Essential winter commuting clothing/gear

[Selkie]

Aside from the days when there was snow/ice, I rode all through last winter. I used a polar buff under my helmet to keep my head/ears toasty, and on the days it was really cold, made it into a balacava to cover my face/neck. Usually three layers for my core: Craft thermal shirt, then jersey, then jacket. To keep my hands warm, chemical hand warmers and Amfib lobster-style gloves. Tights w/chamois and on particularly cold days, I'd layer leg warmers under them. Wool socks, chemical foot warmer, toe covers and good quality booties/shoe covers for my feet. The worst part of winter riding is cold hands/feet.
I would never ever ride if the roads/trails had enough ice/snow that it was hard to get around the slippery patches safely. It's not worth risking injury and possibly months off the bike.

[run it, ride it]

Am I the only one who commuted last winter and totally winged it? That was rhetorical. I'm young and crazy like that.

As a student in a small univeristy city, I got fed up with unreliable public transit and most often opted to take my 70s road bicycle to campus. Man, was I glad when I got fenders on that thing.

I usually ended up in running shoes, tights, jeans, glittens (gloves with the flip-up mitten part) a few zip-up sweatshirts and an autumn jacket (couldn't afford a winter jacket for myself--horse got a brand new winter blanket instead).

The weather of course ranged from -5 to -35 celcius (23F to -21F), and that was before the chill of the unrelenting, numbing wind that tore through every fibre of one's being. The snow was thick and wet and deep, but through the magic of snow removal equipment and salt, bare pavement existed below a few inches of slush in the bicycle lane (this was entirely new to me--at home they just plow and sand; you just learn to drive on a layer of snow. And yes, I learned to bike on it, too. Just never, EVER hit the brakes.).

You'd see the odd bicycle around campus from the other odd commuter. Or maybe from someone who just abandoned their bike there; with the general quality of university student mounts, you never can tell. But they were all thick-tired, heavy, capable mountain bikes.

Not me! I came chugging up on that road bicycle entirely out of its element, skidding every which-way, gears slipping from rust and salt encrustation.

Mind you, the commute was only 5km and most of that was uphill. And young skin bounces back quick from frost bite.

[Geonz]

You totally rock

You are so right that you can get away with a lot in 5 km. especially with the exercise factor. I'm always telling people that I'm **way** warmer on my bicycle than they are standing at the bus stop!!

My skin gets pretty flaky, pretty fast, though, with the exposure. Need that essence of whale blubber or something...

I almost always did t-shirt, sweatshirt, and two jackets... and was fine. No special gear... no wicking... just LAYERS.

[Selkie]

one last thing--actually I'm echoing someone else's advice--invest in a good, high quality headlight, a tail light, and some extra little lights. You cannot be lit up enough.