Riding in cold weather, HELP!
 

Ok, so I rode to work yesterday and man was it cold. The NOAA reported the temperatures last night at 30 degrees Fahrenheit, 15 mph windchill put it around 22 degrees which was very very unpleasant. I know a bunch of you are from canadialand/kanookistan or whatever you call it and I want to know what you guys do to stay warm when riding in cold weather. I have a gortex jacket that I wear with a fleece under jacket and full finger gloves under my biking gloves but it was still freaking cold as all get out.

Anyone have any suggestions? I'm determined not to drive anywhere that is within 5 miles of my apartment so I need to learn to stay warm, at least until it warms up a bit...trouble is, the temperature where I live can't make up it's mind. I left for work and it was 75F, who knew it was going to drop 25F in 4 hours!!!?

If you want to spend money I know the Olympia AST jacket works great riding my motorcycle down to about 25 degrees F. It is $289 though and probably has a lot more armor and abrasion protection than you really need on a bicycle though.

The Airglide pants they make would also be good for a bike but at $189 for the pants they are also probably a bit of overkill.

An easy trick though that works with what you have is to put rubber gloves like dishwashing gloves over top of the gloves you normally wear. That really makes a huge difference with the air getting through them. Get thin rain jacket/pants that are solid plastic and wear it outside to keep the air off your normal insulated stuff.

Wearing a solid plastic jacket and pants over my olympia gear I was able to ride in 15 degrees F and I was still nice and warm at 70mph for an hour long ride.

I would say that's not all that cold, but that really is one hell of a temperature differential to deal with. Heavy jackets don't give me the options I want. I usually layer something along the lines of a t-shirt, light long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt, and a light rain coat that primarily serves to block out the wind. I have a pair of fleece lined bicycling pants that do a great job at keeping me warm. They only cost $6 because Nike is discontinuing their bicycle line of clothing and the LBS's are selling the line off for next to nothing. For the hands I wear a nice pair of light ski gloves inside a borrowed pair of mittens right now.

Man, I would've been baking in all that gear. The other day I went out in shorts, jersey, and long sleeve base layer (30F) and he only but that got cold was my toes a bit, which was because I didn't double up my socks, :)

Wear more clothes where it's cold, I guess? Windproof is always good.

If it's below 70 degrees protect the knees. Should at least wear leg warmers.:turtle:

But it's not cold, :p

Here's some reading speed racer.

So in cold weather - a lot of people jump to cover up their toes and fingers as they get cold first. But why are they getting cold? Because your bloodflow is being cut to keep your core warm. Most of your heat is lost through your chest and head. When you're really using your leg muscles, a significant amount of heat will be lost there.

So a wind proof jacket plus warm stuff underneath. Something to keep your legs warm (leg warmers are good)... Then there's the head... This is a tough one.

If you're wearing a helmet like you should, cover up any holes. Then there's the face.... If it's really unbearable, wear a mask. I'm not kidding either. Find a mask that doesn't interfere with your vision or breathing. It's just there to be used as a wind breaker.


Oh... and doing some warm up exercise before plunging into super cold weather helps...


Of course... I currently ride in Central Florida :p So I don't have to deal with the coldness like that. I just did a significant amount of research for HPV stuff :)

In the 20's the heavy sweat shirt isn't necessary for me at all, but after spending a summer in texas, you really learn people have a huge difference in tolerance for the cold. In the 30's I won't even use the long sleeve shirt for decent rides, but I still love those comfortable fleece lined tights :D

If you don't think that's cold then I would have to say you have never been to Georgia. I know people who live in Buffalo NY and when they come down here and I tell them it's going to be in the 30's they pack a jacket, get down here and wish they had much more on. The reason is that down here it's a very very moist cold that when added to wind, makes it feel much much much colder then it really is. The wind chill factor down here can make 30 feel like low 20's - high teens.