fall/winter cycle clothing

[Megustalaplaya]

I ordered the PI barrier covers for my shoes but gosh, they are tight! I think I may send them back for a medium. The chart said that a small would fit a shoe <39 and I wear a 38.

I went out for a ride today when it was 32 degrees and cloudy. I wore a thermal baselayer, thermal jersey, thermal tight, and a skullcap under the helmet and my core was just fine. For my feet I put 3 layers of newspaper under the shoe liner, wore a thermal wool sock, a grocery bag and then my shoes with a toe cover. My feet were warm enough for the 7 miles I did. I could have ridden farther but my fingers were painfully cold. So cold it was getting difficult to shift. Had to cut the ride short because of it. I am very encouraged that my feet were okay today!! Now I just have to fine a solution for my fingers and I just may be set for winter! So excited!

[Catrin]

The barrier covers are supposed to be very tight - can you get them on at all? I need to use a good amount of force to get them on my shoes...it does get a little easier.

[Crankin]

If your hands and feet are still cold and you are requiring that much to keep your feet warm, you need different booties and different socks. Also, I have used chemical feet and hand warmers when my combination of gloves and shoes weren't warm enough. I know that booties and winter gloves are expensive, but I've been able to get several different, good things by trolling internet sites for sales. Personally, I would not want to ride with stuffed newspaper and plastic bags in my shoes! Now that I have winter shoes for both my pedal systems, it's just the shoe, woolie bully socks, and when necessary, chemical warmers. For years, I used Ibex wool liners under lighter weight full fingered gloves. Now, I have a mid level pair of warm gloves, that are mens' but run small (Mavic), and the PI Am-Fibs that are extremely warm, but don't interfere with shifting. I couldn't handle the lobster gloves; it just felt too weird. I gave them to my son, who has small hands for a guy.

[Megustalaplaya]

Catrin, yes I can get them on but they seemed so darn tight.

Crankin, which winter shoes are you using?

I'll look into the am fib gloves. How do they run size wise? I'm finding that with gloves I'm needing mediums and they are smidgen tight when I first put them on. Larges tend to be too big but they would probably allow for a thin liner and chemical warmers.

I'm thinking that with all I spent on winter cycling clothing I could have just bought a good trainer. But then I would miss the crispness of the air, the sun when it's out, and the smell of the leaves and trees.

[Catrin]

Tight is good I've AmFib tights but not gloves. I need new gloves this year...

[Crankin]

My winter shoes for my road (Speedplay X) pedals are Shimanos and for my Frog pedals are Northwave Artics, with GoreTex. I had a lot of trouble finding winter shoes with mountain bike cleat compatible cleats in my small size, 37. I had to order both of the above from an on line shop in the UK. However, I have 2-3 different booties for my regular shoes, and those, with woolie bullies, and chemical heaters were fine in temps down to 30 or so.
Well, I have gone to wearing bigger gloves... I started in x smalls and now wear a medium in all gloves. I am petite and don't have man hands, but my fingers are long. The Am Fibs run normal for the size. My hands start aching with any tightness of the gloves!

[Hartmame]

I started this thread last year and didn't ride very far into fall. I think my last out door ride was on thanksgiving. I did a 12 mile family ride. This year we've already had some really cold temperatures and even snow. I used my wicking t-shirt, long sleeve jersey, wind breaker combo quite a bit already. This past spring I added a heavier cycling jacket to my winter clothing and hadn't used it until we had that snow fall last week. It wasn't as air tight as my wind breaker but was plenty warm for the 32 to 47 degrees that I rode in that day. I had picked up a pair of wind resistant gloves last fall that don't seem to help at all below 45 so I picked up some regular gloves at Kohls. I cant remember the brand but they had the little threads on the fingertips to be used with a smart phone. I thought my hands would get cold but I was fine. My only problem was my feet. Between 50 and 45 degrees just slipping my feet into bags before I put on my shoes to cut the wind seemed to do the trick but after the cold last week I've decided to find some shoe covers. I hope they do the trick. I never considered using toe covers with the shoe covers and I might try that if the shoe covers alone don't keep my feet warm enough. I'm hoping to ride longer this year than I did last year.