2012 - 13 Polar Pedal Challenge -- Game on!

[heyyall]

The weather where I live has started its downward spiral in temperature. To celebrate the coming of winter, I thought of an idea to help encourage me, and perhaps others, to not let the bike gather snowflakes over the winter. Enter the Polar Pedal Challenge.

Goal: Ride* your bike on progressively colder days over winter.

The rules are simple, post a picture of the temperature on the day you rode. Provide a quick summary of the ride. When you ride on a colder day, quote your previous ride so that the difference can be calculated. In this manner, the challenge is an individual contest and allows for geographic differences in temperature.

*Ride: This can be anything on a bike--road, trail, bike path, etc. To qualify as a "ride" I think it should be at least 15 minutes, but it can be what ever you want it to be.

[heyyall]

My first entry-
Vital Stats: 41F, 10/27/12

Location: Eastwood Park (MTB Trail Maps | Mountain Biking | Rochester Active Sports Club)

Brief summary: I rode this trail with my oldest son (13) at 41 degrees. The trail was nice and tacky from rain earlier in the week. Leaves were abundant as was the sun. Here is a quick video of my boy riding (the trail was more visible from the bike)

[skiahh]

Hmmm... that's a bit difficult to do here in CO, given the neurotic weather. We could have 30 degrees (like we did Friday when I rode) one day and 70 the next (or in a couple; all this week is supposed to be 70 +/- 2), so I'll just ride whenever and not worry about the temps!

But I like your plan for motivation!

[Dirty $anchez]

Garmin didn't see it fit to include a thermometer on the 705, take my word for it?

[heyyall]

Reasonable "guestimates" will work until you figure out how to strap a Galileo thermometer to your back.

[big terry]

or just use the weather app on your phone and take a screenshot.

[KRob]

A recent reprieve in winter has made my morning rides quite pleasant but I'll start with this one..... just so I can get in the game.

Forgot the ride summary. This is one of my favorite rides in the area. It's at Cave Lake State Park near Ely, NV. Steptoe Creek to Overlook Trail to High Roller to Twisted Pine.
Here's the GPS summary.

My iPhone doesn't like low light so excuse the blurry images.

[KRob]

A little colder today but still nice for this late in the year.
32 deg F at the start (but it was mid 50s by time I got back).

Another one of my favorite trails in the area. Ice Plant to Ward Connector to G-loop and back to Ice Plant to finish. Around 23 miles. Here's the Strava summary

[bruce_m]

Great Pictures !

[heyyall]

Looks like my cold weather has finally arrived. I can't wait to get out an play. My 41 F entry above should be easily lowered.

[heyyall]

My first entry-
Vital Stats: 41F, 10/27/12

Location: Eastwood Park

First lowering of the bar


Back at Eastwood on 11/17/12. Temperature was 36-37 on the ride. I made a few of the short loops for 4.1miles of singletrack.

The start


Guess I like orange.


Heavy frost in some of the transition areas

[KRob]

Nice heyyall. Looks like we're the only ones playing.

Here's one from last week. Standard Loop (also known as Fun Loop) is a nine mile ride that starts right out my front door. Takes about an hour so is perfect for before-work rides.

Getting cooler (20 deg F).... although it's warmed up again this week.




Still smiling. It must be fun!

[can't get right]

Bearclaw Poppy trailhead.

[KRob]

Bearclaw Poppy trailhead.

Great shot, CGR!..... Must be photoshopped though. It's never that cold in St. George.

[can't get right]

Great shot, CGR!..... Must be photoshopped though. It's never that cold in St. George.

I did an entire month last year without seeing temps over 30 and one morning was 17. We had a lot of rain and the only way to ride was when it was frozen solid.

[heyyall]

It's getting colder

Vital Stats: 7.8 miles, 42 min, 24F, 11/23/12

Location: Rochester - down East Circle Dr, up W. River, through Silver Lake, Up Viola back to East Circle.

Brief summary: I took a post turkey day ride on the urban trails today on my mountain bike. It was 24 degrees with winds of 17mph (gusts to 34mph). It was brutal in places, but really not too bad. I rode with wool socks and a smart wool cap, but next time, I'll add a little more wind protection. I also used this as my first ever strava ride. My phone froze at the end so I couldn't take pictures of the ride stats.

[heyyall]

It's officially cold

Vital Stats: ~2 miles, 30 min, 5F, 12/22/12

Location: Local path through the woods that some walk dogs on

Brief Summary: This was my first ride with a new GoPro. It was cold and I'm still learning how to get the camera set up correctly. I made this video. It's a start. I'm going riding again this afternoon.

[dru]

It's officially cold

Vital Stats: ~2 miles, 30 min, 5F, 12/22/12

Yeah, my toes will be feeling that a bit midway through. -15 C is definitely nippy. Fun though, isn't it?

[KRob]

I could've really thrown down yesterday morning if I had had the courage to go out. The low was somewhere around 20 below Zero F but that just sounded deadly.

This morning it had warmed up considerably so I ventured out on a short ride. Rode for about an hour but only covered 5-6 miles on a few snow packed roads around town.

A real heat wave is on its way! Toasty.






Until I ran out of packed trail