fall/winter cycle clothing

[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.

[shootingstar]

I start wearing Lobster claw gloves even when it's -8 degrees C and lower. I don't wear regular gloves at all.

Maybe some of you are cycling further in the winter.
I do ride down to -25 degrees C if there isn't much snow/ice on the pavement and haven't needed additional shoe covering. I have mountain bike shoes and use toe clips. At cold temperatures I'm doing no more than 8-15 km. per bike trip. It truly is functional riding only. That's enough.

[ny biker]

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.

Make sure the shoe covers are neoprene. I bought a pair of Pearl Izumi booties last spring (on sale) and they were not warm enough for me. Everyone I talked to about them advised me to get new ones that were neoprene. TE sells a pair from Leo Garneau for a great price. I bought them but haven't had a chance to try them in cold weather yet.

Until this year my minimum temp for cycling was 50 degrees. I'm working on getting comfortable with temps in the 40s. If that goes well I might try riding in colder weather than that. I'm planning to ask for warmer, more wind-resistant tights for Christmas, because my legs seem to feel the cold quite a bit. In the meantime I'm wearing DeFeet wool Kneekers (knee warmers) over Sugoi Midzero tights, which is not a great solution but it's better than being cold. So far my hands are okay with Bontrager wind shell gloves and Smartwool glove liners. Also I love my new wool cap -- the Ibex Coppi cap, which I also bought from TE.

[OakLeaf]

I don't think you want to combine toe covers with shoe covers. Some people have more trouble with toe compression than others, but I don't see how you could not have trouble if you use both.

Maybe find a cheap pair of shoes a size too big for the coldest weather. That way you could wear extra wool socks while still making sure they're plenty loose. (If you do that, make sure you get the shoe covers big enough for the larger pair.) The most important thing about keeping your feet warm is ensuring good circulation. My feet actually stay MUCH warmer with just one layer inside and one layer out, than they do if I try to over-stuff my shoes and wind up cutting off my circulation.

[Crankin]

Before I bought my winter shoes, I did use toe covers with booties over them, a few times. I wore thinner wool socks, and I always keep my shoes very loose to begin with. It did work for me, but was a pain in the azz.
This is my second year with winter shoes. I wore them today, even though it was not that cold (45-50). I didn't wear my heaviest socks, but still wool ones. My toes felt cool the whole time, and I am really wondering about the value of winter shoes! If it's below 40, I proably still will use chemical heaters. My toes seem to be the only things that don't warm up, below 50. For example, today I was wearing my mid-level full finger gloves and I would have changed them for the lighter ones, if I had ridden longer, as my hands were starting to sweat. But, it is nice to not have to struggle with the booties.

[lph]

That's a pity, Crankin. I really love my winter shoes. They're Shimano and not expensive, (though I'm secretly lusting for the top-notch Lake ones), but they're roomy and have a stiffer sole than my summer shoes, and keep my feet much warmer and more comfortable. Granted that's because I have pretty crappy summer shoes, but I look forward to the temperature dropping so much that I can go from summer shoes with booties to winter shoes!

[Crankin]

Well, the jury is out, still. My road winter shoes have been worn quite a bit; they are Shimanos, same as my regular shoes. They are very comfortable. I think I am so used to my feet being burning warm from using the chemical heaters so much in the past years, that I need to tolerate being cool, as opposed to cold. The winter shoes i have that are for my Frog pedals (mountain) are Northwave and are much heavier. I've only worn them a couple of times, as I got them at the end of last winter. Before that, I had the PI Gore Alp-Xs for my Frogs and they were not very compatible, as feet kept flying out of the pedals. I had to order both of these from shops in the UK, because no one in the US carries winter shoes for women in a size 37. I got both for a great price, with no shipping.
DH has the Lakes and they look like they could heat a house! Seriously, he only wears them when it's in the 30s or below. He kept his other shoes and uses them for in between temperatures.