chefisaac

Hello all. This is my first year commuting in the cold. Actually, this morning was my third morning commuting by bike. I love it.

But my toes being cold really does suck. This morning it was 26 degrees out and my commute is 11 miles one way which is about 50 minutes for me on my mtn bike.

I do have clipless pedals and would like to keep them (versus going to platform).

My question is: how do you all keep your toes warm? Mine get so cold. I tried a pair of wool socks, a bag over them and this morning I tried plastic wrap over the wool socks but still cold.

Also. what are you all wearing for the power half of your body?

BeastRider

Layers, layers, layers. And if you are still "clipping in" that could be a part of the problem. I use platforms all year long and I don't "clip in"....EVER. But I have seen the shoes and, frankly, they don't appear to be winter worthy.

As for me I wear insulated work boots with multiple pairs of socks and, sometimes, a plastic bag in between my barefoot and the socks to help keep the warmth in. When I lived in the midwest and would often ride in below zero weather I would wear Mukluks.

Stealthammer

Neoprene booties. Lycra booties will help some, but nothing beats neoprene. You can still use your clipless pedal and walk as normally as you currently do in whatever shoes you use, but cold and wet are severly limited. So much so in fact that I am looking for neoprene-backed gloves.

Tip: In really cold weather you can drop one of the hand warmer packs in the toe area of your shoe as well. They seem to work well for an hour or so.

As for your legs: Pearl Izumi AmFIB tights hand down. They are the best cold weather tights made, bar none.

chefisaac

steal:

Thanks for the advice. Thinking of trying to get Lakes Boots for cycling but we will see.

I am not sure the Pearls will fit me. I am 6 foot 4 inches and 340 pounds.

sknhgy 

I don't clip. For comfort I'll use the chemical warmers inside of sneakers. Really cold and I have a pair of insulated hiking boots, one size too big. Only thing about the boots is they are heavy. Also, chemical warmers would get expensive if you are commuting each day. I'd go with platforms and boots if it was me doing your commute.

Gonzo Bob

Special winter shoes will help a lot. I actually use a pair of Specialized Rockhoppers that I don't think are really intended for winter. But the uppers are solid suede leather, and with wool socks I have ridden down to -7F comfortably. Note: they are for MTB clipless pedals.

They look a lot like these but they are all black https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mens-Special...item2c5d0d9c7c

goalieMN

Tried that. Finally said screw it and went to platform pedals with insulated boots. It made life a whole lot easier......and warmer.

paul2432

It's been said before but bears repeating. Loose fitting shoes will keep your feet warmer. Too tight and you compress insulation and reduce circulation.

I've heard of people wrapping the foot in aluminum foil (like wrapping a baked potato). I have no idea if this is effective.

One other tip. If your feet are really cold, get of the bike and run with it a few minutes. That should warm up the feet in a hurry.

Paul

bikenh

I asked this same question a few weeks ago and Machka came back with his reply and his website on winter cycling. Can't remember the link right off hand. From what I have seen thus far and heard thus far you need the wind break. Like I said with my first winter century post last night, I think the wind shell would have kept me from having the frozen nuts.

Neoprene does a fabulous job at both keeping the water and the wind off. I just got my neoprene shoe cover, Pearl Izumi Amfib's, today in the mail. I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow to try them out.

One thing you will notice over time is how used to the cold you can get if you continue to put yourself out there. The body will acclimate to it. My feet get cold and I notice it but it doesn't bother me much anymore. I can ride without the face covered over, no beard/mustache or face mask/balaclava with temps at or below freezing and after the first several minutes I don't even realize my face is cold anymore.

The key tricks Machka points out on his winter cycling website is to make sure and keep the ankles and wrists warm. They control the body/feel temperature of your feet and hands. I do tend to believe this after switching over to the ragg wool gloves the past couple of days. My hands have been way the heck warmer then what they ever used to be. I'm still trying to figure out how to protect the ankles though. I think with the booties that I may have a bit better of a way of keeping the feet warm now since I do the capability of keeping the wind off them.

