See these gloves? They are the best thing ever. Today it was 11 degrees on the ride in, most of the ride into a slow (but still there) headwind. My hands were sweaty when I pulled them off at work. I'm pretty sure I want to hug them.
You see ever since I started dropping weight, I found the one thing I have a problem with is my extremities and cold. Mostly, my hands and feet, they get cold fast/easily, and I can't stand how they feel when they do get cold. I've got probably 3 or 4 pairs of gloves, these are the first that consistently keep my hands (VERY) warm. And they aren't anything special, I got them at Cabelas, they call them the "GoreTex Thinsulate Glove" which is, you know, what they are. I would have ordered the very beefy sounding Pinnacle XL online, would have gotten them and realized they are stupidly bulky and probably sent them back. These things aren't too bulky, and are just.. warm. Seriously. Best $30 I've spent in a long, long, long time. If they made a bodysuit out of them, I'd buy that too.
But you know, based on costs, I bet it'd be like $5,000 or something. Which is just a leeetle too much.
This morning revealed I'm lacking in two areas still. My legs and the exposed part of my face. I've found myself dreaming while riding the past two days about Carhartt fleece/flannel lined duck pants. I had a pair a long time ago, and they were the warmest things ever. So warm you couldn't wear them inside, and outside unless it was below 40 you'd be sweating your face off. Low-tech old school work gear that keeps you warm and cozy. I may try jeans instead of the khakis I've been wearing, to see if that helps. It seems only below 20 do I start really getting chilled in the legs.
The face, I think I need either a scarf or a facemask. I have a nice columbia scarf, so I'm going to try that out tomorrow and see if it helps. My glasses keep freezing to my temple which is.. fun.. so I've been trying to find an option on that. Suggestions?
Interesting thing about the legs. In the spring/summer I generally start out slower on my rides than I end up. Seems like after about 5-7 miles I really get limber and start movin', but the opposite is true now. Seems like after 5-7 miles my legs get colder and I slow down. Heh.
I love winter :).
4 comments:
Those gloves look nice and toasty. Gotta have good gloves and shoes for the winter riding. A little tape covering the vents in the helmet help too.
Have fun and safe winter commute!
Have you tried a neck gaiter for the neck and face? Warm like a scarf but no loose ends. I picked up one at a local TJMaxx store for $4 that was thick polarfleece. They also had an under armour head cover that was thin but acted as a hat, neck gaiter, and face cover type thing that I guess football players would wear under helmets for $12. It wouldn't be very warm but would at least cover exposed skin.
+1 on the neck gaiter. I can pull it up over my mouth or nose and keep the windburn from my face.
I have found that wearing either poly longjohns under the jeans/khakis, or wearing the basketball warm up pants over jeans/khakis will do a nice job of keeping the legs warm for a commute. Recently I bought a nice pair of biking pants/tights from foxwear.net that I have used a few times for short rides and they rock. The real test is when I get them out on gravel road in January!
Good luck with the cold.
BTW, I have pair of Cabelas gloves that I bought for 30.00 bucks to. No Gortex, but 150 gm of Thinsulate and a vapor barrier. They are very warm and much cheaper then all the bike specific stuff.
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