Low Tech Winter Biking Tip

A quick low tech tip to keep your feet warm.

If you don't have show covers you can put on thick socks and plastic bags to help trap the heat in. I prefer bread bags myself because their long and skinny so they won't be as bulky in the shoe, and you can tuck the tops under the cuff of your tights.

Caution: The plastic traps in heat but it also traps moisture. For this reason I don't recommend this method for long rides. But it will get you by as long as your not going to be on and off the bike all day.

First Snow

That's right folks those little specs in the picture are now flakes. Nothing to really worry about though, the ground temp is still above freezing so nothing is sticking, just remember to dress a little warmer. I'm going with tights over shorts; a thermal jacket over normal jersey; and tall wool socks to overlap with my tights. If I had toe covers I would wear those too.

Also I'm wearing a cycling cap with earflaps. For those of you with earrings remember that they can conduct a lot of heat away from your head if exposed and sometimes give you a headache.

I like to flip mine up and tuck them in my ear under the flap.

Welcome to Rain Riding

Now we're getting a good taste of what early winter has to offer in Wisconsin. Obviously today will be a day for full rain gear. If you don't have any yet hopefully this post can shed some light on what to look for.

Let's start with gloves, These are made by a company called Seal Skinz. This is the pair that I have, I found them in the kayaking section. However when I checked out their website I found out they make much more.

Check out these waterproof, insulated, winter MTB gloves. http://www.sealskinz.com/

I already spoke about what I wear for a rain jacket and pants so I'll skip over that. This is the Shower's Pass Men's Touring jacket, my girlfriend just picked this up so hopefully I can drag a review of it out of her later this week. Instead I want to talk about how to keep your feet dry and warm.

I lot of people forget about waterproofing their feet and ankles, but this is where water, and later snow, can get in most easily. A lot of good hiking shoes have gore-tex linings in them these days and they really work well as this photo testifies. I really like Merrell shoes myself but I know several other companies offer gore-tex lined shoes as well, such as Salomon, Columbia, Patagonia, North Face, etc. You don't want a high ankle hiking boot though because you still want good flexibility in the ankle for pedaling. This is why I use cross country skiing gaiters to keep water and snow from coming in over the top of my shoes. This becomes especially important in winter because I do a fair amount of jumping through snow banks to get to the road or get to a place to park my bike.

Remember riding in the rain can still be a lot of fun you just need to dress appropriately. Ride safe everyone!

Silly me, I left my cycling clothes on the line the night before last and they got soaked all day yesterday. So today I'm going with my rain gear as an outer shell. Good active rain wear is multi-use. It's waterproof but also windproof, which is often more important especially in spring and fall.

My rain suit happens to be the REI brand Taku jacket and pants. It works well, but here are a few other small companies making some really great commuter apparel. http://missionworkshop.com/

http://www.showerspass.com/

A Beautiful Day to Ride

Today is a beautiful day to commute to work! 46 degrees on the way to a high of 61 with a light south wind. Everyone should have an easy commute today. I'm scaling back my winter garb a bit. I'll be wearing a thermal long-sleeve over over a sleeveless jersey with regular bib shorts and leg warmers. This should allow me to vent as it gets warmer along my ride. Go out and enjoy the weather!

Cyclocross!

You guys know the drill by now. 40 degrees out, I'm going with tights, shirtsleeve jersey, thermal jacket and thin thermal gloves. Days like today make it easy to dress, cold, clear, stable weather, easy riding. For those who get cold feet easily some toe covers would be good today too, especially if your commute has a headwind.

As a side note, if you haven't seen a cyclocross race I highly recommend it. Family friendly, short courses and races make for interesting spectating, and usually they happen in a local city park so they are within biking distance for many.

Riding in Rain

Today is a very difficult day to dress for. The forecast was calling for scattered thunderstorms throughout the day going into this evening. It wasn't raining when I left but the roads were still plenty wet. I decided to wear my rain suit but I knew that it would be too warm for that. I ended up taking off the jacket about 15min into the ride and opening up all the vents on my rain pants.

In the end the best gear choice was probably choosing to ride a bike with full fenders. Even though it may not be raining if the road is wet you can still get a fair amount of spray up your back and across your feet.

A Lesson on Layering & Venting

Yesterday I road to work and wore basically the same outfit as my last post. Big mistake! When I got up at 9am it said it was 45 degrees but by the time I left the house at about 10:45 it was much warmer. This brings me to lesson #1 (Always check the weather again right before you leave.) As soon as I stepped outside I could tell I was over dressed, but it was too late to change. However I was able to keep it under control because I had layered well so I was able to vent the heat well.

I took off my hat and gloves and crammed them in my jersey pockets. Unzipped my jacket all the way, and unzipped the bottoms of my tights and rolled them up to my knees. I was still warm but I was able to keep it under control so I wasn't dripping sweat by the time I got to work. Here is a picture of the final result.

Pretty good combination. Warm but not much sweating and when I zipped down a bit it ventilated just enough. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Welcome Back!

Welcome back to winter cycling Milwaukee!

I'm going to try a new format this year. I'm going to post the temp for the morning and my prediction of what to wear and the and then how it worked out. So this morning it's 42 degrees and I'm going with tights, jersey under, thermal jacket and thin thermal gloves with tall smartwool socks and an isolated cycling cap with ear-flaps. Here's a pick too!

Wish me luck!