Take a close look at this picture. I took it in the morning one day last week to remember how cold it was here before I biked in to work. It was on January 4th to be more specific, just a couple days after we had been in Orange County with weather in the 70's and 80's nearly the entire time.I happen to know for a fact that this was the coldest weather that I have ever ridden my bike to work in because of something unique that happened during the morning commute that had never happened before or since: the water inside my Camelbak water tube froze solid. In case you're not aware of what a Camelbak is, it is basically a big water pouch you carry around in your backpack that has a long straw-like tube coming out of it that you can conveniently drink from while you are biking or doing any type of physical activity (see picture below from a similar but not nearly as cold morning ride).
At first I didn't realize what had happened, but it didn't take long to figure out. I should have realized what was happening sooner when the water started getting REALLY cold and difficult to drink out of the tube. Once it was frozen, I tried to warm it up and break up the ice while I was biking but there was no way that was going to happen (6 degrees with the wind chill....forget about it!). I have ridden in very cold weather before, even in the teens and possibly single digits, but the water in my Camelbak had never frozen solid before.This was a cycling 'first' that I don't particularly want to do again any time soon.
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