New Record

[dm_gsxr]

I hit my new record this morning of -10 degrees F on the Hayabusa.

Gear:
Joe Rocket Alter Ego 3.0 jacket with the rain shell plus a sweatshirt under that.
Joe Rocket waterproof pants with the liner.
Gerbing heated gloves.
Heated grips (forget who's they are).
Thin red scarf for the neck and chin.
Flip up helmet with Fog City liner.
Two drinking straws.

The drinking straws is something I thought of a few years ago but this is the first time I remembered to grab a couple.

The Fog City liner works great for keeping fog off of your shield however at about 17 degrees F, your breath freezes on contact with the liner. I did buy the Froggy Pro face mask but it doesn't work with all facial types, mine being one of them. It's supposed to seal around your nose and face redirecting your breath out the bottom of the helmet. I have a pretty large nose and somewhat pointed features along with a big jaw. So the mask doesn't seal well around the top of the nose and my jaw presses against the helmet. With no place for the air to go, it goes up and out up at the top and freezes on the shield.

Anyway, I snagged a couple of straws this morning and used them as a breathing apparatus. They're the drink straws with the accordion folds. So I put on my scarf and helmet then ran the straws through the helmet straps to point backwards. I put the short end in my mouth. It took a little coordination but I finally got the breathe in via the nose, breathe out via the straws. It didn't take long for me to feel comfortable doing it and I was on my way.

The Hayabusa had a slight problem starting this morning taking 6 or 7 tries for it to kick over and for me to catch it to lock the throttle. And she backfired once during normal riding. But in general, we made a 30 minute run with no real problems.

There was a slight air leak on the right side of the helmet so my face got a touch cold and the left Gerbing glove had some sort of issue with the thumb portion (my thumb got very cold). But I made it in without issue.

We'll see if the bike can maintain a charge all day while sitting in the parking lot. It's supposed to get to 27 today.

Carl

[WolFeYeZ]

Dang... that is pretty intense.

[dm_gsxr]

The fun bit was the exhaust from the straws. The left shoulder of my jacket had a large patch of frozen spit and the right straw had a marble sized frozen spit ball on the end. I imagine had I spent more than about 40 minutes coming to work, it might have eventually blocked the exit which would have been a problem for the inside of the helmet.

Carl

[madvlad]

Dude mad props... I would've liked to ride in this morning but don't have the proper gear

[tecknojoe]

Originally Posted by madvlad

I would've liked to ride in this morning but we're in fucking colorado

fixed

[grim]

That is awesome man the lowest ive gone is 15 degrees Kudos man!!!!!!!

[CraigB]

holy shit! that is some serious fucking dedication. what took longer...the ride or getting ready for it?

[dm_gsxr]

Originally Posted by CraigB

holy shit! that is some serious fucking dedication. what took longer...the ride or getting ready for it?

The ride actually. I have all the gear in one place. I just had to throw on my sweatshirt and the pants liner which added a minute or so to normal suit up.

While my normal commute is short (about 15 minutes), I took an extra lap in order to get to the 30 minute/highway speed commuting mark I use to determine record setting.

Carl

[bornwildnfree]

DAMN! Go you!

[TFOGGuys]

Carl, you're a braver man than I. I seriously thought about riding in this morning, but the ice in the cul-de-sac was too damn slippery. By that I mean I slipped and fell on my ass just trying to walk across it.

[Aracheon]

Wow.


Carl makes us all look like pussies.

[grim]

I have a question do you think that a Balaklava will keep the visor from freezing?




If i can get a day where there isn't a ton of ice but the temps are as low as today or lower i may try to challenge your record.

[dm_gsxr]

The funny thing about the Denver area and specifically Longmont is how different the weather is just a few miles down the road. We did get the three snow storms (and I rode in Friday as well ) but they don't impact Longmont like it does Castle Rock for instance. So there's about a 2 car length swatch of frozen snow (shadow ice from the tree), the rest of the roads are clear. Even the treacherous parking lot is clear up to the motorcycle parking area which is covered in icy snow.

Back when I rode from Broomfield to Longmont (worked at IBM), there was a clear drop in temps when crossing 52 on 286. Like 10 degrees. So it's colder here. But the precipitation seems to center more south and west of here.

So yea, it was a good solid -10 degree ride. But you can't look out your window and compare the two places. There's just too much difference in the weather patterns.

Carl

[dm_gsxr]

Originally Posted by grim

I have a question do you think that a Balaklava will keep the visor from freezing?




If i can get a day where there isn't a ton of ice but the temps are as low as today or lower i may try to challenge your record.

Nope. You need something to redirect your breath out of the helmet so it doesn't condense and freeze on the visor. You may be able to use a Foggy Pro to redirect your breath out. I know of others that are able to use it successfully. I have a facial liability which prevents it from working for me.

Carl

[Aracheon]

Originally Posted by dm_gsxr

The funny thing about the Denver area and specifically Longmont is how different the weather is just a few miles down the road. We did get the three snow storms (and I rode in Friday as well ) but they don't impact Longmont like it does Castle Rock for instance. So there's about a 2 car length swatch of frozen snow (shadow ice from the tree), the rest of the roads are clear. Even the treacherous parking lot is clear up to the motorcycle parking area which is covered in icy snow.

Back when I rode from Broomfield to Longmont (worked at IBM), there was a clear drop in temps when crossing 52 on 286. Like 10 degrees. So it's colder here. But the precipitation seems to center more south and west of here.

So yea, it was a good solid -10 degree ride. But you can't look out your window and compare the two places. There's just too much difference in the weather patterns.

Carl

I've observed similar behavior on highway 7 between 85 and I-25. Fluctuations of up to 15 degrees.

[CraigB]

Originally Posted by dm_gsxr

The ride actually. I have all the gear in one place. I just had to throw on my sweatshirt and the pants liner which added a minute or so to normal suit up.

While my normal commute is short (about 15 minutes), I took an extra lap in order to get to the 30 minute/highway speed commuting mark I use to determine record setting.

Carl

Cool! And, extra kudos for extending the ride with a second lap.

[McVaaahhh]

You're nuts.

[mdub]

was that -10 with the windchill? i remember i did a cold ride, but it was short from house to work when i used to be located at chester and dry creek.....only thing that was cold was the fingers. it felt like minus 10....folks thought i was knuts as well. That morning it was low to mid 20's, but again it was only 5 to 6 miles.

[TFOGGuys]

Originally Posted by mdub

was that -10 with the windchill?

Er..no..-10 BEFORE the windchill



My personal record is +7...my commute is 28 miles each way, wind chill at 70 mph was -25.

[dm_gsxr]

Originally Posted by mdub

was that -10 with the windchill? i remember i did a cold ride, but it was short from house to work when i used to be located at chester and dry creek.....only thing that was cold was the fingers. it felt like minus 10....folks thought i was knuts as well. That morning it was low to mid 20's, but again it was only 5 to 6 miles.

Nope, before windchill. The bike thermometer which has the sensor down at the fork reported it at -10. I wasn't sure it was going to work though. It sat at 0 for longer than I thought it would.

My normal ride to work is about 5 miles but instead of making the left to the office, I kept going down Airport Road to 119 and headed to Boulder. I turned around at one of the cut throughs and headed back to Longmont taking a left on Hover and then to work.

I wanted to make sure I got to 70mph and rode for 30 minutes as that's my cutoff for recording a record temp. The previous one was 3 degrees riding the Harley from Broomfield to IBM in Boulder.

Carl

[mdub]

dang .....frking madman...

[Aphrodite]

And people think I am crazy, that is nutz, now I got something to strive toward.