Can we talk about winter riding apparel?

Mountain Bike Mike

Mountain Bike Mike

Well-Known Member
What's everyone wearing when riding, training, racing when the temps plummet?
- Fleece lined bibs?
- long sleeved jerseys
- Wind protection jackets
- Winter Riding jackets
- Gloves
- Socks
- Hats

What is your preferred brand names, most effective at keeping you warm and comfortable and best bang for your buck... In your opinion...

Thanks to this forum and community, ("My First Pair of Mandex" thread) successfully helped me find bibs that I can't ride without, I am looking for the wisdom of this community again to help me come up to speed on the right stuff to wear for winter riding on the road and in the trails for leisure rides and training.

Please share your wisdom!
 
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first second.

it takes some experimentation.

this is my rule. i dress like i am going to be standing still, but it will be 20 degrees warmer out. i rode on the road last night. low 50s. i was in a long sleeve jersey and shorts and was a little chilly to start, but fine after 3 minutes.


i hate to say it, but i actually need advice on shoes. my feet aren't cooperating. so i'm subscribed for entertainment value and for advice on defeat.
 
clarkenstein said:
first second.

. so i'm subscribed for entertainment value and for advice on defeat.
Click to expand...

Entertainment may be the first thing that comes out of this and I hope that is the case.. .Somewhere along the line we can pull out the wisdom needed to apply...

Like your road tire thread, I spent 10 minutes reading it and made a decision on what tires to use for winter riding on the cross / road bike... Thanks for that!
 
How cold we talking about?

50 degrees:
regular kit, maybe leg warmers/wind breaker

40degrees:
fleece lined jersey, leg warmers, lake boots, windproof gloves, some kind of hat

20-30degrees

winter bibs, under armor, fleece lined jersey, wind breaker, winter gloves, lake boots, hat or baklava

10-20
winter bibs, under armor, fleece lined jersey, winter jacket..which is windproof with a thin liner, winter gloves, lake boots with toe warmers, baklava

0-10
Same as above, sometimes ill wear my leg warmers under my winter bibs if im riding on the road and its this cold. Usually some eye protection.

Below zero
when its this cold, fuck it, I move from the bike gear to the ski gear. Ski helmet, ski goggles, mask, bibs/leg warmers, under armor, fleece, jacket, heavy gloves, boots, toe warmers....then I go outside and say fuck over and over again.
 
These conversations always always miss 2 key points when talking about this:

1. How much do you sweat?
2. How hard are you riding?

If you sweat a lot and are riding moderately, and it's 25 degrees out, this is hard. Because the sweat will freeze you eventually. And you're not going hard enough to counter that by producing enough of your own heat. So you need to dress more warmly because of the cooling effect of wet clothes. But if you do this, you sweat more. Double-edged sword here.

Probably if you sweat a lot, you need to either ride balls out hard, or really easy. But guys like me (and Eric O & Lou) sweat no matter what. So even an easy ride becomes a damp easy ride, and cold ensues. Slippery slope there.

Road and woods are different too of course.

If you're going hard, you can get away with more.

Also, you need to figure out if you're a cold hand/feet guy. I am, some others are not. No matter what I do, my hands get cold. Having said that, I have ridden at 5:00 am in the dead middle of the winter so it may just be the case that there are only 2 of us who do that, me & Kevin. Well, 1 of us now I guess.

Lots of variables, you'll need to mix & match and figure it out. And you'll never get it totally right, because there are hills in this state, and if it's flat, there's wind. So uphill/downhill are different. 15mph tailwind versus headwind, totally different. So like I said, no way to get it right, you just do your best.

You will also get better at knowing which way the winds go, when to avoid downhills in the first X minutes, etc. We live on top of a hill. You can ride the ridge to start or drop down 3 different ways. If it's cold, the last thing you want to do is start the ride with a 5 minute downhill coast. Might as well pack your jock with ice.

On the road, mix up the hills properly to keep warm. Try to avoid hills that are open to the wind. It sucks to hit a hill in the hopes of warming up only to be blasted by the wind and frozen on the climb.
 
Cold Feet, Cold Hand and Sweat alot on easy rides and sweat really bad on hard efforts guy.

Norm - your response is super reality based which is great but what products are you using to combat the cold feet, cold hands, sweat / freeze...

