Riding Comfortably in Cold Weather

Question

I'd like to keep riding as the temperatures drop but below 55°F/13°C I'm just not comfortable in my synthetic shorts, t-shirt and sun sleeves. I really hate wearing anything more than that because when I add pants or a long sleeved shirt they just trap sweat in and I end up biking in a nasty swampy sauna. If that's the only way to bike in cold weather I'm just not going to do it.

Any suggestions on how to stay warm and dry at the same time?

What clothes would you wear to bike between 55°F/13°C and 35°F/2°C (usually mostly sunny with annoyingly high/changing wind gusts)?

Answer 1

Layers - not just for Ogres and Onions.

In winter our temps may be as low as -5 degrees C, and can be wet or dry(frosty)

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When you're cold, your body heat tends to stay in your torso, leaving your extremities to get cold. The solution is to have wind-resistant gloves, arm covers, pants, and shoes/covers.

At the same time you can get away with a jacket that would leave you cold if you were standing still. Your exercising will generate heat to warm your central-core.

When starting out, you should have doubts in the first few minutes about whether you're wearing enough. After that, you should warm with the exercise until you hit equilibrium.

Then while riding, open a zip some to ventilate. On longer rides where the temperature will change, have a base layer under the jacket so that you could remove the jacket entirely if it warms up.

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WET

Riding in the rain is hard work. You have added friction/weight from wet cloth, but decreased friction in tyres and brakes. Water-soaked clothes are colder because they loose heat faster.

On the other hand, wearing rain-proof clothes means you're often trapping the sweat of riding, and end up drenched in your own fluids rather than clean rain or dirty road water. "Par-boiled" or "Sous Vide" would be apt descriptions.

I have no good solution here, other than have spare clothes at your destination and ideally a hot shower, and leave early enough to have time at the far end. I'll generally allow 25% longer commute time on a wet day unless its a tailwind.

Some people just ride in the rain like a dry day and accept they get wet. Others choose to cover up. Either way, mudguards/fenders cut the dirty road water down by 90% and are a good idea for rain rides.

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HEAD/FACE

This one is quite personal. Some people are uncomfortable covering up. My method is

• Casket/cap with a visor (most of my commutes are into the sun, so I need the eye-shielding)
• Wrap around cycling glasses. I have prescription lenses, so I have to wear some glasses. The wraparound ones stop cold air from whipping around the side and chilling my eyeballs making them water.
• Neck-buff. A tube of light stretchy fabric that covers my mouth and ears downward. I breath through this, which helps warm the face. My nose is generally left exposed, otherwise the glasses fog up faster.

Answer 2

You have struck on the basic challenge with dressing for cold-weather riding: you need to trap some heat, but not too much. How much is "too much" depends on your level of exertion, the temperature, and what you're comfortable with. You also need to let sweat evaporate.

Down to 65°F (18°C), I'm comfortable with summer-weight cycling gear. In the range of about 55–65°F, I trade my light jersey for a thermal jersey. 45–55°F (7–13°C), I wear cool-weather gloves, trade my shorts for thermal knicker-length tights, and probably wear a base layer under the jersey. Below 45°F (7°C), I trade the jersey for a cold-weather jacket. And so on.

All this cool- and cold-weather cycling apparel is designed to wick sweat and pass some body heat; often there are vents that you can zip or unzip as needed. This is not a product-recommendation site, and admittedly getting All The Gear for cold-weather riding can be kind of expensive, but it makes a big difference in comfort.

T-shirts and other street clothes made of cotton are not good for cycling in because they hold on to sweat. They get clammy and uncomfortable. Cotton also loses its insulating ability when it's wet.

Answer 3

Between 5°C and 15°C I wear:

• Headband
• Castelli Gabba short sleeve windstopper jersey
• Arm warmers (pretty warm ones, made by Craft)
• Thin, windproof gloves
• Summer cycling bib shorts
• Leg warmers (same as the arm warmers)
• Waterproof socks or overshoes or toe covers on my summer cycling shoes

The great thing about these clothes is the flexibility. You can roll down the arm warmers, put the leg warmers into the jersey pockets, unzip the jersey a bit and it’s fine up to 20°C. With everything worn on your body even a slight drizzle or cold wind at 5°C is okay, even when doing descents at 70km/h. The only “disadvantage” is that while the Castelli Gabba is amazing it has zero insulation and you quickly get cold if you have to stop for some reason. There are softshell jackets which have some insulation (at least a fleece inside) and allow you to wear some kind of insulating base layer shirt underneath.

Answer 4

I agree with Criggie that multiple layers are best. I personally ride in t-shirt down to below 10°C (50°F), but do almost always take a small backpack with me, so generally have some warmer clothes with me (and rain protection) just for when they're needed. But you may of course find this a bit of a hassle.

If you want to do it with only one set of clothes, then I'd go with fine merino wool. It's expensive and a bit overhyped, but it does actually work pretty amazing in colder temperatures: warms, but not too much, still lets lots of air through, and doesn't lose its warmth when wet.

