Originally Posted by
pjsingh
Thanks everyone for the suggestions/anecdotes. We currently live in Toronto but are originally from Montreal. We ride year round and have been doing so for some years, like most people in these parts we seem to have have clothing for every 10 decrees change in temperature.😀
It looks like for this trip we'll be buying as we go, that seems to be the easiest, safest and most hassle free way to go, and yeah a good way to pick souvenirs ( thanks gauvins).
I bring a down vest and a thin stocking cap on all of my trips. I find that the down vest is very versatile, if I am slightly chilled in the evening I can put that on but I might still we wearing shorts and short sleeves in the campsite. But a down vest under a rain jacket can be quite warm when it gets colder. It certainly would not be adequate for the minus 10 degree C conditions that you anticipate, but it could be a good item to have in the transition zones. I remember even wearing my down vest in the Florida Everglades when I was there in Feb 2017 in the evening after sunset.
I started using a sleeping bag liner several years ago, for one thing I found that it can be quite nice in hot weather to function as a sleeping bag by itself. Or I can use the liner in warmer weather while I am partly in the warmer rated sleeping bag. Some people think a liner makes a sleeping bag warmer but I do not think it helps much in that regard. I mostly like to have it to give me a wider range of temperatures.
When I ride in cooler weather, I find that a neck gaiter can be very warm, but it packs down to nearly nothing. For cycling in colder weather I have some long finger gloves that can be converted to mitts. I find these gloves are really nice to have in cold rain. I think mine are four or five years old now. These have no padding on the palms but that means they dry out faster after a rainy day and they pack down to almost no volume at all. But these would not be good enough below freezing, you would need something else for that.
https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CLPXHW...le-race-gloves