understand before spending on gimmicks and gadgets.

First up, and most important, is keeping the wind off a rider.

The movement of air across the skin causes the phenomenon known as ‘wind chill’ and it can be a killer – quite literally. As the air moves across a rider’s skin it causes evaporation, and that causes temperatures to drop.

The same happens when a rider’s clothing becomes wet.

The air moving past the damp fabric causes the moisture to evaporate, and that makes the temperature drop.

So a rider faced with cold should be looking for every possible way to keep air from moving over their skin.

Scarves, balaclavas and windproof apparel are a good start.

Adventure helmets are a better option than motocross helmets in this context as well, preferably with a Pinlock inner visor or some other treatment to control fogging.

A crisp frost is a sure sign it’s chilly. Damien Bonora from Penrith cuts through a frosty forest outside Lithgow on the RideADV Insanely Cold 2 Day Navigation Ride.

Not always easy

Naturally ‘windproof’ fabrics in apparel are the go. A loose-woven woolly jumper over a bare chest isn’t going to provide any comfort at all on a cold ride. It’d be ideal if we could just pull a thick, plastic jersey over the top of our regular riding gear, and in fact, that can be a good option. If a rider is facing serious cold, the type of cold that could lead to medical problems, a heavy garbage bag with holes cut for head and arms can be a lifesaver. It’ll be bloody uncomfortable, because body heat will be trapped, sweating will start, and at best it can be unpleasant when all the clothing under-neath it stinks to high heaven when it’s removed. At worst it can accelerate dehydration and interfere with a rider’s ability to control the bike.

Hi-tech fabrics like Goretex are the go.

Believe it or not, they breathe a little while staying waterproof and will still keep the wind out.

We don’t know how. They just do.

And don’t forget armour. In addition to impact protection armour makes for an excellent windproof layer, especially around joints like elbows and knees. Joints really feel the cold.

Keeping the wind off a rider is vital when trying to cope with the cold. This rider fashioned a fairing from corflute. Genius!

Layer up

We’ve covered this before, but as a basic concept, layers help hold warmth, and lots of thin layers are better than fewer thick layers.

We favour Andy Strapz thermal undies as a base layer. They’re made from super-fine merino wool, so they wear well by
which we mean they don’t stink, even after days of repeated wear – and they’re designed for riders. We wear them all year round.

Over the thermals we’ll then layer up according to the temperature and con-ditions, and on the exterior we look for high-quality Goretex gear. ‘Goretex’ is a brand name and comes in different designations. Not all Goretex is the same. If you can afford a Goretex garment with-out financial assistance, chances are it’s not the top-level, three-layer fabric.

Our 2018 prize for innovation goes to the rider we saw at the Suzuki Adventure Ride with a couple of pieces of yoga mat cut up to make handguards. If you’re in a tight spot this is a brilliant stopgap.
Extremities, especially hands and feet, are the most difficult body parts to keep warm. Wind deflectors over the hands make a huge difference.

For this trip we were trying a top-to-toe Macna Fulcrum Impact Pro rig: jacket, pants and gloves. The tags say the fabric is ‘Raintex’, and both jacket and pants have liners. The Impact Pro has the water-repellent outer layer, which we like a lot. It means the fabric doesn’t ‘get wet’. Some say having the water-repellent layer on the outside is no good because in a crash it gets damaged. That’s true, but we prefer it for serious cold.

We don’t like liners much either, but if the Macna had had four liners available we’d’ve used them because we hate being cold. In this case the Macna gear with it’s single warmth liner, Macna gloves, Andy Strapz thermals and a cotton T shirt kept us in really good shape, even in the sub-zero road riding.

Keeping the moving air off even small areas of exposed bare skin is vital, so we also had a Buff neck warmer and the Schuberth E1 helmet has a small mesh deflector under the chin for which we were very grateful.

Fighting a bike along a tight trail or through snot can send body temperatures soaring. That’ll make a rider sweat. Hydration is still important even in the cold.

Drink up

One very important aspect of dressing for the cold we don’t see discussed much is how, once a rider’s rugged up, it takes very little exercise to send the body’s core temperature skyrocketing. A tight trail can do it. Wrestling a bike up a greasy hill can be serious. Make sure hydration doesn’t get ignored. Just because it’s cold doesn’t mean a rider’s not using fluids.

Another interesting feature we tried on this ride was a bike cover. On the night we covered the bike we went out in the morning to find frost all over the place. We removed the cover, started the bike, and were good to go.

The night we didn’t run the cover we came out in the morning to find the bike covered in ice. We had to pour hot water over the ignition switch and controls to get the key to turn and the various fittings and latches to move.

So that’s something we’ll remember.The bloke in the room next to us parked his bike under the awning and his bike had no ice at all on it. Good on us.

Hypothermia

Keeping moving air off bare skin should be every rider’s aim in the cold. Jane Bedford-Brown had the right idea for her first-ever cold adventure ride.

Riders in the cold are up against hypothermia.

Hypothermia is the condition where a body loses heat and is unable to maintain it’s necessary temperature. According to definition, a human body with a core temperature of 35 degrees or less is hypothermic, and urgent action needs to be taken to avoid serious physical problems. Shivering is the body’s way of trying to generate some heat, but after a while, the human body will give up and begin to shut down various systems. Confusion and poor co-ordination are common symptoms.

A rider should obviously not by trying to handle a bike under those circumstances. If someone in your group appears to suffering, first aid is mostly common sense: get them warm. If their clothing is wet, get it off them and wrap them in something warm. Get some warmth into them somehow, whether that’s hot drinks, starting a fire or even sharing body heat. Give them a big group hug and agree not tell anyone about it.

Whatever. Warmth is the answer.

This is the first time we’ve ever tried a bike cover and the difference was remarkable. With the cover (above) there was a little tinge of frost. Without the cover (below) the bike was so heavily iced overnight we had to pour hot water over the controls to free them up.

A great ride

These thoughts are just for you to take on board and decide whether or not the ideas will work for you. Hopefully you’ll at least be thinking about the important pitfalls of riding in the cold.

If you want to give it a try under excellent care and with a trusted outfit – and you perhaps have a slightly masochistic tendency – we heartily recommend RideADV’s Insanely Cold 2 Day Navigation Ride. We guess it’ll be on again next June, and aside from the challenge of the cold there’s some really fantastic riding, a great bunch of people and absolutely top-notch support.

Rug up and watch out for those iced-up patches of road and trail.

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