Answer 5

In contrast to other given answers, I prefer a "reverse" type of dressing (adding more clothing):

Before switching to long sleeves or jackets, I add (1) hat or headband, (2) scarf, and (3) gloves. This ensures that sensitive areas (ears, throat, lungs, hands) which easily suffer from cold are kept warm, while preserving ventilation in areas where I sweat easily.

In my experience wearing a hat, scarf, and gloves significantly lowers the temperature at which I have to begin wearing long sleeves.

Answer 6

That's because 13°C is still warm weather. You are probably confusing a little bit of wind chill with cold.

You might try a shirt with long sleeves and very light fabric to stop the wind on the arms. Same with the trousers. You better ignore the fashion and avoid tight fitting suits, a small layer of air between the fabric and you skin is welcome, you just need to stop the wind.

The classic problem is when you have tracts exposed to the wind and tracts more protected, when the wind falls is usually the moment you start to sweat. If you don't want to dress and undress many times in the colder tracts stay with the shorts and push harder, you'll warm up with the effort.

Answer 7

I have just finished an endurance race in this exact temperature range, maybe very slightly warmer. Most of the time I regretted bringing a thick winter jacket, a thin one would be more propper most of the time and I had to carry it stowed in the backpack.

During the day a thin long thermal long-sleeved baselayer with a normal summer jersey over was great. At night I either wore just the short jersey and the jacket or all three only in the coldest moments.

I used winter long bib trousers from the SuperRoubaix fabric all the time. They are not the thickest I have, but significantly thicker than summer lycra. At the coldest moments my knees would have liked a bit more and even in the day when I rolled up my top sleeves I was not too hot in the bibs.

I wore only thin long gloves with summer gloves over them. Then I had a neck warmer and a head scarf. Thicker gloves remained in my pockets as did a cross-country skiing thin skull cap.

My feet had summer shoes, thick overshoes and thicker wool socks.

For continuous rain more would have been necessary. I had a good rain jacket, but the rain was too strong and I chose to hide and wait under a roof and a tarp instead.

Answer 8

I wear an ear cover in any weather as it provides a sweatband and helmet padding, even if it is not needed for warmth. I first change to a short sleeve wool jersey from poly, having already donned a very light windbreaker jacket. My next change is to wear leg warmers, which is probably 18C. I then go to long sleeve light wool jersey, and then heavy poly jersey. Next is heavy full finger gloves and then a neoprene hat. Finally I put a short sleeve poly shell under the heavy poly long sleeve jersey. That gets me to 40F, 5C. I know some others who put more on top before going to leg warmers. Your preferred sequence may vary. It seems it might make sense to put on a heavier windbreaker along the way, but I haven't had the need.

Answer 9

For my 12km autumn commutes down to 2C in dry weather I used to wear a long arm base layer, my regular jersey, bib shorts, good gloves, and a thin headband under my helmet.

Plus, and that's important, a sheet of paper between jersey and base layer. The sheet kept me from freezing for the first 3 km. At that point I was warm enough too pull it out without having to slow down.

For humid, foggy, or rainy days I would also wear leg warmers, a second merino base layer, a cap, a gilet, and/or over shoes. I have a softshell jacket but only wore it during the worst weather, overheating was too much of an issue.

I went at high intensity throughout, since I couldn't avoid a few high intensity segments, for example, hills or weaving into traffic. Those still leave me drenched in sweat when dressing for a low intensity ride. Being wet at low intensity is worse than thin cloth at high intensity.

Important, when wearing very little, I bought a thin rain jacket in my pocket and an emergency blanket (aluminised mylar) on the bike to avoid hypothermia after incidents that stop me.

Answer 10

The following is my opinion about, and how I practice, winter cycling. If you disagree, please post an answer with your opinion.

====By degrees====

----No risk of frost----

Riding on a road bike with the usual tires

Down to 15°C~60°F

• A (thin) long-sleeve jersey

Down to 10°C/50°F

• A thin wind-breaking hat under the helmet
• Full-finger, wind-sealing, gloves
• A thermal long-sleeve jersey
• Thin bib pants or thin cycling pants
• Neoprene (or other) shoe covers

Down to 5°C~40°F

• (1) Baselayer top (or thermal cycling jersey)
• A light wind-breaking jacket, with a ventilated back
• Cycling pants, bib pants, or fleeced bib pants
• Winter gloves
• Wool socks

Note:

• At this point it will be all too easy to omit packing water. Don't!

Down to 2°C~35°F

• A jacket, ideally with zippers to customize heat- and sweat-escape

----Risk of frost----

Riding on any bike that can take studded tires

Down to -2°C/28°F

• Studded tires (on hybrid, gravel, moutain, or fat- bike) — a 5-meter stretch of black ice on a 30-km ~ 20-mile ride is enough to take you down.
• (1) A baselayer top and bottom
• (3) Winter cycling boots over regular cycling socks (attaching with SPD, not SPD-SL)
• Skiing gloves

Down to -5°C~25°F

1. A balaklava—both to protect the face and to warm the air before breathing it
2. Glasses are even more critical, as they will protect the eyeballs from incoming wind
3. Wool socks under winter cycling boots
4. (2) Heated (chemical, electric) gloves

Down to -10°C~15°F

• A skiing helmet handily solved a difficult problem I was having. The eyes get so cold from the draft incoming on the side of cycling/vision glasses, it becomes necessary to blink for increasingly longer durations, which is by itself dangerous. Skiing goggles, which fit by design a skiing helmet, solve this problem nicely. A skiing helmet does reduce side visibility, but just like one adapts while skiing by glancing occasionally left/right to make sure no crazy skier is flying down the slopes, one also adapts by glancing sideways while biking.
• Heated (chemical, electric) gloves at a higher setting
• A midlayer

Below -10°C~15°F

Switch to skiing and enjoy warming up frequently.

