As I mentioned last week, the temperatures are dropping here in the northern climes of the Midwest. We’ve actually been pretty fortunate here in northern Illinois, relatively speaking - we’ve had daytime temps in the mid-40° (F) range, with predictions of touching into the low 60’s as we sneak into the beginning of November. Meanwhile, across the Mississippi they’ve already seen snow and days below freezing.
Regardless of our relative fortune, rest assured, winter is coming. Given that last time I encouraged folks to give consideration to option of riding through the cold months, I figured it would only be fair to offer up some suggestions about how to manage the cold.
A bit of qualification ahead of this - I don’t claim any expertise in cold-weather riding or dealing with the cold, but I’ve been doing winter cycling for about seven years now, and I did cross country skiing before that. So what follows simply comes from my experience in what has worked for me - so regard this accordingly. I’m sure others will have additional suggestions as well.
Dressing for the weather
Probably the biggest part of managing any winter exercise activity is dressing for the weather. Essentially, if you are doing winter exercise right, you won’t be cold. Some of this - maybe most of it - is addressed by the temperature you generate through your physical activity. But your clothing has to be selected to keep that heat in and allow you to regulate it. To manage that, there are some key guidelines to follow:
Layers
Any good management of cold weather should involve use of layers. You want to have a layer close to the body, and other layers moving out from there, to ensure good cold management. They should fit relatively loosely on top of one another - you want some room for air in-between each layer. None of the layers necessarily needs to be be super-heavy, and you have to strike a balance between heat retention and ability to move about - you will be spinning pedals, after all. You will want the outer layer to be somewhat water and wind resistant.
My personal solutions in this area are polyester and spandex long-underwear under synthetics on top - one or two layers of ventable tops with a turtleneck to cover my neck - and nylon hiking pants on the bottom (that’s the wind/water resistant layer). As it gets colder I will add a slightly heavier ventable fleece top or a similar-weight winter cycling jersey MLW got me, along with an insulated nylon vest and ski-pant pair from a cross-country outfit I’ve had for several years.
That’s usually enough for most of the winter, but if it gets very cold I may swap the nylon vest for a wool engineer vest and my old, insulated barn jacket. The jacket has an outer shell of heavy canvas, which again meets that wind/water resistant charge.
Note that almost none of this - except for the jersey mentioned above - is bespoke cycling gear. If you’ve done other outdoor activities - whether work or exercise - you may already have much of what you need.
Clothing Materials
Based upon my experience, you want your layers to be made of cold-friendly materials. This essentially means either wool - which is, frankly, a miracle fabric, despite the fact that it has been with us for millennia - or synthetics. You want to be sure you are using materials that will move moisture away from the body.
As you are reading this, you may be thinking “but I have that really nice, heavy cotton sweatshirt, and it’s really comfy and warm...”. It’s probably pretty nice when there’s a chill in the house. But remember before wearing it outside, that cotton kills...
Ventability
Believe it or not, if you select your materials well for your winter cycling, you are more likely to be struggling with getting too hot than too cold. For this reason, you want to select clothing that is ventable. What this means is that it has openings - usually zippers - that you can use to release excess heat.
Almost all of my upper-wear in my kit can be opened up in some way. There are a couple of examples below:
All of these are synthetic, and can vent. I’ve worn all three as layers on top of long johns. I like the thumb holes in the yellow top - ensures wrists are vovered between the sleeve and glove.
The blue noisy pants are Columbia hiking pants that are probably 20 years old.
Watch Your Head
If you grew up in a climate that has colder weather, you almost certainly had a parent chasing after you to put on your winter hat. While it is apparently not true that we lose a disproportionate amount of body heat through the head (sorry Mom), there is a tendency to focus on covering up the rest of the body but then leave the head exposed.
I employ essentially two levels of head covering for keeping out the winter cold. The first, lighter layer is a basic skull cap made of synthetics (e.g. polyester). Mine is, perhaps unsurprisingly, orange. I like these because they cover the top of the head and, importantly, the ears. This does double-duty because it keeps the head and ears warm, and protects the ears from sunlight, decreasing the surface area that wants for sunscreen. In my case, when wearing a wireless earbud (left side only so I can hear vehicles coming) the skull cap also helps keep the earbud secure (I have an oddly shaped ear that wants to spit them out). The orange color is a bonus bit of visibility at one of the highest points on the trike.
For level two I employ a balaclava). This garment is named, as we all know, after the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War. Remember? You know, how Britain allied with France, Sardinia and the Ottoman Empire against Russia? ...no? Me either.
Skull cap, balaclava, and gloves
There are a lot of variations on these, but a balaclava is essentially a skull cap, face mask, and neck gaiter all in one deceptively simple garment. Typically, when fully employed, they will cover your entire head, with the exception of a slit for your eyes.
Balaclava fully employed. Plus big, dumb glasses.
I say “when fully employed”, because usually these can be folded around to also be just a skull cap, or just a neck gaiter, which also makes them very flexible for days with changing temps, or for when you are starting to overhead while riding. They can be found both in synthetics and in wool. My current version is synthetic. It is generally warm enough to get me through the coldest of the weather northern Illinois has to offer. However, because they conform to your head, they can also be supplemented with a hood or earmuffs, if needed. And both a balaclava and a skull cap can be worn under a helmet.
