What Clothing Works for Cold Weather

[dasgeh]

I’ll start:

Today I was perfectly warm (verging on cold at the beginning, never hot) it:

Feet: Smart Wool socks; Shimano (fake-lake) boots; toe covers
Legs: bike shorts; icebreaker 260 baselayer; cycling tights
Torso: sports bra; icebreaker baselayer; 180s QuantumHeat Qualify Long Sleeve Shirt; icebreaker vest; GORE cycling jacket
Hands: smartwool glove liners; lobster claw gloves
Head: Icebreaker buff; ski goggles (from Costco); Giodani cycling cap; winter helmet *I pulled the buff up under both the cycling cap and the edge of the goggles; the goggles came off and the buff was pulled down when I got to DC

**There was a small strip on my forehead that was cold. It didn’t make me miserable, but I wish it hadn’t been exposed. I think a larger cycling cap would fix that.

[Mikey]

Warm ones

[Dirt]

Feet: Smart Wool Merino ski socks inside lake cycling boots. Chemical toe warmer on the outside of the toes. Shoe covers over the top of all of that. Gaters over all of that. Feet were toasty warm and NOT sweaty for 4+ hours yesterday and 5+ hours today.

Hands: thin liner gloves inside Assos early winter gloves (mid-weight gloves that breathe well) inside Bar Mitts. One chemical hand warmer dropped into the bar mitts. Hands were warm almost all day. For the last hour of the rides (both yesterday and today) I put on Pearl WXB Lobster gloves over the top of the early winter gloves.

Head/Neck: Giro New Road wool cap under a Giro Reverb helmet with the front vents taped up (with Hello Kitty duct tape). Thin, fleece neck warmer that I pulled up over my nose and mouth on downhills. On flats and climbs, I pull it down so that I can breathe.

[mwhatley]

@dasgeh 74064 wrote:

Thought I’d start an easy to navigate thread to discuss what has actually worked for us during the polar vortex

I’m kind of a biking minimalist and went with the less-is-more approach through the vortex. I had mostly the same as others here (just much less). I will say that I went with my Nike “hyper warm” running tights and base layer and cannont recommend these enough – perfect for freezing cold temps, light weight, not bulky. Also lobster gloves continue to blow my mind – how can my hands stay so warm in such ugly gloves!?

[jabberwocky]

Other than my fancy shell jacket and PI winter tights, I’m pretty cheap when it comes to clothing. I have a bunch of generic base layers I got on closeout from various outdoor online stores (REI, backcountryoutlet, etc). Same with socks. Costco has some decent wool socks that are cheap, and a have a bunch of various ones from the same online stores.

My layering for super cold like this week is:
Head: generic lightweight balaclava and a fleece headband over top. Clear cycling glasses and helmet.
Upper: lightweight base layer, then a cheap fleece pullover, then my fancy Gore shell.
Lower: midweight performance-brand tights, then my PI winter tights, then a pair of kneewarmers.
Feet: lightweight pair of socks, two pairs of wool socks, Northwave celsius arctic boots.
Hands: either moose mitts and my gore winter gloves, or an ancient set of a burton snowboarding gloves.

Pretty simple. Note that I tend to avoid real long rides when its this cold; I pretty much limit myself to commuting, which about a 7 mile, 30 minute ride.

[jrenaut]

@Dirt 74074 wrote:

FOne chemical hand warmer dropped into the bar mitts.

Anyone have a recommendation on a particular type or brand of hand warmer? Both for inside bar mitts and for underneath a shoe cover. There seem to be a million brands and I have no idea if any are better than others.

[sethpo]

@jrenaut 74793 wrote:

… for underneath a shoe cover.

I’ve tried a few different brands both inside and outside the shoe and none seem to work so I’ve given up and resigned myself to having cold toes. Haven’t bothered with hand warmers. My ski gloves with wool liners/inserts work fine on even the coldest days with just a little finger wiggle.

Frozen saddles? How about frozen toes! amirite

[cyclingfool]

I used YakTrax toe warmers between my two pairs of socks on the really cold days last week. Having never used any chemical warmers before, I didn’t know quite what to to expect, but they did seem to help a little. That said, I’m not sure if the warming action was from the heat of the toe warmer or the additional wind blockage they provided having been placed on top of my toes. (I don’t own or use shoe/toe covers.)

[Phatboing]

I have Things To Say regarding chemical warmers (specifically, Grabber hand-warmers):

1. I realized that they need some time to ‘activate’ and become warm.

2. They seem to de-activate after a while – while putzing about with them on a particularly cold day in the office, I discovered that I need to keep ‘fluffing’ them to get them warm again. While riding with them under my shoe covers, I find them pretty cold by the time I get home – then I can fluff them and they warm up again.

3. I had most success with this: a couple of hours before I need to leave work, I open the packs and stuff them into my shoes – this gets my feet really nice and toasty before I leave. When I leave, I leave them in my shoes, and make it all the way home (7-8 miles, depending on route) on that ‘seed warmth’.

I do, however, worry about doing longer rides – I don’t think the ‘stuff it under your shoe covers’ approach is going to work with these. Are there other warmers I could try? Other techniques?

[Author]

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