I have heard both sides of the story. One side says you need to have the moisture and keep it warm and the other side says you have to wick the moisture away as the moisture will cause your body to cool down even faster. Right now I'm wicking the moisture away. Last year...and back last month I was always putting on one pair of socks, admittedly cotton, and then putting a shopping bag over the top of it and then putting on another pair of socks. When I would get home the outer sock would be dry and the inner sock would be anywhere from slightly wet to quite wet depending on how warm/wet it was out. My feet were always cold. I've had a few times in the past couple of weeks when my feet weren't cold at all at any point during the ride even when starting out at the freezing point with a nice head wind. Now I do the layering and keep the plastic completely away from the body altogether though. To have feet that were totally tolerable while doing a 100 mile ride yesterday I would have to say keeping the feet as dry as possible is probably the smarter way to go. Just make sure to find a way to keep the ankles warm. Also make sure to keep the wind off them. Wind will suck the heat out of you faster than you could ever imagine and you don't think a thing about it because the wind is always hitting you while you are riding...unless you get in a super stiff tailwind. If you can hear the wind blowing by you, its stealing the heat away from you unless you are preventing it from doing so.

Twonutz

Based on the insulating value of aluminum foil, this would only serve to keep the aliens away.

Myosmith

Actually, aluminum foil does a pretty decent job not of insulating per se, but reflecting heat. It is used in many insulating applications such as heat or cold producing appliances as an adjunct to fiberglass or other insulations. We use aluminized mylar caps on surgical patients and swaddlers for newborns. If someone made an aluminized mylar bootie that went over a wool sock and inside your shoe/boot I'd give them a try.

Myosmith

This side is dangerously incorrect. Moisture in any form, even very high humidity, reduces the effectiveness of insulation. Wool is probably the most effective insulation when wet and even that loses over half of its insulating power. Damp cotton is worthless in a cold exposure situation. You are better off naked and dry than wearing a damp cotton shirt. Moisture transmits heat, the exact opposite of what insulation is supposed to do. That's why you can stick you hand into a 140 degree F oven (just don't touch the metal) and it just feels really warm, but the same temperature water will scald you severely in seconds. At 65 degrees air is just cool, swimming in water at the same temperature is downright cold. Trapped dry air is your friend, trapped moisture is not. Fast drying / wicking fabrics are available inexpensively these days as every big box store has their own brand of sportswear. I have several long-sleeve wicking tech t-shirts from Target or Walmart that cost me around $12 each and they make a great base layer to well below freezing. When it gets below zero F I switch to lightweight polypropylene shirt and long johns. Though I've never ridden in -40F or colder weather, my job requires that I be out in those conditions from time to time and the choice there is dual layer undergarments with a polypropylene inner layer and a wool/poly outer layer.

bhchdh 

Your shoes need to be big enough to allow for good blood circulation, and for your insulating layer to do it's job.

simonaway427

Gortex socks - I have a pair that I wear over my normal fall weight wool cycling socks - difference is night and day.

globecanvas

I just sprung for a pair of Shimano MW81 winter boots and rode them for the first time last night. 1.5 hours of icy/wet single track riding and temp was about 20 degrees at the end of the ride. Worst case scenario, I put my foot down ankle deep into a bog and later fell full on into an icy mud puddle. I finshed the ride cold as hell but the shoes were total champs. My feet were downright toasty.

I bought the shoes a little big (I usually wear 43 or 43.5, I bought 44s), and wore medium thickness wool socks. My feet liked having room inside the shoe. If they had been any warmer they would have been too warm.

chefisaac

I was thinking about the shimano mw81 too.

I am entraining the idea of wearing sandals with different thicknesses of merino wool socks and neoprene socks and such. The thought is that I don’t need to worry about not having enough room, etc.

thoughts?

mbuckaway

As a competitive cyclist, I can't ride without being clipped in. Sorry, you just can climb or get any speed on puck pedals. Of course, my "commuter bike" is either my road or cyclocross bike. So, I guess I am not your average commuter.

I live in Toronto, ON, Canada, and I've been commuting 20KM (one way) since March. It has been about 0C (32F) average for about a month. I've used cycling shoes (both road and MTB shoes) with wool socks, neoprene socks over the wool socks, and thick shoe covers. When it gets cold out (my idea of cold is -5C), I add chemical warmers. The chemical warmers are the thing that keeps the toes from freezing - even on 3 hour rides at -5C (which I did a few times last winter).