Utah - laid it out super logical and straight forward so I can use some of that before I go shopping to pickup my foundation gear that I can tweak over time.
 
I prefer layering up -- I can't stand wearing a jacket when I ride and I'll only do it if temps get really low (like single digits or less.) I usually go ghetto for footwear (plastic bags in between two layers of socks with my normal shoes over them) but this year I'm looking to get some decent winter shoes. My hands are a lost cause. They're going to get cold no matter what I do so I just try to manage the pain.
 
1speed said:
I prefer layering up -- I can't stand wearing a jacket when I ride and I'll only do it if temps get really low (like single digits or less.) I usually go ghetto for footwear (plastic bags in between two layers of socks with my normal shoes over them) but this year I'm looking to get some decent winter shoes. My hands are a lost cause. They're going to get cold no matter what I do so I just try to manage the pain.
Click to expand...

thin exam gloves help a lot. but the minute you have to take them off you're screwed.


what shoes are you looking at?
 
pearl said:
trial and error
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Yes, really took me a couple of seasons to get what works dialed.

But mike I would say you want to have a few core pieces.

Something to water/wind proof your feet. If you are mountain biking, I would suggest something like lake boots. Few things suck more then riding when its 20deg, then dabbing your foot into an ice cold stream...then trying to pedal with the stump that used to be your foot for the next two hours. Kirt and falcon can add to this as they have gone for a full dunk in streams at ringwoods in 20deg temps.

Fleece lined bibs, winter gloves, hat works, but a baklava is much better...Fleece lined jersey is my favorite one...its warm when its brutal cold, but it will also breathe...so you can wear it, get sweaty and it its not terrible...as opposed to a wind breaker where you feel like you are going to overheat and pass out.

But it will take some riding to figure out what works for you.
 
I don't think it's going to get any better than Norm's explanation.


Norm said:
Also, you need to figure out if you're a cold hand/feet guy. I am, some others are not. No matter what I do, my hands get cold.
Click to expand...

I wonder if there is some sort of strange correlation between always sweating and cold extremities? I'm an always sweating guy and my hands/feet are the toughest thing to keep warm in the winter.
 
All are good suggestions. The one point I need to harp on is temperature regulation. A jacket with pit zippers and wind protection (Gore has one) makes mid-ride adjustment easy...even wearing gloves. Just my 2cents.
 
Lake winter shoes. You can try toe warmers but if you sweat a lot, you can save yourself the effort and burn a dollar bill before each ride. You can try the plastic bag method. It hasn't been too successful for me.

I have the biggest gloves I could find, they work ok when it gets bad. You'll need to experiment with gloves but you will lose hand-mobility with anything big. I deal with it, my hands still get cold.

But some good socks. But also keep in mind that thick socks can crowd your feet and stop blood from flowing properly and keeping you warm. Or so I'm lead to believe. That's one of those things that may or may not be actually true.

Legs are tights, I think we have 6 different pair here. They range from thin, like what you would wear now, to thicker. If it's cold you can double the thinner ones or go thick. Really cold you can double a thick & thin. Old bibs on top of that.

Various base layers. A craft wind stopper, LS. LS jersey. Always LS stuff. the SS stuff makes no sense to me. Your arms get cold, all they do is sit there and suck up wind. Cover them a lot.

I have a few jackets, a spring/fall & winter one. Also have a vest I never use and a raincoat.

The progression goes like this, fill in your own temps:

1. Craft base top, thin tights, then on top it's normal summer bibs/jersey.
2. Same base, LS jersey
3. Same base, maybe thicker tights, spring jacket
4. Same as 3 but thicker jacket.
5. Replace the medium tights with thicker ones

Head covering is a few different ones, nothing is a problem in this regard.

You can start with shoe covers. #1/2 above I just use thicker socks. Even #3 is just thicker socks but your feet will get cold. Eventually I'll throw booties on the shoes.

Once I get into winter jacket realm, I use the Lake shoes.

As for hands. I have light spring gloves, heavier spring gloves, then the light spring gloves with the liners, then the winter gloves, then the winter gloves with the liners.

This is a lot of coin to cover all these bases. You can probably find various bits & pieces around the house to cover your core/arms/legs. Spend your money on shoes & gloves, especially if this is a weak spot. If you ski, just use your ski gloves to start.

