CafeVelo

Winter is coming, and I'm again faced with layering up for the next six months or so. I've always ridden year round, and I've always sucked at it. Last year I ended up in the LBS I work in (it was the closest place I could stop) with mild hypothermia even though I was wearing all the garments I had.

This year I'm not going to be hypothermic. I'm not. I need some suggestions for garments to wear through winter. In Ohio, the biggest problem through winter is the howling winds that go over the flat landscape, making wind proof garments a must.

Down to about 40°-45°, I'm generally good with thermal tights and a long sleeve jersey. My feet get cold so I think I'm going to get some shoe covers. Below that is where things start to fall apart, which is unfortunate since that's most of the winter. What does everyone else wear through the foul seasons?

A caveat: I'll order these things through work if possible so Giro, Giant, and Bellwether garments are preferred.

dalava

I have no experience with Giro/Giant/Bellweather gears, so can't speak specifically to them. Here is what I use for between somewhere between 20-30 degrees:
- a skull cap that covers ears (or a balaclava if it gets closer to 20 degrees)
- a neck gator that can be pulled up to cover part of your faces (no need if wearing a balaclava)
- a windproof jacket: the Castelli Gabba convertible that works wonders
- a long-sleeve baselayer: the Craft thermal baselayer is great, very warm and don't trap moisture
- bib tights that has windproof front: the Castelli Sorpasso Wind can get me through pretty much as low as I ever want to ride including single digits
- shoe covers: I use the Gore ones with the WindStopper material
- wool socks
- windproof insulated gloves: Giro makes a great one for my hand size/shape. I don't remember the model, it's from their city riding range, not the normal racing stuff.

doctor j

When the air temperature was less than or equal to 32, I used several articles of clothing. Most of my cold weather rides were after-work, recreational rides in darkness. You may find that for the same air temperature, the presence of sunlight makes a difference in the clothing one wears.

1. The outer layer was always a wind jacket, regardless of anything else I was wearing. Cold air has a way of cutting through just about anything except a wind jacket.
2. I wore a smart wool neck gaiter which kept the cold wind from getting in around my neck.
3. I wore a balaclava which I put on over the neck gaiter.
4. I wore a polyester, long-sleeve T-shirt, fairly loose fitting, next to my skin. It's a BCG that I got at Academy Sports.
5. I wore a medium-weight base layer under my jersey and over the polyester Tee. The one I liked the best had really long sleeves and had thumb holes in the sleeves so that the sleeves stayed down on my arms and went under my gloves. I got this base layer from L.L. Bean. Given that the sleeves stopped around my knuckles, there was a good air seal from my gloves all the way up my arms.
6. On the hands I wore a pair of smart wool gloves liners topped off with lobster mitts or long-finger gloves, depending on how cold it was outside.
7. On the feet, I wore a pair of sock liners, a pair of Woolie Boolies, and perhaps a pair of heavy wool socks over the Woolie Boolies. When the temperatures got around 25 or less, I would add chemical toe warmers, the type that adhere to one's socks.
8. For lower temperatures, I wore wind-front tights, although they weren't my favorite. They worked at keeping the cold air from getting to my legs, but they bound me up, and it was more difficult to pedal. For really cold (for me), I would wear a medium weight base layer under the wind tights. Then, I was really bound up.
9. On night rides, I wore a pair of clear plastic safety glasses to keep the cold air away from my eyes as much as possible.

I am somewhat of a cold-weather wuss; therefore, compared to others, I probably over-dressed. Based on the layers I used, I could unzip things if I started getting too warm.

It took a few years of experimentation to get everything right, but I was able to ride down to 13 F and survive.

OK, I just looked at dalava's post, and forgot to mention the skull cap covering the ears and some toe covers for the shoes.

ciderguy

My current climate in Georgia is colder than my previous experience in Oregon. We had a very cold morning recently that approached freezing and it allowed me to try out some warmer clothing on my commute. I wore lightweight wool boxers(4oz) under medium-heavy weight wool tights (9oz) with DeFeet Wooly Boolie Socks. Up top, I had a lightweight wool long sleeve shirt (4oz) with a cotton dress shirt over it. I wore Pearl Izumi Impact gloves. Under my helmet I had on a Gore Bike Wear windstopper cap. I was so warm that I ended up unbuttoning the dress shirt about 3 miles into the ride. In the future I'll probably just add a second layer of 4oz wool shirt and put the dress shirt into my panniers.

So, judging by how warm I was, roughly 8-9oz of wool seems to be warm enough for me in dry windy weather down to about 20F. I'll be looking to add a 8-9oz wool longsleeve shirt for days I don't want to layer, and some warmer gloves just in case. I figure if it rains, I'll just put my standard summer rain gear on top.

My advice is that wool is warm, and Gore Windstopper works well.

Seattle Forrest

If you actually got hypothermia while riding your bike, and you live in a place with dry winters, get a cheap down jacket or vest and keep it in a stuff sack in one of your water bottle cages.

Doctor Morbius

Here's my winter wardrobe ...



Screw that cold weather crap!

bikemig 

The key to figuring out what works is experimenting. Winter is tough and I went through a variety of different clothes before figuring out what works. Shoes were pretty much a non-issue for me as I use insulated boots and platform pedals. Gloves were really tough. What ended up working for me was finding a pair of oversized mittens with a rainproof (and windproof) lining that mountaineers use with a liner glove. The chest is the other important area. I picked up a softshell with a gorewindstopper and it worked great with the proper layers underneath. When its really cold, I use a down sweater and thermal underwear underneath the softshell.

I know you want to buy gear from the store you work in, but, bike clothing is not, in my experience, necessarily the best for very cold weather. Most people just don't ride in the middle of winter. A lot of people engage in mountain sports and there you'll find a better selection of gear.

bikemig 

Windproof? check. Waterproof? check. Hypothermia? nope.

Looks like you just solved the OP's problems.

dalava

+ Zwift = WINNING!

Seattle Forrest

Riding a bike is fun. Running is a chore. The hamster wheel (indoor trainer) is a chore.

joejack951

Yup, the really cold weather gear that has served me best is cross country skiing gear, save for my gloves which are skiing/mountaineering gloves. While it's difficult (for me) to ever be truly comfortable down in the single digit temps with wind chills well below 0, I've been able to find the right balance of clothing that allows me to stay out there for 1.5 hours at least.