How cold tempatures effect your body when cycling

Today was one of the coldest road rides I’ve done yet, and I’m slowly but surely figuring out how to dress for it. I started to get cold after a while and noticed that I was having real trouble producing much power, but my heart rate was pretty low, so I knew that something was up, just couldn’t figure it out. I felt really heavy and slow, more then normal, the only thing I could think of was that the cold was effecting me someone limiting my performance.

I did a little research and I found out that was once it gets cold enough and your body starts to react to the cold your body will slow the blood flow down to your arms and legs to keep your core temperature up. I was getting a chill once I got sweating and started going downhill. This might explain why I felt so heavy and sluggish on the bike, my muscles didn’t feel sore or weak, and my heart rate wasn’t that high, but yet I felt like something was holding me back, I guess that’s the reason why, also it’s hard to breath deeply when the air is really cold.

I wonder if there is any benefit to training in the cold, that must put an extra burden on your leg muscles, basically they’re trying to operate in a fuel starved environment because of the reduced circulation, much like when you’re riding really hard in warm weather and your leg muscles aren’t getting enough oxygen so you start producing lactic acid. I wonder if any research has been done on the effects of training consistently in the cold, that would be wild if it ended up having some kind of superior benefit.

There are some things you can do from what I’ve read that will help you be comfortable and perform you best in the cold

1. Dress warm enough so you don’t get cold, once you cold enough your body will start to shut down your legs, you want to avoid that.
2. Drink plenty of water, it’s easy to not drink enough when it’s cold out, maybe even more so then when it’s warm.
3. Keep your blood sugar stable, eat small meals through the day, don’t eat sugary foods, or soda etc., fats and proteins and quality carbs are good
4. Don’t drink alcohol
5. Don’t eat too big a meal before a ride, eat more smaller meals
6. Try  ginseng, which is a warming herb
7. ginger tea is warming also
   

Reference

It is well verified that subnormal body and especially muscle temperature has an adverse effect on neuromuscular and physical performance capacity (e.g. 2).

http://www.sig-temperature.com/environmental-effect.aspx

http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/pmr/coldweather.cfm

http://www.ehow.com/how_1363_eat-optimal-athletic.html