1.07.2011

Face Warmer

There's the ever popular option to wear a balaclava while riding in the winter to keep your face warm. I wear one almost every day. But I've got the added protection of facial hair.

This is a photo from a ride when it wasn't snowing at all (sorry about the open-mouth shot... I couldn't breathe through my nose at that point). That's just frosty build-up on my face from my breath. Sometimes it's amazing to see all that sticks to you when you're riding in the cold. I have no scientific proof, but I think the beard helps keep me warm. Those ice flakes would be resting on my skin if I were clean shaven. Perhaps it makes it worse. I suppose the beard could just be giving that cold moist air a place to land instead of floating away into the oblivion. I'm not sure.

But the beard is here to stay. I'm no mountain man... and I certainly don't do it for the fashion. I have a beard because razors are expensive and I'm lazy. But I'll cash it in as a benefit for winter cycling.

Get out there.

5 comments:

  1. "But the beard is here to stay. I'm no mountain man... and I certainly don't do it for the fashion. I have a beard because razors are expensive and I'm lazy."

    Nice... same here.

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  2. I just want to say that I never wear a balaclava, can't stand balaclava's, and I ride in some of the coldest weather in the lower 48 states. That reminds me. I need to throw out those two balaclava's I have that I never wear.

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  3. @ Chris - Are you bearded?

    @ Doug - I just dont understand how you do that! One day I forgot my face a head protection and it hurt the whole way home. You have a face of steel.

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  4. I wear a neck gaitor and occasionally pull it up to cover my face. Even with a -30 windchill, you have 20 minutes before skin freezes. So I pull up the neck gaitor every 19 minutes or so to prevent frostbite.

    Yesterday I rode to work with just a earband and neck gaitor. The windchill was only -7 though.

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