Layers 101

[eminva]

In addition to all the good things Dirt pointed out, when we were planning the scout C&O trip last summer, we arranged with our LBS to offer discounts to scouts needing to buy bikes, gear and get service. They also offered to teach a basic bike maintenance course to the scouts. So when you support a LBS, you are also supporting this give-back to the community.

Thanks in no small part to Greenbelt, Laurie and Dirt, things are getting better, but it used to be difficult to find a reasonable variety of women’s cycling apparel in LBSs. So I bought a lot online. There is still room for improvement.

A quick question: if you know of a clothing item you want and the LBS doesn’t stock it, can they special order it? Anything? Or just manufacturers they already carry? Can you return it if it doesn’t fit? This might be the next step for me to encourage the LBS to carry more womens’ stuff, but I just need to know how it works. Thanks.

Liz

[PeteD]

When I buy online, it’s usually because they don’t have the specific thing/size in stock. I’ll go to a couple places looking for something, but at some point in time the riding around going to 3-4 shops is wasting time.

And any bike stores that are looking for an online shop presence, I happen to know a company that can help you do that.

–Pete

[jrenaut]

@eminva 69785 wrote:

A quick question: if you know of a clothing item you want and the LBS doesn’t stock it, can they special order it? Anything? Or just manufacturers they already carry? Can you return it if it doesn’t fit? This might be the next step for me to encourage the LBS to carry more womens’ stuff, but I just need to know how it works. Thanks.

In general, yes – if they deal directly with that company or a distributor of that company. It helps to get to know the shop’s delivery schedule. For example, I know that The Bike Rack gets deliveries on Wednesdays, and if I stop in Monday or maybe even Tuesday and order something, I can pick it up on my way home Wednesday. I haven’t tried this with other shops, and there certainly will be things they can’t get, but it’s likely your LBS can order most of what you want.

[Greenbelt]

@eminva 69785 wrote:

In addition to all the good things Dirt pointed out, when we were planning the scout C&O trip last summer, we arranged with our LBS to offer discounts to scouts needing to buy bikes, gear and get service. They also offered to teach a basic bike maintenance course to the scouts. So when you support a LBS, you are also supporting this give-back to the community.

Thanks in no small part to Greenbelt, Laurie and Dirt, things are getting better, but it used to be difficult to find a reasonable variety of women’s cycling apparel in LBSs. So I bought a lot online. There is still room for improvement.

A quick question: if you know of a clothing item you want and the LBS doesn’t stock it, can they special order it? Anything? Or just manufacturers they already carry? Can you return it if it doesn’t fit? This might be the next step for me to encourage the LBS to carry more womens’ stuff, but I just need to know how it works. Thanks.

Liz

Parts orders go out on Monday and come back on Tuesday. Not sure about clothes, though — most are preordered in advance and not sure if they have the same just in time inventory. Will check tonight.

[Greenbelt]

@Greenbelt 69813 wrote:

Parts orders go out on Monday and come back on Tuesday. Not sure about clothes, though — most are preordered in advance and not sure if they have the same just in time inventory. Will check tonight.

Clothes orders usually take a few days it sounds like, depending on whether they’re shipping from the east coast or midwest (faster) or west coast (can be a week).

[Greenbelt]

I took some tips from Dirt and whittled it down to a short outline for winter commute layering:

Jeff’s Winter Commuting Tips

Basic Layering:
Wicking layer — wool or synthetic (wool smells better)
Loft layer — wool or fleece etc.
Wind layer– vest or jacket will resist wind in front, vent heat in back
Legs — stretchy stuff good, jeans not so much

Ears, Fingers, Toes, Mouth
Shoe covers — toe warmers between shoe and cover?
Wicking glove liners — pull out and rinse/dry on window sill or heat vent
Scull cap, buff, balaclava
Neck gator (swivel if one side gets crusty with frozen snot and drool)
Pull gator over mouth as needed to moisten air

Snow:
Lower tire pressure, wider tires, knobbies
Test brakes periodically — disk brakes helpful for me
Good sunglasses
Flat pedals, winter hiking boots
Check your saddle height/position if your boots are thicker
Ice sucks — studded tires only practical solution?
Rinse road salt off bike if possible

Rain:
Fenders are fabulous!
Water resistant panniers or wrap your stuff in plastic bags
Heater at work to dry your stuff
Stuffits for drying shoes (or newspaper)
Chamois Butt’r for heavy rain days

Bring:
More food and water than you think you’ll need!
Remind yourself to drink, even if you’re cold!
Warm cozy clothes for immediate post ride
Don’t “chill out” in wet stuff!
Extra chamois shorts to switch on or double up for the ride home

[Dirt]

Hey y’all. I had a bunch of questions on Facebook about how I managed to stay warm and dry all day on the bike yesterday. I wrote a blog entry about it. Hope that helps.

http://lovemycommute.blogspot.com/2013/11/baby-its-cold-outside-and-wet.html

Pete

[Dirt]

Proteus is an Endura dealer.

Freshbikes has a pretty good stock of Assos stuff. I got my Pearl Izumi WXB gloves and lobsters at Freshbikes, but I think the glove version is a special order item.

Bikenetic is a Pearl Izumi dealer and can also get their stuff pretty quickly if they don’t have it in stock.

