Staying Warm

Easier to stay warm than get warm

Roger Wiles #32797

“Warm!” the very Word evokes thoughts and emotions of comfort, ease, safety and happiness – particularly when compared to the antonym. In the November 2014 ON, Marven Ewen provided valuable information and advice about one of our annual risks as riders: hypothermia. This article is intended to provide additional practical advice that can help us not only stave off hypothermia, but raise the bar and ride in the comforting arms of that magic word, ‘Warm!’

Much of this is likely known to many riders, but perhaps this will add another tactic or three to your personal strategy to achieve Warm! This is a foundational strategy that can be used by nearly all riders much of the time, and is based on the principle that: “It Is Easier To Stay Warm! Than it Is To Get Warm!” Exceptions might occur when tenting in cold temperatures or the like. Below is a menu of tactics one might consider in order to begin the ride Warm! and remain that way throughout the ride, or the day. We are here assuming that a rider plans to depart in the morning on a ride during cold weather; adaptations for other scenarios can be achieved withsome creativity.

• Accessorize your motorcycle for colder weather. In general, the enemy is direct wind, and its close cousin, soft-but-cold eddies from under tanks and windshields, pushed up by the riders’ knees and such. Even though they may be buttugly, consider attaching large handguards to your handlebars; adaptation may be required if there is no direct fit for your make and model. Do it right and safely. Do not depend on the ‘still air’ behind fairing-mounted rearview mirrors to protect the hands from moving cold air. Consider attaching extensions, often homemade, and safely attached, to the top and bottoms of the handguards. The ends of one’s thumbs and knuckle-tops are particularly vulnerable to painful cold.

• The day before departure, place the motorcycle in the warmest possible place; in the garage or basement if possible, instead of on the driveway aimed for travel. If the garage or basement are below 55 degrees, consider plugging in an electric heater overnight to warm the room and bike.

• At the same time, place ALL of your riding gear (except base or underwear layers) inside the home (or hotel room) in the warmest place available but NOT in front of an open fireplace or in the direct airstream of a heat-register. This includes helmet, all intended layering garments, riding suit, boots, gloves, etc. Include all heated clothing even though it will soon be plenty warm when the electrons begin flowing.

• While preparing during the day before departure, take Marven Ewen’s advice and begin hydrating early. Yeah, it’s gonna be cold and you’re gonna have to stop and pee more often, especially in the earlier stages of the ride – accept and get used to frequent urination, because frequent hydration is essential for cold-weather riding. While you’re at it, consider using a hydration bladder and tube with a bite-valve for on-the road sips – they will do you a world of good!

• Take a nice hot shower the morning of departure. Relax in there for a few minutes longer to further warm your body.

• Choose the proper underwear / base-layer; this includes material composition and garment construction. Some nice warm styles have seams where hunters don’t mind them, but you and I will painfully do so. In my opinion, cotton isthe worst choice, while real silk and the various synthetic blends designed for cold weather are becoming increasingly more effective in staying Warm! Wool and some exotics like coconut fiber are good choices for socks; again, cotton should be avoided. Silk and thin synthetic glove liners can be very effective at both wicking away moisture, and holding heat.

• Have an effective, hot breakfast. Remember, protein gives us energy right away, while carbohydrates provide longer-lasting endurance; your ride will require both, along with other elements of diet. An ‘effective’ breakfast can be whatever you and your system chose, assuming it’s not just a cold pop-tart and instant coffee from the hot-water tap. Cold weather attacks our reserves. It’s interesting that many of those who climb mountains such as Mt. Everest will, throughout the day, eat several quarter-pound sticks of pure butter for the instant warm protein energy it provides. Avoid over-eating; eat until no longer hungry – don’t keep eating until you are full. Cold weather makes big demands on the blood supply, as does heavy digestion. The necessary blood for these two will be taken from the extremities – now cold, stiff, coarsely-responsive - and the brain – slow and impaired! Whoops! The three most important body parts for riders are the hands, feet and brain. Eat well, often, hot and moderately. More tips are in Mr. Ewen’s essay.

• It is assumed that cold-weather riders have both chosen and discarded various cold-riding garments until one has the personal outfit that seems to be warmest as well as very comfortable; it is important to think about jackets, gloves, boots and pants that are waterproof ( not ’resistant’), because cold weather is so often accompanied by precipitation of some sort. One has not experienced the agonies of pure frustration until one has tried to don a rainsuit over already-wet riding gear. Or, remove it in a hurry when nature is insistent… Consider the advantages, in cold weather, of wearing your ‘rainsuit’ all the time.

• Consider adding electrically-heated garments and appliances. For the motorcycle, these would usually be heated handlebar-grips, and heated seats. Hot grips behind my well-protected oversize hand-guards allow me to regularly wear non-electric, thin summer rain-gloves down to almost forty degrees. Do not scoff at the benefits of a heated seat; the objective, as Mr. Ewen told us, is to keep the body’s core warm. Our collective sitters’ attach more of our bodies’ area, square inches, to a heated-seat heatsource than any other body or motorcycle part. The heat, a lot of it due to the larger seat/sitter area, radiates upward, warming tissue and blood going to and from the heart and core, and thus allowing more blood to flow to the all-important hands, feet and brain. If your core is Warm! it is much more generous in sending precious warm, life-sustaining blood to the three critical consumers.

