I am going to start this article off with a bold statement; “wearing padded cycling shorts will boost your comfort and health while riding your bicycle”. In my opinion padded bike shorts add as much to your biking experience as do clip in shoes. Now I know it maybe hard to initially wear a pair
Winter cycling offers the opportunity to retain, and even enhance, your cycling skills over the whole year. There are very few days during the winter in which cycling becomes impossible. If your able to cross-country ski, then your ready to cycle. The secret to successful winter cycling is when your able to stay warm and
Icebikers have special needs when it comes to the layers next to the skin. While normal outdoor winter activity may require a simple pair of cotton long johns under jeans, this simply won’t do for winter cycling. Cyclists produce great amounts of heat (and sweat) and the traditional approaches to warmth just don’t work. First,
A lot of people have ask me how I can possibly ride through a New England winter. Dressing properly for the weather certainly has a great deal to do with my enjoyment of it, but I have to admit that I also really get a kick out of the looks on people’s faces when I
Last fall I noticed that my well used rain pants were no longer waterproof. They tended to cling when wet, and the nylon had worn thin in the seat. The zippers had long since failed, and been replaced with Velcro, and even that was failing. No matter how much ScotchGard Outdoor I used on them
What do you wear on your legs when it gets really cold out? Looking in all of the various bike catalogs you see that the super warm tights are good down to – get this, 45 Degrees (F). Well, that takes care of October, but what about Winter? The availability of cold weather tights has
What to wear in the winds of winter? How to keep from freezing? This is what keeps a lot of folks from icebiking, fear of the cold. But as we have stated elsewhere, fear of overheating is more warranted. This is not to say that you can’t get cold out there. However, as long as
You loose a lot of heat through your head. The old ice-fisherman’s adage is that if your feet get cold put a hat on. When icebiking, the heat loss through your head can be a blessing if you are working up a sweat. However, most of the time you are fighting wind-chill of the face
Eyewear may be necessary, or simply desirable, or something you never even consider. Icebikers have more reasons to wear glasses than most cyclists, and more problems with them too. In addition to prescription lenses, other reasons to wear glasses include howling winds and blowing snow. When riding on broad expanses of snow, such as a
Beside the fact that they are out in the cold and the wind-chill, your hands are also locked in the same position on the bike for your entire ride. This can reduce circulation and you can get really cold hands, perhaps frost bitten in short order. During the early fall or late spring a set
What to wear on your feet is a big question and the source of much discussion among icebikers. There are basically two schools of thought one the subject. Use shoes designed for cycling, making additions or changes to accommodate the cold, such as adding neoprene booties over the shoes or Gore-Tex socks to retain the
Each climate requires different clothes. Being somewhat more stubborn than others, it took me two years to figure out combinations that worked well in all conditions. With an aim toward shortening the learning curve we present the following discussions on clothing options. Now, just because you don’t see it here doesn’t mean it won’t work.