CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
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Just curious if t's me getting old or the weather...!
Over the last week or so of colder weather I've been using the MTB, which is harder work, yet I've been finding it far harder than usual/I expected, is it me getting old/lazy, or do others find gulping down air below 0 deg and having the cold wind chilling their legs seems to use much more energy for the same amount of speed/distance?
I'm still coming home pretty hot and sweaty, so must be doing plenty of work! Must be all that grit and oily muck on the road surface we've got to pedal through. I think all the concentration in the dark on bad roads and unpredictable surfaces that could turn into an icerink or a 2-foot deep pothole or scraped surface without warning burns a lot of braincalories also.
I'm certain that the extreme cold drains more energy from me, especially after our spin to North Berwick on Sunday. My pal and I were pretty well shattered after it - much more so than normal. So good to get out of town after the last fortnight though.
When you are cold, you're body burns oxygen a lot faster I think. Or it burns it faster or something like that. You will therefore need to work harder to exercise and keep warm. I've noticed a little rise in my commute times and I'm using same bike.
I find it harder going with leggings or tights than shorts.
I love the cold. I think I can work harder without feeling the horrible sweatyness, also since someone stole my cheap cycle vest I have got a long sleeve summer heat one which keeps me even cooler beneath a thin wool jumper and thin hivis jacket
I do find that the lungfulls of -5 air take a bit out of me also when it is dry like this morning I got pretty thirsty, luckily I stopped for a few cups of coffee in Peter's Yard with a few fellow CCEers
I don't mind ambient cold, but find really cold air a bind on the lungs when i get out past the peripherique, hence the gimpy balaclava :)
Just had a thought - obviously it's colder so your body is working harder just to heat itself. That takes energy - more energy than on a warm day.
Does any non-shivering thermogenesis occur in the cold in adults? Apart from shivering to create heat in times of dire need, is any extra heat created by the body in the cold or does it just try to retain more via the piloerector reflex and the heat exchange mechanism in the snoutpipes?
@Wingpig - I'll get back to you after I've tread the 1,950 google scholar non-shivering thermogenesis in humans articles
Opps. Forgot about peripheral vasoconstriction. That must help retain a fair bit.
Cold air is more dense so you have to move a greater mass of air out of the way. At anything above 12 mph drag is the main issue on a bike. It varies with the square of speed. Twice as fast, four times the drag.
Air density is important enough to have the world hour record set in Mexico City (alt 2300 m).
You also breath in a greater mass of air but that makes little difference if you don't have the capacity to supply it to your muscles. This is the principal behind an intercooler in a car. It's like a second radiator but only has air in it. Cold air is more dense so the greater mass can support more combustion. There may be other thermodynamic benefits to do with how heat engines work but I'm not sure how important that is. My turbos have intercoolers. It's important for them because the turbo compresses the air and raises the temperature so the intercooler brings it back down.
Anywho, you don't have much chance to make use of the denser air because there are other limiting factors so more drag becomes an issue.
Generating heat on a bike is not likely to be a problem in cold weather unless you move very slowly. Shedding heat is a more common issue.
As well as skeletal muscles you generate heat from brown fat, liver any other muscular contraction and... the brain.
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