What to Wear on Winter Bike Ride

This is my 'kit' for Winter Riding at about 35 Degrees Farenheit

If you wanna do some winter riding here's the cost effective set-up I use.

The shoes, gloves and helmet are pretty well standard gear.

I wore two layers on my legs and two layers under my shoes.  I wore three layers up top and I wore a head sweats cap and wrap around ear muffs under my helmet.  I also wore yellow lens glasses to increase my ability to see in low light situations since I was riding near dusk.  

For my legs I chose to overdress just a bit so that my knees would stay relatively warm.  This is because knees have poor circulation to begin with and yet I'm asking a lot from them on a ride, so a little extra protection from the wind helps get their temp up a bit and increases blood flow rather than shutting it down in extreme cold conditions.  So, I wore a pair of riding shorts with leg warmers and riding socks covered with riding 'boots' under my shoes.  I also wore another black base layer that would normally be worn under jeans as the top layer over the riding shorts & leg warmers.  This set up worked well and I was never over-heated although before I took off I wondered....  The nice thing about the leg warmers is that they are relatively easy to remove and pack away if you have an expandable seat bag or equivalent.  

Up top I wore a thin base layer covered by a little thicker Costco brand base layer under a highly reflective Pearl Izumi wind jacket.  

I'm sure that I was totally non-aero and I certainly wasn't riding for speed today.  Just the joy of being out and enjoying the crisp cold air and being alive!  

BTW, you'll notice my bottles and couple of drink mixes that I'm using.  The first is a Sustain Sports Drink mix that tastes great and delivers a fast acting wallop of minerals to prevent cramping and keep me riding strong.  The other mix is called 'Activate C' and is a Vitamin C booster to help my body fight off the 'bugs' of winter that come calling, especially when you expose yourself to extreme conditions.  Both of these are available from my fantastic wife, Julie.  Drop me an email if you wanna know more about Sustain or Activate C.

I just enjoy being OUTSIDE on the bike a ton more than being indoors on the trainer or on a spinner at the Y.  I'm not against those things at all and I'll be doing some of both in the weeks ahead when it's below freezing or when there is ice on the roads.  

Hope this gives you some ideas of how to dress and fuel to enjoy winter riding!

Peace,

Jeff