• Electricity Part II: Garments. A whole host of electrically-heated garments are now available for nearly every body part, except the head. Once again, the principle of adding ‘free’ electric heat is very effective in staying Warm! No need for a detailed discussion, with one caveat: Consider the additional electrical demand such garments, as well as the appliances mentioned above, will be placing on the machine’s charging system. Over-demand can not only suddenly strand a rider out in the freezing hinterlands, but can also damage or ruin the charging system.

• Preparing to leave: Attend to biology while it easy to so do. Remember when your kids said’ “Mom, I don’t have to go!” and your response. Dress slowly and carefully. If your bike is equipped with heated appliances, and it’s safe to do so, start the bike and allow it to idle. This is not necessary for the sake of modern engines, but rather, it gives the appliances time to heat up before you mount and depart. Thirtydegree handlegrips suck the heat right out of your 70-degree gloves in an eyeblink. Do NOT allow the machine to idle for more than five minutes, and insure adequate ventilation for the exhaust gases.

• While waiting, go back inside and tend to checking and adjusting your riding gear. Particular interest can be aimed at collars, cuffs, vents and such. An error here – back of the collar tucked under, an open cuff or somesuch - can become a real issue on the road, sometimes very quickly. Everyone’s experience is different, but I’ve yet to find a riding jacket with an adequate neck-closure. Nearly all of them are direct hook-and-loop attachments, and they simply are too weak – not enough hook/loop area – to keep the neck securely closed while riding, particularly when one is attentive to the riding task – such a rider is continually turning his or her head as the rider aggressively scans and processes the 360’ situation, and refreshes situational awareness every few seconds. From behind, such a rider looks a bit like a bobble-head doll; such regular head-and-neck movement can cause the neck-closure to gradually open up and admit cold and water. Find a way to secure the vulnerable neck closure. Consider the addition of a silk neck-scarf; you might be surprised at how much it can help.

• Take your very Warm! self, inside of your toasty Warm! riding gear, out to your now-Warm! motorbike and depart.

These strategies can help you beat the cold by starting out very warm, and staying Warm! throughout the day. Now, you can enjoy the peace and security of a warm and dry ride while in nasty conditions. Get warm before leaving, stay warm, and take action early when necessary. Like:

“What do I do if this isn’t working? I was warm and happy for about three hours and then I began to get cold!”

The underlying principle is to STAY Warm!, since it requires much less effort by our bodies’ systems, as compared to the extra physical, mental and emotional stress placed on the body when we are try to GET warm while riding with chattering teeth and unreliable muscles. If the above occurs to you, think about these tactics, in this order:

• Take immediate or soonest-possible actions to stop in a safe environment and get warm again.

• Check the local ambient temperature, wind and humidity; it may well be colder, damper or windier now, at midday in another state, than it was when you departed home. Changing wind direction in relation to your motorcycle is a factor, too. Equip your machine with a thermometer if does not come to you so equipped. If temperatures are now slightly lower and your various defenses against cold were close to marginal when you departed, the colder temps are overwhelming your body, gear and/or motorcycle. Consider additional layering – if wearing a heated vest or full-arms liner, layer OVER the heated stuff, not under. If no more garments are available, use newspaper, stuffed inside the chest and atop the thighs. Get a motel and call in sick (of cold!) tomorrow.

• If the above does not apply, then YOUR reserves or other personal physical conditions are changing, and you are becoming a risk to yourself. Think of it this way: If you feel cold now in the same temperatures, while you felt wonderful when you left, what has changed? It was not your environment, so what’s left? And if you have a hard time thinking this through at the time, it is a clear sign that hypothermia is beginning affect your mental processing speed and memory-retrieval capacity. Again, park the motorcycle somewhere, somehow, warm up, and take care of yourself first.

For those who, for whatever reason, wish to ride in cold (or colder) weather, many will likely find a surprising and pleasant satisfaction in happily and successfully going where they wish to ride despite conditions, safely, happily, and Warm! And just think of what your ever-changing highway neighbors are saying about you to one another as you ride past...

Roger Wiles, 32797, has contributed to the BMW MOA ‘Owners News” since 1985. Roger has begun and operated several features in the ON over the years, including ‘Touring Tips’ and ‘MotoSafe.’ Roger was involved in the establishment and growth of the BMW MOA Foundation, as well as the club’s rider education and training initiative, Rider Performance University. Roger has served as an MSF RiderCoach, and remains certified as a SMARTrainer Coach. He and his wife, The Lovely Norma (TLN) are Ambassadors, and ride a variety of motorcycles in the current inventory. They live in the beautiful North Georgia mountains.