My 90s bike.

Most of the components have certainly evolved when you look at a modern counterpart.

But it’s still fully repairable, serviceable at home or on the trail, extremely reliable, and doesn’t require any firmware updates or batteries to use 😄

• Cantilever rim brakes.
• Square tapered bottom bracket.
• Cup and cone hub bearings.
• External cables.
• Friction shifters (may latest “upgrade”!)
• Steel frame.

So much about it is “outdated”, but I love the hell out of it.

EDIT: Photo of my metal steed in “winter mode”. LOL

but I’d like to avoid screwing around with batteries.

Yeah, the bulk and just needing to worry about charging your gloves is off-putting to me. They can work well if you are stationary and aren’t able to generate enough body heat for your hands to stay warm, but I don’t find them to be ideal for riding with.

My ride isn’t too long, up to 15 minutes

That’s your problem! I find that it takes at least 15 minutes for my body (and hands) to warm up sufficiently to carry me through the next few hours of cold-weather riding.

In that case, pre-heat your gloves (usually by just wearing them for 5 minutes indoors) and see if that helps. If you keep your bike outdoors, the cold bars will speed up the feeling of cold on your hands, so those work gloves may give you a nice buffer from the cold contact.

Re: bar mits. i also have a neoprene pair, as well as a few with liners in them. The ones with liners are warmer, but because I signal with my hands, I find them more difficult to safely ride with because the linings catch on the gloves every time you put your hands back in.

Seinfeld is a more “family friendly” option.

But Curb Your Enthusiasm can be put on an endless loop, and I’d still laugh my ass off at every episode.

They’d lose their minds. 😂 Even women riding as they were must have pissed off so many people back then.

Counterpoint (because I’ve gone through a ton of heated gloves), most are heated because they are poorly insulated to begin with. Good gloves shouldn’t need to be heated, and good heated gloves tend to be pretty bulky.

I already don’t have great circulation to my hands

Regardless of what option you end up with, it will do you a lot of good to “pump” your hands often while riding to get warm blood there.

It’s also important not to get something that’s going to be too tight; let some space in your gloves serve as a buffer.

That said…

Are your pogies simple neoprene, or are they “thermal” and lined for warmth?

And have you tried gloves with glove liners?

Have you tried “thermal work gloves” that are rubberized on the outside (waterproof, and windproof)? Some are rated to -30C, and they are NOT bulky, but you are expected to be moving around with them, and they wouldn’t work if you were stationary for long periods of time.

How long are your rides in those temperatures? You might not be able to escape the eventual cold if you are doing it for many hours on end.

According to the actual Aluminum Association, only 43% of aluminum cans shipped within the United States are recycled.

Not only that, but unless you can guarantee that a significant portion users will recycle those aluminum cans, they are significantly more energy intensive to manufacture compared to single use plastic bottles.

“Aero top hats were 16” tall." 😂

I love how they basically wore parachutes on their bikes back then, but they still enjoyed the hell out of the ride!

Christians are OK with this man leading the country? /s

Time feels way faster as you get older.

It’s also pretty grim that the people you know are either dying, dead, or have a life altering illness that comes out of nowhere. I feel like there’s a funeral in my family once a month, rather than once every decade.

We had a big ass satillite dish in the backyard when I was growing up, and I remember my dad needing to input these codes every so often to unlock a bunch of channels.

100%.

I couldn’t even join my city’s club unless I was on their private Facebook group to get updates. Nah. I’m not doing that.

Not using Strava doesn’t mean I’m devoid of data or tracking. I use cycling computers and smartwatches to track my rides, as well as TrainingPeaks, with a coach, to plan out and analyze my efforts after a race or workout. TrainingPeaks also functions as a journal where I keep notes on how I felt through different training cycles or events.

LOL. Yeah, I mean, if you’re already training and tracking using other services and devices (did the author say bike computers and smartwatches??), you don’t need Strava on top of that.

I’m forced to Strava (fake info, alias, etc…) only because the group I meet with posts on Strava and Instagram, and I refuse to go back on Instagram.

There is value to using these platforms, if your goal is to improve your fitness. But Strava in particular has enshittified their platform, so there’s far less value in using it, unless you want to pay for features on a subscription model. 🤢 Crazy that you have to pay for something, when it’s damn certain they’re selling our collective data, too.

Was using the Voyager app. But now I use the Voyager PWA version through the Hermit app.

I love the taste! I just hate how damn expensive it is, so I don’t by it anymore.