Interesting article/comments on Atlantic.com regarding dressing for winter biking (The Procrastinator's Guide to Winter Bicycle Commuting)

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Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on December 10, 2013 at 7:06am

Thanks for posting this. Just rode to the metra this am, but my hands got quite cold, mostly because I had to spend a couple minutes in the garage pumping the tires on my beater. That was the death knell for my fingers.

As for the cost mentioned in the article, there's nothing saying you have to drop all that change at once. Ease into it over several weeks, months, or (in my case) years. I basically added one or two bits every year. I'm at the point where I should have been able to ride today (fingers are my key weak spot), but still need to swap some pedals from one bike to another and mount my bar mitts. Didn't have a chance to do that last night with the Bears on. :-)

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Permalink Reply by Josh L. on December 10, 2013 at 9:53am

thanks for your thoughts Skip. 

First, I too have constantly had frozen finger problems. During last year's 10 degree or less winter days, which probably occurred around 20 times, I would have to stop and warmup at the North/Clark Starbucks because my hands couldn't make it from the Uptown to Merchandise Mart daily commute. 

So this year I bought a pair of Gordini mittens from Amazon for $35. A big improvement.  Last night I biked home at 9:30 with no cold hands.  To prepare for today   I did what the woman recommended in  the video (it is linked to in the comments in the article). I wore a pair gloves inside of my mittens.  I have tried silk glove liners before and they are worthless. I have a pair of fleece gloves that I use when biking in 40 degree weather.  Today I wore those gloves  within the Gordini mitts and my hands were fine (except for my thumbs). And that's on a fairly long ride from Lincoln Square to the Merch Mart.  So you might want to try this approach. I have resisted bar mitts....not sure why (vanity?).

I must say that unlike many of the commenters I think it's worth it to buy "technical" winter gear. I don't buy biking specific clothes but rather quality active winter wear designed for cold weather.

Today I wore just an underarmour cold weather compression shirt along with my soft shell and was just fine - not a drop of sweat on me. Previously, before people on this site set me straight, I used to wear a big winter jacket and was drenched when I got to work.  Wearing lighter, breathable fabrics that are designed for warmth is the way to go.  

Hope you get your finger warm!

Skip Montanaro 12mi said:

Thanks for posting this. Just rode to the metra this am, but my hands got quite cold, mostly because I had to spend a couple minutes in the garage pumping the tires on my beater. That was the death knell for my fingers.

As for the cost mentioned in the article, there's nothing saying you have to drop all that change at once. Ease into it over several weeks, months, or (in my case) years. I basically added one or two bits every year. I'm at the point where I should have been able to ride today (fingers are my key weak spot), but still need to swap some pedals from one bike to another and mount my bar mitts. Didn't have a chance to do that last night with the Bears on. :-)

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Permalink Reply by Not too hip on December 10, 2013 at 8:32pm

Somehow I'm not able to see comments.

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