I picked up NorthWave Celcius Arctic boots two weeks ago after eyeing them for about a year and I would never go back to the crap I used before. There this is nothing like strapping the boots on and going. They are waterproof (which I tested) and very warm. Of course, the true test will come when it gets to -10C out in February. I suspect chemical warmers will still be required on longer rides or when it gets blistery cold out.

Northwave stuff is hard to fine in N/A (or at least in Canada). I got my from the UK:

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/M...?ModelID=57565

I am a 46 normally and a 46 in these boots fit perfectly and included enough space for thick socks (ie they appear to be sized large).

Hope that helps.

Mark

hairytoes

Bikeh, you might like to know that Machka is a pretty young woman, not a bloke.

Now, back to topic.

Some SPD shoes keep the metal cleat really close to your foot. If the OP's shoes are like this, then the heat will be sucked out of their foot. They need to insulate their foot from the cleat - even some cardboard would help. Loose shoes, as suggested, wool socks and some sort of windproof overboot. I use SPD sandals with wool socks and neoprene overboot down to -15Celcius.

Lspade

When I use my cycling shoes in the winter I take bunches of paper towel and ductape them to my shoes. Paper towels = insulation, ductape = wind/water proof. I use bright purple ductape so that people notice my awesome idea .

Mithrandir

I think I agree with this. Been riding in the 30's for 2 months now and my hiking boots are awesome, but my new clipless shoes are like heat sinks, they siphon the heat out of my body. Will be switching to platforms again perhaps next week, as this week we've gotten a respite and the temperature is back in the 50's.

rumrunn6

chemical toe warmers between sock liner and sock. on top of toes not under like they recommend.

or the cheaper hand warmers in roomy shoes.

the more expensive warmers work better than the cheap ones

chemical toe warmers can be reused several times if kept in a tight airtight bag when not in use

Stealthammer

If you are wearing SPDs placing the back edge of chem pack over the cleat and forward edge under your toes works best, but polypropylene socks and neoprene booties are by far the best solution in extreme conditions.....

cyccommute 

Neoprene shoe covers are the way to go. The Performance brand is all I've used for nearly 15 years now because I haven't needed to buy any others...they wear like iron.

Amfib tights are the best cold weather tights around (get the bibs for extra heat retention) but be aware that the temperature range is limited. Great tights for 20F and below. They get uncomfortably warm at 30 F and down right sweltering above 40F.

Yes, you should run shoe that are a size or two larger in winter. You are using thicker socks and you don't want shoes that cut off circulation.

The aluminum foil isn't use to wrap the foot. I use aluminum foil furnace tape to line the bottom of the shoe to do two things. First, it seals the cleat so that water and, more importantly, cold doesn't infiltrate into the shoe. Second, the aluminum reflects heat back towards the foot. The first reason works very well. I'm a little dubious about the second reason.

I also add fleece insoles from the Vermont Country Store to insult under my foot.

Not quite the whole story. Moisture and moisture management is a fact of life when you are doing aerobic activities. You simply can't stay dry at your skin when you are doing something like bicycling. If you aren't moving around, being dry and warm is more important but when you are exercising, you are generating more heat and being slightly damp isn't that much of a problem. Don't stop moving, however.

Wicking fabrics move the moisture away from your skin but they do trap the moisture in the fabric. If they move the moisture away from your body, they carry heat with them. It's like the swimming analogy you used above. Water has a huge capacity to carry heat. Moving it away from your and out into the air carries a lot of heat with it. That's why you want to wear a wind barrier. It keeps the cold air from taking the moisture away from your body.

doco

I agree with some of the posters here and go with the platforms in winter, also a wicking poly base layer sock and then a wool sock layer will keep you warm

I was in the same boat 7-8 years ago, using spd's and my feet were always cold, switched over and problem solved

rumrunn6

wetsuits insulate in scuba diving because they trap a layer of water between you and the neoprene suit, your body warms that layer of water. just thought I'd throw that out there.