I live in Umeå - Sweden, that means we have sun 20 hours a day in the summer, and of course it’s neat, but in the winter we have 4 hours of sunlight, or even less!
Not stopping here, it’s not only dark (the snow lights it up, but anyway), it’s f*cking freezing!
Around ner year eve it’s the coldest days of the year, and the temperature crawls down to -35 degree C.
0 degree F is about -17 C, and due to this, you have have to wear really really thick clothes.
And there is a nother problem, it’s slippery due to the snow!
Now, I’m woundering, does anyone have experience of riding in the cold, what clothes should you wear, how does the unicycle work? Is there any studded tire for a unicycle?
I got my (first) unicycle onle a couple days ago, and i’m progressing good, made the first level an hour ago, and i don’t want to be stuck inside or not to be able to ride at all in the winter.
On the good side, i might break some unicycle-in-the-cold record!
I’m new to uni also, but I do a lot of mountainbiking. In the winter we rid in the snow here in chicago,usa. They do sell studded tires for bikes. But I don’t know what sizes they come in besides 26".
If you go to google you my find ways to make your own. Ihave heard of people doing that. Good luck with it.
I think muniac.com talks about studded tires.
The winter is a terrible time for unicycling, unless you MUni. MUniing in the snow is really, really spiffy, especially downhill, you can stop pedalling and slide for about ten feet at a time.
I just found a great site that will answer basically all questions about studded tires(How to make them, what kind to buy, and brands etc…). Its a mega dope site.
If you don’t already know about it, you might try this link for information about cycling in cold weather, they’ve got references to riding the Iditarod trail in Alaska, very northern North America. They’ve got reviews of studded tires, lights, clothing, and other things for riding in cold temperatures.
It’s all about having a fine balance between sweating to death once you begin to generate heat, and not wearing too little. Dressing in layers is the best advice, with a pack to carry extra layers in. The outside should be some sort of external shell, such as a windbreaker or waterproof/windproof goretex. Underneath is your decision depending upon the weather. You could need just a fleece, or need four sweatshirts. The idea is that those layers will insulate like a house’s insulation, and the windbreaker is like the aluminum siding. To help wick sweat from your skin, look into some sort of non cotton wicking base layer as well. Otherwise, balaclava for the face, and some thick polypro cycling tights. (look at performance’s triflex tights)
you think -35 is bad? try almost -50 here in stoon
and yes i’m gonna ride it in this year. Its only about -5 out here right now…its like a furnace out there!
My nephew and I use Nokian 296 studded tires on our unicycles, and ride on our lake in South Dakota. It’s lot’s of fun and freaks out the ice fishermen. You see them re-checking the labels on their bottles.
The tires work exceptionally well. As for clothing, I wear pretty much everything I own–in layers. I have big heavy Sorel snow boots that work fine. You are actually more at risk falling when you’re NOT on your unicycle.
I have been a snowboarder for a couple of years, clothes are not a big issue, have been riding in -32 with 15meters / s up the slope, allmost as if the grativation had stopped, you couldn’t get anywhere where you wanted without crawling into the classic meatball
You want the fattest tire you can find for snow riding. I ride a
Nokian Mount & Ground on ice, and even though it grips like there’s no
tomorrow I wish I’d picked a fatter tire. Ride carefully and wear
armor on icy streets.
I like wearing my alpine skiing helmet and goggles to keep my head
warm.
Find a sheltered parking garage or gym or anywhere out of the direct snowfall and practice your moves. You can ride outside when conditions allow, but the main thing is time in the saddle.
id use a head lamp.its a lot easier and you dont have to mess with anything coming apart or falling off.
it somtimes gets 35/40 degrees c. here,it did last winter and i rode in it.suprisingly,after i got riding alot,i kept having to take stuff off because i was to hot.I just wore a bunch of long sleave t-shirts and a sweatshirt.
but your nose freezes shut easily,i guess you already knew that…
