[ChristoB50]

@huskerdont 183759 wrote:

Yup, all wired differently.
Balaclavas for me just put too much moisture on my face; tried one once at 8 degrees and ended up stopping and taking it off.

Yeah, there’s definitely a moisture issue on the half-balaclava, as I often can’t breathe sufficiently by using only my nose. In the current temps, and for my current length of rides, the moisture hasn’t been a huge problem but I can see it could be, as it gets even colder… Love the idea of a full-head helmet that Tania mentions here (would eliminate my ski goggles as well as half-balaclava); tho I think I’d encounter a different problem, in that my head is a furnace chimney, normally — even a light fabric skull cap worn under a normal vented helmet makes me way too sweaty to live with, in the cold. I can’t really wear winter hats off-bike either, for the same reason; the sweat just starts flowing, if the top of my head is covered.

[ChristoB50]

@rcannon100 183762 wrote:

Grow a really good beard

Ah, if only it were possible… They do look like they’d be a wonderful built-in face-warmer…

[ChristoB50]

@TwoWheelsDC 183749 wrote:

I was thinking that this morning as I passed people wearing only what looked like light jackets, but with full-face neoprene masks on…meanwhile I was under like 3 layers on my torso, but with nothing covering my face.

I’m in that camp—a merino base layer and a light windbreaker is totally sufficient to keep me comfy… at least this far into winter–I cant imagine it will be sufficient for consistent 20s, teens or lower…
But my face, ears and eyes are a totally different matter. So, ski goggles over my prescription eyeglasses (stops the massive eye-watering problem that tends to develop for me around 42 degrees or lower) and a half-balaklava (nose and below). That combo keeps my ears from freezing, too…
I see no reason to let preventable personal discomforts lure me away from biking. I’m frankly stunned (given my personal history with any forms of exercise discipline in the past) that I’m still excited and “into” keeping my bike commutes going this winter–I would NOT have predicted that to be the case, 9 months ago!

[ChristoB50]

Should have added, as Greenbelt pointed out later: here’s my current gear,
With cold here, I wear a long-sleeve SmartWool undershirt (the lighter-gram-weight version) plus an REI rather light windbreaker (reminds me of parachute material.)
I’m surprised by how far that combo has got me as fall has advanced and temps drop. This morning was the coldest ride yet for me (28 I think) and while it is only 7-8 miles to work, I work up a little sweat of course…
I’m wondering if it would be a good idea to add the “summer” REI synthetic t-shirt under the merino layer now?
Or, better off adding a second merino layer? (I also have the same gram-weight SmartWool in a short-sleeve variety.)
For legs – work days I tend to wear the merino long-johns under my office khakis (and because our office HVAC is out of control, I leave them on at work!)
For leisure rides, I’ll usually go with pearl izumi leg warmers along with padded cycle shorts – and my legs have been fine thus far (longest “cold” ride so far was about 2 hours Sunday in 38f.)
On toes… recently added a pair of ShowersPass waterproof 3-layer socks, on an REI recommendation… While I don’t think I need the waterproof element so much, the staff folks said they’d help with keeping my feet warm (I’m wearing clip shoes with some tiny perforations.) I’ve taken to wearing over-shoe rain booties as well, starting this week, more to help cut the wind intrusion into those shoes…
I added a Smith ski-goggle (fits over my prescription glasses) and that is REALLY a nice upgrade.
I wear a half-balaclava (nose-tip, down to neck) and have some pre-biking goretex winter gloves that I’ve adopted now, once the pearl izumi winter gloves seemed not to be handling the cold wind well enough.

[ChristoB50]

Same here – first winter riding, still adding to my gear closet. But in Nov., when mornings were first going below 40 or so, I opted for a Smith ski goggle, that fit over my prescription glasses.
As long as, once I put the Smith on, I then push my eyeglasses “forward” into the goggle cavity, further away from my eyes/face, I essentially never get fog-up on stops, or else very, very minimal fogging at the top (not enough to block vision yet, and clears quickly once I’m moving again.)
That said, someone recently told me that rubbing plain white bar soap on both sides of your glasses lenses, then buffing it off, prevents them from fogging — I have yet to try this, so can’t confirm.

[ChristoB50]

Thanks for the starting list — this is my first winter biking, and I’m so far, basically content with the gear I’ve got, up to this point — but I’ve not had a single ride below, perhaps, 28f yet… I suspect I will find that my gear needs some augmentation when the 20’s arrive.

[ChristoB50]

Latest bike purchased is my only bike, today (I once had a generic hybrid 10-speed, which I last rode 27+ years ago before selling at a yard sale.) Staring down the calendar at my 50th birthday earlier this summer, long too sedentary and out of shape, I opted for a throttleless pedal-assist ebike, counting on it to make easing back into biking both fun and less painful, and thus (I hoped!) a form of repeatable exercise I could stick with, for once!
I took possession of it March 2 of this year, with me weighing in at 303 pounds; I am now this close to 4,000 miles ridden since, having lost 55 pounds in the process. I commute to the office on it when possible (next week should hit my 100th office commute.) I realize that is a long way from a car-free lifestyle (which I’m not currently trying to attain) and my inaugural year stats are a drop in the bucket compared to many riders… nonetheless, a huge personal thrill and achievement for me (miles, weight loss and stick-to-it behavior) since maybe in my whole life before this bike, I might have racked up 150 biked miles?
Now working on seeing how long into winter I can continue this new pattern… Managed 24 miles today and after, promptly went to REI for better warm sock options…

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