My current balaclava is black, but other colors can be found. This includes orange, which
Attend to Your Extremities
The parts of the body that seem to be the hardest to keep warm are the outer extremities - the hands and feet. Much of what appears above applies to my solutions here - synthetics, and layers.
For the hands, I have lighter gloves and then I move to mittens when the weather gets colder. I prefer the convertible mitten-gloves for this purpose so that I can interact with my phone if I need to. I have, when it is very cold, put gloves on inside of the convertible mitten-gloves.
For feet, I have different thicknesses of socks, and I will combine layers if it gets very cold. I wear hiking boots - my normal fall/winter daily footwear once the fashion crime of socks and sandals is no longer sufficient - most of the time, and switch to a well-seasoned pair of felt-lined, rubber and leather winter work boots when it gets very cold.
No special shoes here. The hikers are my regular daily shoes in winter, and I also wear the snow boots when shoveling.
For both hands and feet, I try to be sure the solutions for the more extreme cold situations - mittens and boots - also allow room for chemical warmers. I don’t use them often, but I always carry them with me on my trike, and I will put them in proactively when the wind-chill is particularly brisk.
One final suggestion in this section - and this may seem a bit odd: wash your feet before gearing up.
This was a suggestion given in the excellent winter cycling group on Facebook a couple years ago, and it’s been a game changer for me. My feet run hot year round, which you might think would be great for winter activity. But running hot in an insulated, water resistant (and thus water retaining) environment means that they sweat. Once that starts - which for me seems to occur approximately 12 seconds into any winter activity - they get cold. However, washing them first staves this off quite handily. Or maybe that should be footily...
Don’t Forget Your Naughty Bits
So, I’ve said before that, done right, winter cycling is not a cold activity. Once you start pedaling you will find that you warm up pretty quickly - often to the degree that you need to start opening things up to cool down.
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But when it’s very cold you may discover that, while your upper body is well covered, and your legs are warmed by their activity, the bits in the very middle are in sort of, well... their own zone. This is especially true in very cold weather, and a greater issue when you are in the wind facing position of an upright bike.
I realized this on a below zero (°F) day as I began to pick up speed. The ambient temperature being what it was, plus the windchill I was generating with my own speed made me aware of a situation - an uncomfortable situation - I’m not sure I’d ever experienced before. So - when I say I wear wool or synthetics everywhere in the winter, I’m not kidding.
Miscellaneous Other Stuff
Outside of the clothing itself, I can also suggest that you start out your winter cycling adventure warm. That is to say, keep your gear inside, and get fully dressed inside before going out. Yes, you will probably get warm, if not a little overheated while you are inside, but that heat will carry over when you go outside, and while you are setting up your ride, pumping your tires, etc.
I suspect that idea may be more controversial than anything I’ve written in the rest of the post. There is definitely a school of thought that it’s better to start out a little cold to “get your body used to” the conditions. This is even something that Tom Babin suggests in his excellent book Frostbike, and it’s certainly something I had heard growing up, and applied myself.
Then I read an article in some outdoorsy magazine - maybe Men’s Journal - suggesting doing it the other way around - being warm to start. I decided to give it a shot and, by Odin, it was the most comfortable I think I’d ever been out in the cold. The principle is simple, and it’s the same reason you should put hot water in a thermos before filling it with coffee or soup: the warmer you are when you begin, the less temperature loss there will be when you go out.
Another thing to keep in mind is that, as you add layers and equipment, your measurements change. This means that the distance between your seat and pedals and handlebars are different than when you are in your summer gear. For some people this may not make a difference, but for others, if you start noticing knee pain, for example, you may want to make adjustments to account for your clothing-induced size differences.
How Cold...?
With all of this, we come back to the question: How cold is too cold to ride?
As I’ve said before, there’s definitely a subjective component to the answer to that question. For me, with the right gear, it’s never too cold to ride. That isn’t to say that nothing will prevent me from hitting the road. Rather, the things that keep me inside center around visibility and road conditions. And here I’m concerned about the ability of others - drivers - to see me, and their ability to safely navigate around me once they do. I’ll ride in light snow, for example, but not when the volume obscures the view. And I’ll avoid icy roads. I’ll avoid very snowy roads in the early part of the season as well, when folks are still re-learning how to manage the white stuff.
I hope there’s something helpful in all of this - now go out and enjoy the cold!
Other winter cycling posts on Applied Life:
- Winter Biking - This was my first post on the topic from December 2013, early into my first season of trying it out.
- Winter Cycling - Northern Illinois - Some discussion of what it’s like to ride in the cold months in the top half of the Land of Lincoln.
- Cross Country Skiing or Winter Cycling - I first started riding in the winter as a cross country skier looking for something to do in-between Illinois’ incredibly unpredictable snowfalls. But in February 2018 I had a bit of a revelation...
- Riding In Snow - Upright vs Trike - Part of the reason I wanted a trike originally was for winter riding. I decided to do an impromptu comparison between the two in December of 2017 (on Christmas Day, no less...)