----Notes----

What is a baselayer?

Since you mention you grew up in warmer climate, it's worth stressing that a "baselayer" is not at all the same thing as "long johns" (or their equivalent top). Long johns are made from cotton. They accumulate sweat during a workout and make one shiver. A baselayer is made from a technical fabric that keeps one dry by pulling sweat away from the skin. A quality baselayer is expensive, but it will last a long time. For very cold weather you'll need one made from Merino wool. Otherwise synthetic fibers are enough.

What is a midlayer?

A midlayer is a generic term for a fleece sweater, or anything you wear between a baselayer and a jacket/windbreaker.

Above/below freezing

You didn't ask about riding in sub-freezing temperatures, but I went ahead and summarized those as well, partly as a note to myself because I still occasionally over-dress and return home from a winter ride with a soaked back.

Frostbite

Frostbite is a dangerous condition. If it's below freezing and you can no longer feel your fingers, take shelter and put your hands under cold or tepid (never hot) water.

Cost

Accumulating so many clothing items for cycling is expensive. I numbered the three most important items.

You can delay winter cycling boots by inserting aluminum foil underneath your soles. It will reflect heat back to your feet. (This is not a permanent solution; the foil disintegrates every one or two rides.)

You can avoid winter cycling boots if you buy MTB cycling shoes that are one size too large, wear lavishly thick wool socks, and wear wind covers over the shoes. This is basically how winter cycling shoes are constructed. Their main advantage is to make it possible to get ready more swiftly.

Black

With so many different items of clothing, avoid the color black, or else you will only see a sea of black on your shelves, and it will be hard to discern one item from another without unfolding. The alternative is to use labeled organizer buckets. (Same problem with white, but cycling clothing is not commonly in this stain-prone color.)

Wind

Wind is a much bigger problem. As a rule of thumb, wind speed of 30-40 kph ~ 15-25 mph is the limit for a tolerable "wind chill" (the temperature as we feel it, taking into account the wind's cooling effect).

A thermometer

Glancing at the reading of a remote thermometer positioned in the shade just outside your dwelling is much more helpful than the forecasted temperature or that at the nearest airport.

You'll still need to refer to the weather report for the expected wind speed.

Answer 11

Recently discovered that there are some Nordic style sweaters that work well in a very wide range of temperature, somewhat from 15-18 °C till about 8 - 9 °C on E-bike (for ordinary bike, this would likely translate to colder temperatures). Most you need to change is to put gloves on or off, and have some cover for the rain if it lasts longer.

They are quite heavy and purpose designed to be worn outdoors where you would normally wear a jacket. They have wind-stopping membranes in the inner side so the the wind does not go through when picking up the speed.

Answer 12

It seems a bit like you are trying to compensate wind chill with material thickness, even though you typically don't need as many layers as you would when you just walk in the park. Plus, cotton (as often used for casual clothing) might be a good pick for everyday clothing but not so much for sports wear - we all know the funny pictures of 80's joggers in soaked light-grey trainers.

If wind is the constant factor, you probably need a good wind-proof jacket to prevent cooling off from that, but since your temperature range is still in the single-digit degrees and in the sun, you don't need full-padded/insulated winter gear. Under the jacket, you could wear a light jersey and a base layer. You don't need a fancy 100$ piece from a major brand, my experience is that even stuff from the sports discounter does a decent enough job in heat and sweat management paired with layers of functional clothing over it.

After all, working out at certain intensity, your body core will heat up and it is more about keeping the heat to a degree and avoiding sweating too much. Functional clothing will do that, you might still sweat but it'll dissipate the heat and sweat better so that you don't overhead or are soaked in sweat. Your clothing is probably right when you are cold just standing around but don't feel uncomfortable while riding.

If shorts are too cold but pants too warm, 3/4 cycling pants might be a good compromise. In my case, legs are where I an tolerate cold the best, I sometimes ride in conditions <10°C with short bibs and that's fine for my as long as my hands/feet and body core are warm (enough).

Please note that initially, you'll always feel a bit cold and are tempted to think you are underdressed, I have that on every ride in autumn conditions, regardless if on my morning commute or a ride on my road bike. It takes a couple of minutes to get the body to heat up and the right amount of layers will keep that in balance.

My personal experience is that while the body can usually deal with being a bit cold, it is extremities like hands, feed and your head/neck are more sensitive to cold conditions, in 0-10°C there is nothing wrong about riding with medium-padded gloves, a scarf and a headband to cover your ears.