Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Caz]

You're sleeping outside at -40c? o_o

Don't be silly. Of course not, I'll sleep in my tent. Why would I stay outside?

Still sounds rather suicidal without a campfire going all night. Can't you stay in the villages you pass? Travelling stories + vodka = warm bed

[Meph]

I'm confused. Didn't I just mention that hypothermia wont be a problem?

And just to be a bit extra mean  :
 - Campfire = Burned down tent, wasted time by collecting wood/feeding fire.
 - Travelling stories = I dont speak Russian.
 - Vodka = Alcohol is so super bad when you try to stay warm. And for doing sport. (And I dont drink)
 - Warm bed = "Hotels" in Central Asia generally dont have heating.

[andrea]

Alcohol is good to make you FEEL warm. Then you die because all that precious heat that was keeping your inner bits alive (heart, brain, lungs, etc) was pushed toward your skin and then lost to the freezing environment. Now, usually that isn't that big of a problem, but I imagine that with an outside temperature of -40°C, facilitating heat loss is something you really want to avoid.

[WillowLuman]

I'm confused. Didn't I just mention that hypothermia wont be a problem?

And just to be a bit extra mean  :
 - Campfire = Burned down tent, wasted time by collecting wood/feeding fire.
 - Travelling stories = I dont speak Russian.
 - Vodka = Alcohol is so super bad when you try to stay warm. And for doing sport. (And I dont drink)
 - Warm bed = "Hotels" in Central Asia generally dont have heating.

Not to mention dry wood would be difficult to find.
What kind of food are you bringing?

[Meph]

andrea, couldnt have said it better. One addition: It can actually serve a purpose. Lets assume you want to heat up something, like your cold sleeping bag. Your only heat source is your body. By doing some jumping jacks to get your heartrate up, eating some high-calorie fatty food to add energy to your system, and drinking a shot of vodka to widen your arteries to let more blood closer to your skin, you produce a lot of excess heat. Very bad when being outdoors, but good for warming up a sleeping bag. But can be done without the vodka part.

HugoLuman: Dry wood... no idea, but I assume it would be easy, because its very dry cold. In these temperatures you do not have any humidity. Only ice.

I am not bringing any food, its a 9-12 months tour, I eat what the locals eat. (Or I misunderstand your question)

[Drakale]

Do you have some experience cycling on icy road condition/ in heavy snow? I suppose you do, but if not it may take a while to adapt, plus some equipment if you want to do long distance. Studded tires are essential. Even with those I took some falls due to especially slippery conditions, and this is without the heavy pack you will be carrying. Cycling along roads can be a hazard due to driver dealing with low visibility and not expecting cyclists. Road maintenance vehicles are trouble too.

Cycling in snow can be 2-3 times more energy intensive than a regular surface, or downright impossible if it's thick enough.

Camping is the easy part imo.

[Defacto]

I don't think I can give much advice since I'm not really that much of an outdoorsman... but my father has told me an important thing from his time doing military exercise in northern Sweden:
If you're doing some kind of hard work, like shoveling snow, you probably want to be as lightly clothed as is possible. Sure, you might freeze like crazy, but if you take on too much clothes, you risk getting sweaty, and if there's one thing you don't want to be when the temperature's at -40°...

I guess this doesn't matter as much if you have clothing that is designed specifically to lead away sweat and such, and I don't really know. Somewhere around +15° is just about cold enough for me 

[gimlet]

Wow I have no experience at temps that low, I just have common sense advice -
- make sure someone knows your route and schedule, that you check in with pretty frequently, at least send em a text a few times a day.
- wool no cotton - wool keeps most of its insulating properties even when wet
- carry backups for everything critical.  My backup "emergency sleeping bag/poncho" is 2.3 mil thick 50 gallon trash bags - easily fits into a coat pocket takes up hardly any room.  Works great in a mild winter, at 40 below I have no idea, still gotta be better than nothing...
- have enough gear on your body/in your pockets to survive a couple of days and attract attention - knife, firestarter, whistle, mirror.  At those low temps you will be burning a lot of calories so I'd prob make sure I had a couple of energy bars at least, and a water container would be nice.
- 2 different cell phones on 2 different carriers - how much time will you be out of cell phone range too?  If it's "days at a time" I'd be seriously thinking satellite phone...

You're nuts, good luck

[Meph]

Drakale: Yeah, I will be slow as hell. I have some experience, till down to -15°, I cycled to Kiev last winter. And had a lot of mountain passes in the Alps, Andes, Himalayas... I mostly know the cold from climbing mountains, not from cycling.

I will use Schwalbe Marathon Tour for the ok-parts, and once it gets proper snowy/icy I switch to Schwalbe Ice Spiker Pro. They are the best spike tires on the market, luckily I get them for free. They are 150$ otherwise. ^^

The drivers are always the biggest danger, be it the US, India, Africa... you get used to it. Its not something I can influence a lot, besides making myself visible. And not cycling at night, which I still hope to do, just to cover more distance.


Defacto:
High five your father, he knows whats up. I have to avoid overheating as much as possible, which means cycling in flimsy clothing with a merinowool layer, and hopping into some proper ski/down clothing as soon as I stop moving. Its gonna be fun.


gimlet:
All your advice is wrong.  (except the wool one) Sorry to just say that, but let me explain:

 - Route and Schedule: I have neither a planned route nor a schedule, and I wont even carry any form of communication device besides a netbook anyway. Even if people knew where I am, its near impossible for them to help. I have never heard of any long-term traveller that sends texts to anyone a couple of times a day.

