8 Essential Cold Weather Cycling Clothing Tips

Mudguards! Avoiding the spray keeps your feet warmer and you and your bike cleaner.

Does anyone have experience with cycling with Raynaud syndrome? What do you do for the cold and the way it triggers symptoms and to not overheat at the same time?

This will horrify some but a pair of MTB three quarter length trousers make a big difference in killing wind chill.

hehehe down here in wyoming where you get a -40C wind chill

You must be FU..ing an arshole to want to ride a bicycle in this weather !! what pee brain does that!! Its not hard its just being an arshole and putting pressure on our NHS !! Stay home dick heads your a problem big time !!!

Laughs in Canadian...

The best!

I liked Chris on GCN.

I don't use undervest. Keeping cold when hot even in the cold is more important. So I actually use cotton over wool. The cotton pulls the moisture out of the wool and through it off my skin, and then evaporates slowly, so when on downhills I stay warm by using a shell to protect the cotton from evaporating. And then the rest of the time I stay cold enough.

This prevents the wet undervest/etc. Problem. I also use ski jackets for the shell, to be truly tough enough for a tumble and also for pit cooling.

Great tips thx

Isn’t a water proof inherently wind proof?

Obviously mudguards to keep the water spray to a minimum.

GCB please make a video how to keep the gear clean.

how much does the XL weigh?

Where do you keep your extra jacket?

My experience with a Bontragger rain jacket that I used for a wind coat, I found in under a year, my sweat and body oils degraded the interior along the neck line of my rain jacket and made it less rain proof which was way sad since my hood worked for both rain and cold. :(

A cape is quite handy for real downpours. I take a "People's Poncho" in a wee saddlebag if I suspect that the weather might turn really bad at some point. 🤗🤗

yeah, just rode 74k in Poland:)

Milwaukee has a heated jacket / hoodie with a small battery pack.

Not cycling but watched till the end? We’re alike ;)

These guys have obviously never ridden a bike in Finland in winter. They'd be like the Wehrmacht in Russia in winter.

I hate ride in cold weather

The number one benefit of winter cycling is ones body doesn't overheat even after vigorous pedaling. Zero to five Celsius is great for endurance. Minus 5 Celsius is still ok with proper clothes . I don't find minus 10 enjoyable . I am from Canada and our West coast and East coast temperatures are moderated by the ocean so we are not that tough. On the east we have damp cold which seems to strip body heat away faster so when it's low humidity riding is more enjoyable.

seriously, why not mudguards for winter?

One more voice for merino. Here in Germany we cope with shitty weather for weeks and nothing is better than having merino on the skin. It feels better especially when I am seriously sweating while climbing and then going down fast. ... and I feel comfortable enough with not washing it every day because it does not smell after many hours of hard pedaling. In winter when or befor everything is encrusted with ice for days I change my pedals to run with waterproof and warm shoes and flatpedals. I know its not looking so cool but its better and the half second putting the foot earlyer on the ground while sliding oder slipping on the ice can make a difference between control and kissing the ground. Not rinding in winter or snow is no option! Liebe Grüße.

I'm a Canadian who used to ride 80 Kms per day from early spring through the summer into late fall. Starting out cold is excellent advice. It's what I used to do so I wouldn't overheat during the ride. I also didn't worry about keeping my legs warm as they were generating so much heat that they didn't get cold. Even during hard rain or while snowing, I just wore track pants. I used lots of different types of hand covers, jackets (coats) etc but finally settled on using rainjackets as my go to upper clothing overlay as it worked very well if it was cold and, of course, it also worked while it was raining or snowing.

Que lindo que sos!

Thank you 😊

Grand Forks, North Dakota, 18 degrees F, wind NW at 19 mph. I rode 22 miles today on streets and trails. I wore “long johns,” wool pants, Underarmour top plus sweater plus reflective winter jacket. I will soon have electrically heated gloves and socks, but it’s not cold enough for them yet. I’m celebrating my 76th birthday this Wednesday.

Double gloves keep my hands from freezing.

I will admit to being a total unreserved and unapologetic wimp with the cold.
I live in a rural area, so the wind can get time to really build up over farmers fields, so with that in mind, I have a battery heated gilet, and battery heated leggings for when it gets really cold.
That way if I get a flat or mechanical, I turn them on and stay warm whilst sorting things out.
Mock away, my shoulders are broad enough to take it (pleas don’t I refer to my wimp status mentioned earlier ).

max speed 57mph doon the long wood 😄👍

‘start off slow then ease back’
Paraphrasing 70 time Boston marathoner John Sullivan.

Big thanks for shout out to Russian cyclists too!

Great tips. Would add flexible layering, especially for longer rides starting or finishing at the colder parts of the day. Thin layers that make a noticeable different to warmth but easy to store - my Montane Featherlite Jacket is one of my favourites.

Living in Texas My winter kit is usually just long sleeves and leg warmers; It might get in the freezing 1-2 months out of the whole year if were lucky. Heck it was 75 on my ride today and its halfway thru November; I have colder weather stuff but it might only get used once/twice a year.

I can recommend the Northwave arctic shoes, they have kept my feet warm while biking during many Norwegian winters.

Canada Represent!

I noticed that the only parts of my body that got cold were my hands and feet lol. I now use wool, thermal socks and mittens.

Another thing I would recommend is a bike computer without a touch screen, which is easier to operate with gloves on. Sometimes less is more!

I live in Canada. This is how we wear in summer

Why dont cyclist have wheel gaurds to stop the water spraying up

Old school trick to help keep the cold out when cycling is to wear two cycling jerseys. One that doesn't zip up - goes on like a regular tshirt, and one that zips up over the top of that.

How am I supposed to watch this video while IT is looking at me all the time

one thing about riding in Ontario Canada is that i have never really got wet in 50 years of riding...never have owned a rain jacket...ride indoors in the winter or ski

one guy has no gloves??