One thing that you’ll notice is missing in the photo and also the text is what I wore around my neck and over my ears. There is a reason for that. Any kind of neck or ear warmer would have gotten wet and dumped water down into my base layer. I have learned that one the hard way. I tough it out and depend on the neck warmth I get from the jacket collar. Small cross country ski ear muffs (that I got from Bikenetic last year) would probably have worked well yesterday.

[Greenbelt]

@Dirt 70331 wrote:

Hey y’all. I had a bunch of questions on Facebook about how I managed to stay warm and dry all day on the bike yesterday. I wrote a blog entry about it. Hope that helps.

http://lovemycommute.blogspot.com/2013/11/baby-its-cold-outside-and-wet.html

Pete

Hey Pete — how do you handle eye protection? Especially at night in rain — last night’s rain was sufficiently hard and blowing that going without glasses was uncomfortable, but it was also misty enough that mine got misted over really quick. So it was either be comfortable and not be able to see much or be uncomfortable and see that dang 6 point deer that was bedded down right by the trail and sprang up right in front of me…. Luckily I had chosen option B (no glasses) and avoided him!

[Dirt]

@Greenbelt 70340 wrote:

Hey Pete — how do you handle eye protection? Especially at night in rain — last night’s rain was sufficiently hard and blowing that going without glasses was uncomfortable, but it was also misty enough that mine got misted over really quick. So it was either be comfortable and not be able to see much or be uncomfortable and see that dang 6 point deer that was bedded down right by the trail and sprang up right in front of me…. Luckily I had chosen option B (no glasses) and avoided him!

The Assos rain cap is what I use for eye protection. It isn’t perfect, but it works very well. Any cycling cap will help. The Assos keeps my head warm and dry when others don’t. The brim of the cap keeps rain and wind out of my eyes for the most part and also blocks headlights while letting me see ahead of me a bit. The biggest deal is to slow way down so you have extra reaction time.

I know folks who wear ski goggles. I have them. It has to be MUCH colder than it was yesterday for me to be able to use them. Mine just fog right up… even the fancy, expensive ones.

Corrective lenses are difficult. Human saliva is a pretty good fog inhibitor. When I have to wear glasses, I lick the inside of the lenses. They’re sort of blurry for the first 20 feet, then generally clear out pretty quickly. It isn’t perfect, but it is better than nothing.

Hope that helps a little.

[jopamora]

@Greenbelt 70340 wrote:

Hey Pete — how do you handle eye protection? Especially at night in rain — last night’s rain was sufficiently hard and blowing that going without glasses was uncomfortable, but it was also misty enough that mine got misted over really quick. So it was either be comfortable and not be able to see much or be uncomfortable and see that dang 6 point deer that was bedded down right by the trail and sprang up right in front of me…. Luckily I had chosen option B (no glasses) and avoided him!

I had to ditch the glasses last night too. Had to stop and pull out my cap which really helped block most of the rain from entering my eyeballs.

This morning I was really glad I had glasses on when I went through all the seagulls at Gravelly Point, ewwww!

[NicDiesel]

I know this isn’t relevant to most here, but if you’re a cyclist of size I’ve found that the Cabela’s Guidewear Gore-Tex gear, while pricey, is the most effective way to stay dry and warm when the temperature drops below 10 degrees and the wind starts blowing hard. I considered going the layers route that many have laid out here and in other winter riding places, but when you’re my size it’s difficult enough to find a jacket that fits, much less technical gear that you can layer.

Here’s my current setup that I’m going to test out this week now that the thermometer is dropping in to the single digits and negatives:

Base layer top1: long sleeve jersey
Base layer top2: long sleeve cotton shirt
Base layer bottom: padded shorts liner
Outer torso: Gore-tex Guidewear parka
Outer legs: Gore-tex rain pants
Socks: Smart wool
Shoes: Shimano MTB with Windstopper covers
Gloves: Gore Windstopper gloves inside of Wool lobster mitts or Outdoor Research Lobster mitts
Head1: Craft headband
Head2: Gore balaclava

Right now this set up keeps me dry and comfortable but winter hasn’t started yet and it hasn’t started snowing either. Before the real cold weather shows up and the snow falls and sticks I’m going to get a set of Dogwood Pogies and a pair of Wolvhammers SPD boots along with studded tires. With those added to my current setup I should be good to go riding in any weather that’s not dangerous to be in (read: blizzard). Whether my bike survives is a different story…

[consularrider]

NicDiesel: I’d recommend changing that base layer top2 from cotton to merino wool, maybe wear it under the long sleeve jersey in base layer top1 if it’s lighter weight. There are at least three quality garment makers, Ibex, Smart wool and Icebreaker that make some larger sizes (up to XXL) and there were a few hits for XXXL on my google search.

[NicDiesel]

@consularrider 70737 wrote:

NicDiesel: I’d recommend changing that base layer top2 from cotton to merino wool, maybe wear it under the long sleeve jersey in base layer top1 if it’s lighter weight. There are at least three quality garment makers, Ibex, Smart wool and Icebreaker that make some larger sizes (up to XXL) and there were a few hits for XXXL on my google search.

Excellent, I’ll check those out and see if any of them will be long enough (always the issue with being really fat AND have a super long torso and arms). The cotton long sleeve is really just to keep the jersey from bunching up, but it hasn’t gotten seriously cold here yet.

[mstone]

@NicDiesel 70730 wrote:

Head1: Craft headband
Head2: Gore balaclava[/quote]

umm…

[Author]

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