 - Carry backups / emergency sleeping bag: The trash-bag poncho would literally kill me in those temperatures, and carrying backups for all my essential gear would mean that my bike is twice as heavy. I would have twice as many bags, I would spend another couple thousand Euros, and I would burn much more energy moving that bike. Which makes me slower, which means I dont come to towns that often, which means I have to carry even more food and fuel. Downward spiral.

 - Gear on body to survive a couple of days / energy bars: Impossible. I burn up to 10,000 calories a day, the energy bars wont influence much, and first night in the open without my gear means I'm dead. There is no reason what-so-ever that I would ever get anywhere without my gear. I travel by bike, how could I go somewhere and suddenly realize that I forgot my bike?

 - I literally never used a cellphone in 7+ years and 115 countries of travels. (at home, in Germany: Yes) There is absolutely no use for them, besides calling couchsurfer/warmshowers hosts ahead of time, which I usually do by email.

All of it would make sense if the temp is around freezing and you are on a tour for a couple of days. But at -40° your skin freezes after  30 secs if exposed to air, and with a duration of 12 months and a route I make up on the fly, there is really no space to call someone for backup or carry an emergency energy bar.

[Caz]

I'm confused. Didn't I just mention that hypothermia wont be a problem?

And just to be a bit extra mean  :
 - Campfire = Burned down tent, wasted time by collecting wood/feeding fire.
 - Travelling stories = I dont speak Russian.
 - Vodka = Alcohol is so super bad when you try to stay warm. And for doing sport. (And I dont drink)
 - Warm bed = "Hotels" in Central Asia generally dont have heating.

Alcohol is for the natives as a gift. Though if you don't know Russian, idk. Hand signals? If you're drunk enough, words don't matter.

Re: campfire burning down tent... not if you do it right. Better than no fire. If it's seriously -40 I'll be surprised and relieved if we hear about you again after this adventure tbh. -40c is just... O_o;

Best of luck Meph.

[gimlet]

Wow, I disagree strongly with "wrong" when it's merely against your arrogant preferences or wildly misquoting what I said.  Nowhere did I say "carry an exact duplicate of every single piece of your equipment", but to have SOME kind of backup for CRITICAL things.  So if someone steals your bike, you're fine with dying in 30 seconds?  "trash bag would literally kill me" - if you say so,  mountaineers include basically the same thing in their emergency kits for *some* reason.  But you have decided you know best, so again, good luck, I'm done :p

[Meph]

Caz: If you'll feel better, I can write you a PM when I'm in China. Should be in 4 months from now (or so). I got the "make a fire" recommendation from another cyclist who does tours in Canada and Alaska, but I really cant see how I'd find the time to make a fire. I will carry a wiresaw, just to be safe.

Gimlet: I didnt mean to upset you, or anyone else. Your first sentence is "I have no experience at temps that low", so I thought you wouldnt mind if I set some things straight. And yes, if someone steals my bike and my gear, while I am in the middle of nowhere, I will most likely die. The same would be true if I'd carry spare backups of critical things, which would be stolen in the same instance.

I said that it would be every piece of gear, because I dont carry much when it comes to non-essential gear. Lets say 80% of my luggage is what you'd describe as critical things.

I'm also a mountaineer, granted at amateur level, but I have done a couple of 5000m and 6000m mountains in the Andes and Himalaya, and we do not carry trashbags. Rescue blankets, like Lord bucket described, yes, but that is because mountaineers are usually not alone, and in contact with either the base camp or a rescue team. If you have an accident on a mountain, it can help you retain some bodyheat for a few hours, till a helicopter arrives. Doing an unsupported solo crossing of Siberia, I do not have this luxury.

[gimlet]

Yea you could have phrased it a bit better    I've seen tests that say trashbags are just about as effective as the mylar blankets, and easier to use as a "survival sack" to retain body heat, among other uses.  Although there are the cheap single layer space blankets and various tougher multi-layer (which also aren't anywhere near as light and compact), as well as tubes and sleeping bags (ditto).   And stuff in your pockets is more likely to stay with you if you get separated from your bike for whatever reason, sure seems like investing a couple ounces to give yourself a fighting chance for a few hours or days is a reasonable use of weight.   But if you decided to carry no way to call for help or signal, yea, what's the difference...

[Meph]

Yeah, I can be rather blunt sometimes, sorry. Its a sideffect from being surrounded by people that know of my experience, so they take everything I say about outdoors/biking at face value. Obviously an online forum is a bit different... although... if I were to talk about modding things, people would tend to believe whatever I say as well.

I actually thought about a SPOT GPS tracker, http://international.findmespot.com/, but that also puts so much pressure on you. Maybe I dislike the idea of people knowing where exactly I am. I even own a completely white set of alpine clothing, which is perfect for not being seen, but suicidal when it comes to avalance safety. And no, I'm not actually wearing that while mountaineering.

5 years ago I carried such a survival-pack you describe, with essentials, till I noticed that I always carry it together with the rest of my gear. When you wear bike clothing, you dont have many pockets. None actually. Now in winter it will be different, but unfortunately I cant carry any survival-pack that would help me that much in those circumstances.

[WillowLuman]

What kind of wildlife will there be? That's always a concern along roads through the country, and if Siberia's anything like Alaska, there will be some things to beware of. Though thankfully I doubt there will be moose.