Cool Weather Riding Gear: Head and Hands

[8bit]

I'm a southern girl who is currently living in Boston, so I've spent a lot of time working on my winter gear to keep me in my balmy happy zone.

I wear a thin fleece cap which covers my ears under my helmet, and over it I wear a water-resistant helmet cover. The inch of air space between those is a good bit of insulation.

For gloves, I go from full-fingered thin cycling gloves to some softshell gloves made by Seirus which have rubberized parts on the palm and thumb/forefinger, perfect for resting on the hoods- I wear these the majority of the time in the winter and they still look brand new. If it's really wet or cold, I go for the big puffy gloves with waterproof shells, and am glad that my cheapo Sora shifters have a thumb-shift lever that's easy to use with sausage-sized cold fingers!

As for feet, I prefer MTB shoes with a recessed cleat so shoe-covers just don't work. I discovered that using an old set of stretched-out shoes with neoprene waterproof socks over my regular socks will keep me dry in the worst of times and don't leave my feet soggy on an extended tour when the shoes will always soak up water, even in the shoe covers. With the waterproof socks, my shoes can be sopping and my feet are at most a little clammy from perspiration.

[Lise]

I get so freaking hot when running, and so freaking frozen when riding in cold weather! For running, I start out with a headband that's wider at the ears, and thin tech-fabric gloves. No matter how cold it is, I usually end up taking off both headband and gloves for the last part of the run.

On the bike, it's an entirely different story. I wear the headband under my helmet, and can add a thin wool cap. I have tried various glove combinations. I have full-fingered biking gloves, but sometime even don't keep my fingers from turning into popsicles. I just ordered some SmartWool glove liners. I <heart> the SmartWool products! I think I'm going to ask my family for an all-SmartWool-Christmas this year!

[7rider]

I get so freaking hot when running, and so freaking frozen when riding in cold weather! For running, I start out with a headband that's wider at the ears, and thin tech-fabric gloves. No matter how cold it is, I usually end up taking off both headband and gloves for the last part of the run.

On the bike, it's an entirely different story. I wear the headband under my helmet, and can add a thin wool cap. I have tried various glove combinations. I have full-fingered biking gloves, but sometime even don't keep my fingers from turning into popsicles. I just ordered some SmartWool glove liners. I <heart> the SmartWool products! I think I'm going to ask my family for an all-SmartWool-Christmas this year!

I'm not a runner, but I think that's a function of speed and wind? Maybe? I dunno!
For the fingers/hands. One think I discovered when mountainbiking in the winter (which I did before I started also road riding in the winter) was that no matter what I wore, my hands would be achingly cold. They would HURT soooo much. I hated it. But one day, when out with friends, I had a "eureka" moment. If I just stuck with it, gritted my teeth and hung with it (and every so often shook out my hands), I reached this threshold where my hands were no longer really cold and achy. I don't know when or what it is..bu suddenly, they were fine. It was like my hands reached some equilibrium. Just getting to that point sux, tho!