“No bad weather, just bad clothes”
Winter has finally arrived in Metro Detroit, and in true Michigan fashion it went from being in the 40ºs to single digits basically overnight. So I put my REEB into fat mode, put my pajamas on inside out, and hoped for some snow.
My wife had today off, and despite the high being 11º we were stoked to get out and ride some groomed trails.
When it comes to clothes, here are the variables for my riding:
+ Feet: Not really a variable, I just always wear my Oboz boots if it's anything below 40º. Today the real feel was -4º, and towards the end of the ride my toes were getting mighty cold. I might have to try a thinner pair of socks under my wool socks, or putting some toe warmers in the toe box.
+ Hands: If it's 40º or lower my bike is getting pogies. On my city bikes I use cheap Odier pogies, but I really really like the Bike Iowa Pogie Lites on my fat bike (see above). They’re so easy to slide inward towards the stem if you don’t want to wear them, or yank them back out if your hands get cold. With pogies it's then a matter of whether I go barehanded, summer gloves, or fall gloves. My wife likes the drop bar Bar Mitts on her city bike and gravel/atb/whatever bike, but I don’t like how they force you to ride in the hoods only. So I run some cheap extremely thick and warm leather gloves that I got from Ace Hardware (see below). If you have a bar bag or big pockets you can bring different gloves to figure out what works for you. Today fall gloves were great and summer gloves were a little too light, probably because they were a little too small and constricted blood flow.
+ Legs: If it's below 40º I'll usually wear a base layer below my riding pants. If it's below 20º I'll start considering fleece lined pants + base layer. I was grateful for the base layer + fleece lined pants today.
+ Chest: It's a combination of thin (technical t-shirt base layer, thin long sleeve base layer), medium (mid weight base layer), thick (merino wool jersey, fleece pullover), and shell (either my super thin Outdoor Research rain shell or a thicker Lululemon jacket that breathes super well but has some warmth to it). I can basically just run a thin + medium + thin shell until 20-25º, then I start adding layers from there. If it's too hot I just unzip the pits and chest, or chuck a layer in a bag or tie it around my handlebars. Today I wore an UnderArmour long sleeved base layer, a middle weight base layer with a hood, a fleece sweatshirt, and that Lululemon jacket. After my first lap I dropped the fleece sweatshirt and I was happy I did.
+ Head: <=20º I usually gotta break out the balaclava. Otherwise I just wear my helmet with nothing underneath or a cycling cap under my helmet.
Keep in mind I'm mostly talking about mountain biking / fat biking in the woods where you're putting out some watts. Our bodies are engines that will usually eventually get hot. If anything my goal is to keep my heart rate down (versus summer) so that I don't get sweaty wet. I find that when I’m rambling around in the open on roads there’s usually way less protection from the trees, so I have to dress a bit warmer for the temperatures.
The last tip is on how to prevent your water bottle from freezing. Flip it over in your bottle cage, put a little liquor in it, and make sure you actually drink from it to prevent ice build up in the spout. Today even with some rum + running it flipped over the nozzle froze by the end of 90 minute ride. I think I could’ve prevented the freezing nozzle by actually drinking more water.
Enjoy the snow!
