I'd second Bleecker street girl on increasing ventilation and trying a silk or silkweight baselayer.

What sort of bra are you wearing? I switched to merino wool sports bras because almost every other sports bra I was using left me feeling cold & clammy around the chest after a ride in the cold. So the cold & clammy is concentrated around your breasts, maybe think about trying different sports bras.

You do sound like you're wearing too much. Just some suggestions - if you're going to put a windproof outercoating - use something that's only windproof in teh front or use something which has huge pitzips. My mammut ultimate hoody literally has the entire jacket unzip down to the waist from the pitzips. I just recently got an outdoor research Reflexa jacket that has the same feature. I think for the most part golite skimps on the pitzips because - it makes the jackets lighter. The other thing you can do is get basically a jacket that is windproof only on the front panel and breaths on the back. I've got an rei one that's softshell front, merino wool back. Marmot has their driclime windshirt (I highly recommend the driclime pants as well). Patagonia has the windtracker jacket, I think it's called. Another option is sort of like what you said - just use a windproof vest. Down vests that are made without any windproof/waterproof fabric are also a pretty good way to ventilate, because wind/air goes right through them.

I have a tendancy to overheat and sweat once I start doing cardio activity, so I really do end up not wearing a ton - maybe a thin merino wool layer with the ibex serrano jersey over it, then my mammut ultimate hoody, and a down vest to go on and off if needed. Thin wool hat(like a liner hat), I will put on over gloves, but if I'm working, I'll end up taking those off and using my manzella glove liners. Pants, I really like the ibex alpstars or some of the ibex softshell/wool mixtures. I tend to put on a pair of cloudveil walk dont run boxers (run don't walk?) and tall socks.

Quote Originally Posted by Crankin View Post
Increasing the ventilation makes sense. I think I am going to try and use only the Smart wool base layers for this week and see, as well as stick to thinner mid layers. I was wearing a very plush Terry fleece jersey as my mid layer when I experimented with the wool base on Monday. I think that one is just too thick and it promotes sweating. My jacket has sleeves that come off, so I could unzip a little, using the detachable sleeves like pit zips. That helps when cycling. I just get freaked out by hypothermia... probably listened too well when I went for my AMC leadership training. I am not shivering, but there's a lot of varying levels of exertion when I ski, which seems to affect me in the sweating department more than when I ride. And, there's, more stopping, at least for me, since I use a waist pack for my water, as I hated skiing with a Camelbak (and the fact that even the winter hose on that froze). And, it's when I am stopped, even for just a minute or so, that I feel damp. I also just ordered a merino hat. Right now I wear a fleece hat when it's 20+ and a wool hat with a fleece lining when it's below that, which keeps me warm, but that hat is really heavy.
Will report back after next weekend.