Nordkapp latest

Mine failed. Alex's view is that it is foolish to rely on such
things.

 

It would indeed be foolish if your very survival depended on electric
gloves, but that's not the situation. I reckon whatever the folks
who climb Mt. Everest use might be warm enough and wouldn't need any
electricity. But I would sure enough start out with every possible
creature comfort I could lay hands on, in addition to the best passive
protection I could afford as well. Defense in depth would be my
guiding philosophy as it no doubt was for you in your planning.

 

Thanks. What an absolutely lovely word. I'm using it in conversation
now, every chance I get.

Splendid.

 

You couldn't reasonably have done much more than that - conditions must
have been really shit.

 

Different situation regarding the amount of body warmth being generated.

 

Ta, although the operative word in my post was "lazy," so not sure how
useful it really is.

 

All they needed was some hot water bottles.

 

I have been getting on fine without any heated equipment, other than
grips.
The bike has some tucano bar muffs fitted. I have been mixing and
matching my biking and mountaineering gear and have been perfectly
warm. Scarpa Vega plastic mountaineering boots. North Face fleece
gloves with the tough gortex outer climbing gauntlets. Merino wool
base layers, some pearl izumi winter cycling bib tights, jeans, paramo
top, fleece jacket and my BMW Seattle riding suit on top. My lid (a
Shoei Z-one) has a standard visor, not even a pinlock and I have been
riding with it cracked open using a woollen neck tube pulled over my
nose, like I do in the cold in the UK to prevent it misting. The
conditions haven't presented a single problem for me, thus far.

If you want to use electrically heated gear, all well and good. But
your base kit must be able to withstand the conditions without
assistance. If it doesn't and your heaters fail, you can end up in a
fairly serious situation very quickly.

 

I have one of these and it works great:
http://www.hotsuits.com.au/
Of course, it only works for ~1 hour, and you have to boil it to reset
it, but if you're freezing it will get you warm. The packs are also
made in a variety of shapes - for hands, feet, etc.

 

<waves full bladder>

<pisses off>

 

at 5:39am? That's pretty good retention from last night's ales.

 

And too ignorant to get the formula right? -32/1.8

 

It is for a bloke my age.

 

I'm a 4:30am man, myself. Like clockwork. Well, if clockwork were
driven by piss.

 

As I don't know the 18 times table by heart I've always preferred the
"subtract 32 then divide by 9 then multiply by 5" version. Using this
approach I can convert either way in my head without too much
difficulty.

 

I usually remember that 16=61, and 28=82, and work backwards and
forwards from there.

 

Boggle! Yes, your numbers are correct when rounded off, but instead of
remembering approximations, why not remember a few points that are
exact, since it's no less trouble than remembering approximations?
The ones I favor are:

20 = 68 (thank you Kodak)
10 = 50
0 = 32
-40 = -40

etc.

 

Easy, because of the spoonerisms involved.

It's not as if I'll be converting for anything important.

It doesn't really matter in the Uk, anyway, given our "tradition" of
expressing low temeratures in degC (3, 0, -2, etc) and high ones in
degF ( high 70s, mid 80s, etc)

 

Penny drops.

Sort of like how you buy fuel in liters but still use miles to
measure distance, and figure consumption in miles per gallon.
Perfectly understandable.

Speaking of temps I'm a bit excited because it might break 40F today
and it's been a long, fairly cold and quite snowy winter up to this
point, I just might break out one of the bikes for a short bimble.

 

I find it easier to just ignore Fahrenheit measurements.