Or just drop $1500 and be done with it. But this array of clothing took years and years to amass.
 
I also have "feet cold all the time no matter what" issues.

On the trail:
Under armor shirt and pants.
If really cold I add a wool sweater
colder? motocross pants.
Cap under the helmet.
glasses of some sort. and a hankie for over the face/chin and to blow my nose.

All winter that is all I needed for my body.
regular riding gloves unless REALLY cold then lobsterclaw gloves.
Feet? wool socks, silk socks, shoes, plastic bag over the shoes so I can slip on the fleece shoe covers I have. and a toe warmer in the bottom right over the cleat area.

Works for up to an hour.

Road riding: under armor pants and shirt. Windproof jacket. hankie, cap and some nice gloves I found at costco, shoe covers. This is plenty for me on the road. The windproof jacket is the best, but tends to be too much on the trail. The wool sweater seems more comfy for trails.
 
clarkenstein said:
thin exam gloves help a lot. but the minute you have to take them off you're screwed.


what shoes are you looking at?
Click to expand...

My shop guy recommended the Lake MX145s. He said the MXZ 303s are total overkill for this area.

As for hands, I've learned that it usually just costs me some ride time. I'll start my ride, go about five miles, and then pain gets really bad and I'll have ot stop and get them warm again. That takes me about 5-10 minutes and once they warm up enough, they usually don't freeze up again. I figure it could be worse -- a buddy of mine has Reynauds, and that's no joke. Poor bastard can't function once they freeze up on him -- loses all motor skills in his fingers. Can't even bend them. At my worst, I just feel pressure pain. I can live with that.
 
On the road I find It hard to overdress in the winter. Being exposed to wind more, I can unzip something to keep from sweating too much.

Mtbing I start out cold but warm up quick. Also if I get too hot I can stash clothes in my camelbak.

My hands do get cold but I think it has more to do with circulation. When its cold out I have to shake the blood down to my fingers the first 30 minutes of a ride, otherwise my fingers go numb then it hurts like hell when the blood returns. After the blood is flowing to my fingers I'm ok, till then it sucks.
 
This is a great thread, and just in time as it's gonna get cold fast. Feet are my biggest problem, followed by hands. Maybe I need those ridiculous looking hulk hands gloves and booties?
 
Since we sweat a lot, you want to stay breathable and this means layers. I used to wear winter jackets, wind front bibs, etc. No matter how cold it gets, this stuff is too much for me unless I'm on a casual ride. I overheat too much. You may be different.

I invested in some really good, light, breathable, and versatile gear.
Stay away from neoprene gloves and shoe covers if you sweat a lot.

For base layers, Craft Pro Zero Extreme (now called Active Extreme) base layers are my favorite. They are not cheap but one piece goes a very long way. They are also thin so I have no problem doubling up and staying comfortable. A 30 degree ride for me would be 2 base layers, maybe arm warmers on top of those and a vest. Thin layers are key.

Are your legs going to get cold? You'll probably need bibs or at least knee warmers. I prefer fleece bibs that are not wind front (aka more breathable for me), but my legs don't really get cold.

Knee and arm warmers are something I use a lot too. I like Defeet arm and knee warmers. They are pretty inexpensive and versatile when used in conjunction with a base layer and/or vest.

Gloves are the toughest IMO. I'm sure you (like most of us) will go through a bunch of options before you figure it out. I like Defeet duragloves for moderate temperatures. I have a few pairs and can even double up if need be. Lobster claws are the warmest type of glove I believe, but are only for really really cold ides and you lose dexterity. To date, the best gloves I've found for balance of warmth and maintain dexterity are the Castelli Estremo. Again, trial and error (ps I have like 16 pairs of gloves).

You will want some spacious shoes so you can use thicker wool socks. Too snug doesn't allow for proper circulation and will make your feet colder. This is my biggest problem area so while I have several types of shoe covers (for the road), the best thing I've purchased to date was winter specific boots. For shoe covers, I also found the Castelli Estremo (like the gloves) to be the best fit for me.

I think the important thing to take away here is to buy quality, versatile pieces so that your purchases work with each other.

I'm sure there were a bunch of posts in the time I wrote this so sorry for the duplicate info.
 
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