Having an icy cold weather is not enough to stop people from riding their motorcycles. It is quite understandable because when you do not have other means to reach your destination, you will be forced to take it out for a ride. With safety precautions and the right clothing, riding it should not be a problem (given that the motorcycle is properly winterized). However, the body can only take so much coldness and even if there is sufficient protection, you will still feel cold. You do know that when you travel with a motorcycle, the cold winds blows at you directly. Therefore, this can put you at risk for hypothermia.
The body can easily lower down its core temperature during winter. This explains why you need to stay indoors where you can have various sources of heat. Once you go outside, you need to wear thick clothing to preserve body heat. This is also important for any motorcyclist to do because being outside even for a few minutes causes your muscles to stiffen (what more if you will be driving for almost half an hour). You need to wrap your body with the right apparel. Leather jackets for now our out. Winter motorcycle gloves replace your ordinary gloves. As much as possible, not much skin should be exposed that cause body heat to dissipate easily. However, in the event that signs and symptoms of hypothermia should be present, here are the things that you can do:
• If in the middle of your driving, you already feel very cold and your muscles start to numb, stop for a while and find a local shop or any shelter where you can buy a cup of coffee or re-warm yourself.
• If you still feel very cold even when you drank something hot, remove your gloves, rub your hands together or dip it into something warm.
• You can also ask for additional blankets (if they have one) to cover your body. When you do this, do remove your jacket so that the heat directly hits your body. However, you have to make sure you have external heat source.
• In case you are trapped in the middle of the street, build your own fire. There will always be easy combustible materials in the street. Just make sure you do it properly to avoid spread of fire.
• If there is no one to help you, take out your mobile phones and dial emergency if you think your body is about to give in. Do not continue to drive. Do this given if you are conscious.
Do you now see the important of wearing your winter motorcycle gloves and other apparel? Also, bear in mind that wearing them can be useless if you still force yourself to drive even when tired. Drinking alcohol at these times is also not the right solution. To avoid these things from happening, understand what hypothermia is and how you can get it. If you still are stubborn enough to drive despite the severe coldness, be sure you are ready what it can do to you.
