What to wear - 40-60F gravel racing event
 

I'm planning to join an 80 miles gravel ride in Northern Wisconsin in the 3rd week of October. Checking the historical weather, it's gonna be in the upper 30's when I start at 7 a.m. in the morning, and in the upper 50's in the late morning/afternoon.

With quite a vast range of temperature, any suggestion on what clothes I should wear/bring with me?

Appreciate the input. Thanks,
Richard

Wear whatever you use when you ride in Chicago in late October...its going to in general be the same range/experience.
Road, commuting, mtb- whatever you wear doing those things will work for gravel.


For under 50- I use a thin ear band, arm warmers, knee warmers, toe covers, and wind gloves. I dont do well with cold toes, fingers, or ears. Cold wind is hell on the ears.
If its 45ish or lower, I often use a fitted wind jacket too.
Layers are great as you can more easily adjust for temp as you heat up thru a ride.
A larger saddle bag or frame bag works well to hold anything no longer needed.

Armwarmers, kneewarmers, windvest, full gloves.

I like merino wool for its temperature range, moisture wicking, anti-microbial abilities. Ya can spend well over $100 on name brand bike stuff, or just go to salvation army and spend $5 per piece. Smart wool arm merino warmers are worth getting name brand stuff though.

A wind vest that can be folded up and zipped up into its rear pocket is handy, and can be put into a jersey pocket.

leg warmers and arm warmers. 40-50 my back needs to breath!!!!!

I am still looking for that wind breaker front, wool back combo jersey!

people say that if you keep your core warm the rest of you is warm. I seem to be the opposite, if my toes, legs, hands, ears are warm I am good to go with a wool layer and a windbreaker layer, this is true for 32 degrees also.

I totally agree.

My mom always lays my clothes out for me.

exactly that! I'd rather see it as short sleeve so I could use my arm warmers, but that works! thanks

speedsuit

I use those combined with gore windstopper bibs for a lot of our fall gravel/cx riding where I don't want a lot of bulk and just need wind chill protection

Thanks for everyone who had replied here. It looks like Merino Wool is a good choice here. One of my favorite go-to jerseys is actually the Rapha merino brevet, and I also have one of their classic rain jacket which is great for blocking wind. So, in addition to bringing those with me, I will wear my full gloves, knee and arm warmers as well.

The only thing that I'm thinking about getting is toe covers and a head band. Appreciate it. I think I'm good to go.

~Richard

You can also go oldschool and wrap your toes inside your shoes and outside your socks with plastic wrap or foil!

Genius. Thanks. I might do this actually :)

I find it's not hard to dress for riding in 0-10C that we get for much of our (short) fall season here, but have recently taken to wearing a single sock creatively to address a particularly male problem with riding in cold weather that has nagged me in the past.

I'm no expert but I'll chime in with others on merino wool. I have a couple Showers Pass Ridgeline shirts that somehow keep me cool when it's hot, and warm when it's cold. I use them as a base layer when it's really cold under a jacket. I've worn them in the desert in SoCal, and the mountains in Montana. Highly recommended.

It's always best to dress in layers and do some short test rides to assess what works for you personally and also once you are warmed up.

Clothes! It's going to be too cold to go without. And since you have to wear clothes, try layers so you can peel off as you warm up. And don't forget you'll need somewhere to put those extra layers as you peel them off. Wool wicks away moisture, cotton holds it against you.

Nobody's mentioned an undershirt yet, so I will.

I've done several rides that start in the 30s and end anywhere from the 50s to the 100s. If it's below 55 at the start, I'll wear an undershirt.

My favorite one is made by Defeet, the Undshurt Tee.

With temperatures that change a lot I like wearing layers and bringing a bar bag to stash those layers. Cargo bibs help with layer storage as well.

I'm surprised @TimothyH hasn't given his recommendations from the Rapha catalog yet. :innocent:

My favorite accessory for rides with big swings in temperature is a rack or bag with room for layers that I'll peel off as it warms or carry to add as it cools off.

If you're racing, you'll generate plenty of heat, and you should try to be just a little chilled at the start line. Leg warmers are hard to lose without stopping, but add arm warmers, a sleeveless base layer, and a ear muff you can pull off or that doubles as a helmet liner and you should be good.

What would you normally ride on a training ride in that temp range?

Clothing
 

Just did one of these this past weekend. I tend to overheat easily if dressed too warmly for the conditions. Our ride started out at 33 degrees F, ended at 58. I knew I wasn't going to be going all out, because my spouse was riding with me, and they just haven't been able to get enough miles in to ride hard and not blow up. Base some of your clothing decisions on how much effort you intend to ride at. If you're going to be doing a reasonably easy cruising speed that you feel you can maintain all day if need be, you can probably dress a little warmer and more comfortable than if you think your going to be putting out a higher level of effort that is bound to generate a lot more body heat and sweat. It really sucks getting chilled from sweat soaked layers.


So, I wore a wool long sleeved jersey, full length riding tights (not thermal), regular socks/shoes, full finger gloves, light weight head band/ear cover, normal helmet, and a 3-season jacket. The jacket is not super expensive...no desirable pit zips, lol, and, it's not one I would choose for harder effort, as it has few panels to allow air/excess moisture to pass through than my better jacket (that also lacks pit zips) to keep air circulating/less moisture retention, however, it's a good choice for a moderate effort when it's down right cold.


Last night's training ride was just miserable...looks like it's going to be just as terrible tonight. 40's, windy, raining....... I dressed with my better jacket....it's merely water resistant, so where it has panels at the elbow to "breathe" I got some wet in the hour plus I was out there, some sweat cause I was pushing it hard to get done as quickly as possible...legs were soaked from the rain, but didn't feel it while riding. Shoe covers are a god sent....feet were dry, and warm. So, you can always throw on a set of shoe covers to help block wind, they don't seem to bother me as temps warm up, as I've used them in the summer as well during rainy wet rides.


Good luck, and have fun.

It's very individual. While riding The Heck of the North (Northern Minnesota) this past Saturday, we talked about you're either cold at the start of hot at the end. We had frost at the start line and finished around 55F, sunny all day, light winds in the afternoon.

Here's my kit for the 108-mile day:

summer team kit
Smartwool base layer top
team wind-vest (removed at mile 58)
nordic ski gloves (removed at mile 40)
DAMn swag neck buff
Pearl Izumi knee warmers
Darn Tough snowboard socks
'warm' cycle cap - it's a cotton cap, thicker/warmer than a summer cap
* I typically need less clothing to be comfortable and I pushed it hard on this ride

You can see my finish line kit pic in this thread:
https://www.bikeforums.net/fatbikes/...t-fatbike.html -

My best recommendation is: layers. And make it easy to remove or vent as the ride warms up.