November 5, 2009

Commuting: 40 degrees

Every now and then I get emails from folks asking me about cold weather riding, and this morning it was 40 degrees so I figured today would be a perfect day to document what I (as the average rider) wear at this temperature. As the temperature drops I'll post clothing for more weather ranges, but what I wore today is pretty typical for fall apparel.

*note: I know I look dumb, when you're on the bike for an hour and live in Minnesota you don't buy expensive riding clothes from hipster companies to avoid looking like a dork. You just wear whatever works. (although if any of those hipster companies wanted to hook a kid up I'm certainly open to that)

Just so you're aware of all the variables my commute is about 15miles each way, it's enough to warm up and cool down as my gloves, socks, and back get sweaty.

Typically I'll start the ride off a little chilly (don't overdress) and by about mile 5 I'm good and warm
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Head: Grovecraft wool hat made from recycled (re-used) wool
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at this temp a lightweight wool hat is the ticket, any warmer and I wear a headband over my ears made from t-shirt material.

Torso: two long sleeve wool Nike jerseys and an old Pearl Izumi vest
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Trek closed out their Nike wool jerseys a few years back and I snatched a bunch up for really cheap, one wool jersey is sweet, but when you layer it with another it suddenly becomes pretty wind resistant and way warm. I'm a huge vest fan, this one is made by Pearl and is nice because it doesn't have an elastic waist. If it's warmer than 40 I'll wear one with a mesh back

Legs and Feet: Dickies cutoff into Knickers, leg warmers, Sock Guy Magnum thickish wool socks (high density not fluffy), regular shoes and toe warmers
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in place of leg warmers I will sometimes where a thin sock layered by a soccer sock.

Gloves: Six Six One Transition gloves
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great from about the mid forties down to high 20's, have a snot wiper and are my favorites

So yeah that's my outfit for 40 degrees. I'm a dork and it's always fun to look at the temp in the morning and curate (what's up bitches) an appropriate outfit

3 comments:

Lt Greggles said...

i like the double thick carhart pants. my mommie made me a hat to wear under my helmet that is a cycling cap with ears, and its warm. nice..

Anonymous said...

Holy bejesus - I just converted the 40 Fahrenheit to Celsius and got 4.4 degrees. Shit man, where I ride, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia most winters I spend maybe two weeks max wearing extra layers. And by that I mean I normally ride in a t-shirt or singlet and board shorts, but for those coupla weeks I wear a long sleeved cotton t-shirt under my short t-shirt or a long sleeved cycling jersey and an Icebreaker merino wool neck chute, full fingered gloves, and sometimes grey female leotard leggings under my boardies. But this past winter I got away with fingerless gloves, and just the long tee or long cycling jersey. A visitor from NJ commented that we had Summer Winter weather. Which was true as it was 32 degrees Celsius at lunchtime in the middle of winter. So that's about 90 Fahrenheit.
Love ya site, Jeff. This World Wide InterWeb thingy is great to be able to see what cycle crazy fuckers the world over do. If you ever make it to Brisbane be warned; this is without doubt the most un-cycle friendly city in the world. I've ridden in Europe and the States and spoken to visiting cyclists here and they can't understand why there is so much hate from pedestrians and motorists. I think the heat and beer combo fries their brains.
So you crazy Mid-Westernites if you are in Oz and want someone to ride with pack light, bring sunscreen and shades, and you can get me at markwaddington at three dot blackberry dot com
Cheers Waddo.

mark$ter said...

Did you write that entire post just to use the word curate?