BU Bikes

In addition to Galen’s excellent FreeP column about dressing for winter biking, we’re going to show you basic layering technique through a series of photos. If you already winter bike, ski or snowboard, this info may already be common sense to you, but do feel free to read on. Before we continue, a few things worth remembering: First, biking can be more of a workout than walking, even in the cold weather. As such, if you over-dress your body may sweat and overheat. On the other hand, it’s important to keep your body warm and dry, so finding a balance between number of layers and keeping comfortable is key. As Galen mentioned, wool is an excellent fabric to wear because it’s very warm and wicks away moisture from your body when you sweat leagues better than cotton does. The next best material is any synthetic such as fleece. Multiple layers of wool will keep you warmer and drier, but just a few layers may do. For the warmest of cold weather, some of what Galen mentioned might be excessive, but we want you to be prepared for Comm Ave’s wrath of bitter sub 30°F cold and sailing winds.

First, we have base layers. From the bottom up, our lovely club VP Sonya is wearing wool Socks, Synthetic ski thermal underwear, and a long sleeve cotton t-shirt.

Next, Sonya puts on winter boots (In case of salty slush puddles), though any shoes will do. She wears her normal pants and a wool sweater.

Galen stresses the importance of “bundling up” to protect yourself from cold wind, so Sonya has wool gloves to keep her hands warm and functional for braking. To keep her neck and entire head warm, Sonya is wearing a wool balaclava(not baklava), a full face/neck cover. She’s also wearing a scarf. However, with the balaclava the scarf is usually unnecessary. As a final outer layer, a wool peacoat.

Lastly, with just the eyes left to be covered, ski goggles work wonders to keep your eyes from tearing up in the bitter cold wind. As always, wear your helmet to protect your head and use a blinky to be seen at night.

As you can see, this carefully chosen multitude of clothing will keep Sonya warm and protected from the elements, even when it’s cold, windy, and seemingly miserable to the unprotected pedestrian. Although we offer you this guide, we’d encourage you to find what works best for you. Personally, I find that I only need a t-shirt, wool sweater, and windbreaker, down to about 20°F and sometimes find myself heated and sweaty wearing those. I have a thicker snowboard jacket for when it’s really cold. Wearing ski thermals, a wool balaclava, and ski goggles was a godsend (Sonya agrees). I use ski gloves which have an inner fleece liner and outer shell kept my hands toasty when it was 10°F. Just remember, when it comes to dressing for winter biking, wool is your preferred weapon of choice, and warm hands, feet, and head make the difference between a cold, miserable ride and a warm, pleasant, fun, winter ride.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 9th, 2009 at 1:24 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.