250 miles on a bike today!

[pepperami]

the saga started on Thursday with a coach trip to London Victoria coach station to connect with a coach going to Preston.
5.45 am and I`m at Ipswich railway station and it`s fffing cold, 6.20am I arrive at Colchester and I have to wait for an hour to get the connection to Victoria.
7.20 am to 10.20 am to get from colchester to Victoria?? Why does it have to take that long
11.00am and I leave Victoria-------- 4.45pm we finally roll into Preston!, yee Gods that was an ordeal all on its own.

Anyhoo, off to the hotel for a meal and a pint then bed.

Today I go to the bike-shop to pick up my new toy , not everybodies cup of tea I know but I`ve just got a new Hyosung gtr 250, at a reasonable price .

Now this is where the real ordeal started, God knows what I was thinking but I had planned to ride it back to Ipswich.
I knew it was going to be cold so I had taken all my winter riding gear.
Fecking ell! it was so cold I ended up riding 50 miles at a time and then stopping.
Approx 250 miles and I had to have 5 stops.
Thank God for hot-air hand dryers .
I had a t-shirt, long sleeve themal, long sleeve thin top, hoodie, and bike jacket with additional quilt liner zipped in, winter gloves, thin socks, thicker socks, boots, and padded/quilted bike trousers over my jeans, I looked like the Michellin man and I still got so cold I was having trouble pulling the leavers?

Today has to be the longest, coldest ride I have ever done and as much as I like bikes, I dont want ever have to go through that again.
I did have plans to take the A-roads and take a few pictures to post up on here, but I just had to keep going whilst I was able and the motorway was quicker.
M6-----> A14 job done

As for the bike? so far so good although the seat could do with a bit more padding
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I am the sum total of my own existence, what went before makes me who I am now!

[bombom]

i did same as you altho a few extra mile, probs around 320mile round trip not so long back.

i only had half as much gear on as you as i dont have full gear yet and it was also raining like a bitch, my whole hands where stinging.

i was singing and screaming at cars on the motorway, anything to forget the pain for a short while lol
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Current: 97 zx6r f3
Previous: suzuki gsf400 bandit

[Darth]

Some of the worst weather i have ever had the misfortune to ride in has been when picking up new bikes. I seem to be cursed a bit that way.
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Harold_Shand wrote: I suppose it's like anything, you get your fingers burned when you start out, you learn from it and eventually become a complete arsehole about the whole thing.

[magpiemale]

I don't know if you ride regularly but if you have the right gear then you can ride for a good while,I know if for some reason that I do not ride for a month then get back onto a bike then I feel the cold more than I would riding everyday.I am picking my bike up from Peterborough to northampton so I will see for my self how cold it is,but I can ride in this weather I have done before.if you hands get cold to the point like it feels,like frost bite and you warm them up proper you can ride longer as something happens to your blood or nerve endings to not feel the cold so much.this happened to me on a ride to Milton keynes from northampton I was nearly crying at the other end ,because of cold hands n feet but you know what on the way back my hands did not bother me one bit riding home.
I will be wearing my vannuci jacket n trousers (zipped together) a helly Hanson ski top n leggings with winter socks,with tcx explorer boots.a ski mask under the helmet and alpinestars jet gloves.I might wear a fleece under my jacket just to retain body heat.but the point Is to ride more and then you will get used to the cold air without it troubling you.yeah it might be uncomfortable but it is winter lol
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NSR125 1992 (sold) kawasaki Z750S,fazer FZ1 07 now gone present bike 2012 fz1s Fazer,beowulf rad protector,heated grips,sw motech gps holder,power socket.

[jimbothe]

Another thumbs up for correct gear. I will point out that I have a history of not wearing a lot of gear but I got suited and booted last year just before the snow hit. 210 miles in -4 without taking windchill into consideration, with only 1 stop and that was because I had to refuel.

Tell you what I did do was buy a cheap 'all in one' rain suit type thingy (cheap fishing one) and climbed into that with all my gear on. Looked stupid, felt stupid, looked like a green stay puff marshmallow man but damn it was worth it.


It tends to be your hands that take the brunt. Try getting some latex gloves and wearing them under your normal gloves. You will be surprised at the difference it makes.
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[pepperami]

No I dont ride in the winter as much any more because I dont need to.
My winter riding bike gear is certainly up to the job, it`s just that the cold air was getting through everything yesterday
The journey just seem to go on and on and on and on and on and on.
I will definately been having a think about my gloves (Buffalo) as they seemed to be the weak point .
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I am the sum total of my own existence, what went before makes me who I am now!

[pepperami]

[yen_powell]

[Serendipity]

At the temperatures we’ve had over the past couple of nights (-5 Thurs and -7 Fri) even the best riding kit is going to let some chill through.

For instance last night for a one hour motorway journey I wore:

Merino wool thermal t-shirt
Berghaus micro fleece
Polar Buff neck tube
Two piece HG Gore-Tex suit with all linings
Sidi B2 Gore boots with normal cotton socks
Violently orange polyurethane waterproof jacket
Thin, unlined summer race gloves with perforations for maximum air flow…

On the face of it the gloves would seem to be the weak point, but with Tucano Urbano muffs on the bike they’re fine 95% of the time. I did have significantly chilly fingers last night, but the temperatures are rarely this extreme and the fingers only started getting uncomfortable in the last ten minutes of the ride. I’ve had colder fingers riding with proper winter gloves without muffs and I much prefer the feel and control I get with the summer glove\muff combo.

My feet didn’t get cold and my core stayed warm, but I don’t think I’d have liked to endure a further hour and a half. If I regularly had to ride long distance in very cold weather I’d stick with the same kit, but add a heated waistcoat and heated grips. And maybe a balaclava thingy. My head was starting to get a bit cold last night. However my commute isn’t quite long enough to justify that.
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2016 CBF1000F - Commuter heaven | 1994 CBR600FR - Awaiting defibrillation

[pepperami]

[magpiemale]

My stance and advice is the same the more you ride (ice n snow excluding) the better you adapt to the cold better,I am not saying you will be warm but you can withstand more colder conditions better.Also the saying goes the more you pay the better you are protected the alpinestars I mentioned are roughly £100-£120 but they are warm or you could just go the heated glove route.I rode up to newcastle from northumberland in nov-dec and the temp was +4'celcius not including windchill a few years ago and I found it yes cold but not so cold as to keep thinking about it but once you are cold and then warm back up with hot food inside of you ,the cold comes back slower because your nervous have already been subjected to the cold prior.
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NSR125 1992 (sold) kawasaki Z750S,fazer FZ1 07 now gone present bike 2012 fz1s Fazer,beowulf rad protector,heated grips,sw motech gps holder,power socket.

[mistergixer]