Winter Clothing

Which was how long?

About two months.

Taped seams all fell apart.

That's not good. Did you get a refund?

It was a gift.

ah ok.
Was it any good before it disintegrated?

Yep, light bereathable and waterproof. Nice cut and fit.

bereathable

Like a shroud?

It's a manx thing.

Winter I wear this with a hat that covers my ears and several layers of gloves. This winter I am investing in proper waterproof hiking boots. I gave up on cycling gear years ago.

Hands: I've gone through most of the affordable high street brand winter gloves - they are all gash. The only ones that do the job (even when very cold and/or wet) are the De Feet merino gloves.

Feet: Thick merino socks, under a pair of SealSkins when inclement. I just use the same shoes as during summer... those with less ventilation would be miles better though obviously if you tend to feel the cold in your feet. Make sure your socks and shoes aren't too tight. Very important.

Top: Goretex Paclite over a merino baselayer and wool jersey (or just a jumper, hoodie, etc).

Bottom: Budget fleecy bib tights under usual baggies, or army surplus Goretex trousers if wet.

Head: A hat.

After a few near misses last year. I had planned to invest heavily this year. Especially as I will hopefully have a snowbike at some point. Budgets not looking good. Still need helmet, and boots.

• Multisport ski helmet from POC.
  
• Merino buff covering neck, and pulled up to cover ears, and mouth.
  
• Thick merino base layer.
  
• Thick softsheel cycling jacket.
  
• Brushed lycra undershorts.
  
• Brushed lycra full length legwarmers.
  
• Thermo bib shorts.
  
• Lobster style winter gloves.
  
• Merino socks.
  
• Thermal cycling boots from 45NRTH
  
  

Takes a fecking age to get ready.

My winter purchase might be a footbath- purely to bring my toes back up to temperature slowly enough to not rupture all the blood vessels in them, which happened again and again last year, turning two whole toes into permenant chillblains.

I didn't use overshoes or toe warmers at all last year since moving to midfoot stops most of them fitting on the shoes. That's something I'm keen not to repeat.

I'm going to try those chemical warmers this year.

Also, I'm going to get some overshoes big enough to go over size 45 MW80's, which are huge.

Woolie Boolie's, chemical warmers, waterproof boots with overshoes- bet I still lose all feeling after 4 hours on the bike!

Dancing James 'you will sweat to death in them'

Made me laugh out loud.

I had a pair of those a few years back.... ok if you're on a tamdem and not pulling your weight or if you're just standing next to your bike and have not intention of riding it. That said if it's -5 outside you can wear them for the ride to the office and roast a chicken for lunch, just don't forget the foil.

Losing feeling is fine. The problem is when you get back home and realise that you've done a load of damage to your toes that you couldn't feel happening.
I've still got a freaky horizontal split toenail after the Rumble in March. Of course I didn't feel any of this feet deforming as they'd basically died off hours earlier.

We've put men on the moon- surely it cannot be impossible to keep our feet warm whilst cycling in temperatures around 0?

Hmm: http://www.mandp.co.uk/productinfo/239379/Clothing-and-Helmets/Heated-Clothing/Gerbing

Laptop battery in jersey pocket= warm toes? Wonder how long a charge lasts?

We've put men on the moon- surely it cannot be impossible to keep our feet warm whilst cycling in temperatures around 0?

Not sure how easy these are to be had in the UK. But heated insoles are common up here...

http://www.bikeshop.no/aspx/produkter.aspx?t=166&g0=5&g1=14&visavdeling=1&g0txt=03. Bekledning&g1txt=Varmesåler

I'm intruged by these aerogel insoles, although I want the Wolvhammer boots really....
http://45nrth.com/products/category/softgoods

My winter purchase might be a footbath- purely to bring my toes back up to temperature slowly enough to not rupture all the blood vessels in them, which happened again and again last year, turning two whole toes into permenant chillblains.

I have a work room on the side of the house. I dont bother having the heating on so its probably only 10 deg in the winter. Being in there as my right hand defrosted after being frozen for the last 25mins of a -12 deg C ride, due to wearing the wrong gloves, was the most painful experiance of my life. Hate to think how it would have felt in a warmer room. Lost some fine finger control, and struggle for example to turn book pages. But I still consider myself pretty lucky.

A chillblain, yesterday

We've put men on the moon- surely it cannot be impossible to keep our feet warm whilst cycling in temperatures around 0?

I've come up with a better option that I'm going to trial this year.. It's called 'fly the fuck out of this miserable semi-winter wasteland and go where it's warm!'

I'll report back.

I picked up some merino glove liners last year. Made a surprising amount of difference to the warmth of my fingers.

I've got some 'answer' winter boots......excellent bit of kit if you can find some. I think I got mine for £50 from chain reaction

Going to cost a bit to get hold of these.

But if they make my feet happy over winter. They'll probably double my mileage.