Fall is here. For some cycle commuters, it’s time to pack away the bike and pull out the
car or the bus pass. For me, it’s time to pull out the cool-weather bike gear. I do chicken out when the winter roads are super-slick, otherwise I ride year-round.
People sometimes ask, “How can you stand to do that every day?” But I ask the same question when I’m forced to take transit. “How can you stand to arrive at work without rosy-cheeks and feeling alert? How can you stand to return home without blowing the day’s cobwebs away with a brisk ride?”
What I Wear
Here’s what works for me, but it’s worth experimenting to find what works for you. After years of experience, I’m still tinkering with new gear and tricks.
Dawn patrol on East Adanac.
One of the challenges of fall riding is that that I ride to work in a frosty pre-dawn world, and head home in the sunlight when it’s ten degrees warmer. The solution? Cycle shorts, layering, and leg warmers. Inbound, I wear an expedition weight top and a vest under my shell jacket. Outbound, I lose the vest and switch to a lighter Zip-T. And the leg warmers? Full-length for the ride in, knees-only for the ride home. Tucking the tops under the cuffs of my bike short’s liner keeps the warmers from slipping.
When winter arrives, I switch to bike tights. On near-zero days, I slip a pair of light long johns under them. Here in Vancouver, I find shell pants too stiff and sweaty. But I might see their virtues if I were pedaling through Edmonton’s slicey winter winds.
On cold, but dry fall days, I like the softness and breathability of my Pinna or SuperMicroft jackets. Once the winter precip hits, it’s time to uparmour to my faithful Derecho.
Since I don’t deal with seriously sub-zero conditions, I wear the same cycling shoes all year. In fall, I use heavier wool socks, and windproof them with Gore-Tex oversocks. When it rains, I slip on a pair of Cycling Shoe covers and make sure to run my tights over the outside of the covers, shingle style. Do it the other way just once in heavy showers and you’ll know why.
I just added a new helmet cover this fall. It’s matchy matchy with my Pinna jacket, but it’s high vis, high up where it can be seen above traffic. I wear mine right over my helmet’s sun visor to help keep the rain out of my eyes.
I’m super-susceptible to earaches from cold wind, so in addition to wearing a headband, I often pop little tufts torn from cotton balls into my ears. (In a pinch, I’ve used wads from a napkin the same way.) They won’t do anything for your apparent IQ, but they will ward off the chill without seriously compromising your hearing.
What My Bike Wears
Ready for the rain
I’m a huge fan of daylighting, especially in the gloom of fall and winter. For maximum visibility and redundancy, I run twin Turbos on the back and a brace of Blazes up front. These lights are nominally rainproof, but the maker must have been thinking of regular rain on Planet Earth, not the deluges we get in the Pacific Northwet. After a few non-fatal floodings, I now wrap the seams with electrical tape (translucent yellow so it won’t block the light on the rear lights). The tape is fugly but functional, and can be reused after I change batteries.
My legally required bike bell is an unstartling way to let pedestrians know I’m coming, but for cagers it makes a fatally faint tinkle. When I see a car edging out of the side street ahead or starting a lethal left in the intersection I’m about to cross, I quickly palm the Storm Whistle that always dangles around my neck into my mouth and give’m a long, shrill blast. While they’re stopped and staring around for the cop they thought they heard, I’m safely through and gone.
Wet seats suck. So I carry a plastic grocery bag to tie bonnet-style over my saddle when I lock the bike up in the rain or snow. If you’re feeling fancy, a dollar-store shower cap works well too.
So there are some of my strategies. How do you roll in in the fall? Waterproof-breathable Bare Legs™ accessorized with a Gore-Tex kilt? Bike lit up like Las Vegas? Flip-flops in forty below?
I find that the “chain is as strong as its weakest link” metaphor apt here; as in, if one part of you feels cold, you’ll mentally feel cold in a general kind of way, and it’s important that EVERY part stay warm enough, or you won’t enjoy riding in the cold.
For my head, I really like the Outdoor Research Alpine 2 Hat which covers the ears and fits under my helmet.
For my hands, I love an oversized pair of MEC Cloudraker Mitts, which go over the gloves of my choice, and add a layer of wind- and waterproofness but leave my gloved (rather than mittened) digits still mobile.
For shoes, in the Montreal winter, I use regular Doc Martens but with two layers of wool socks.
I use a pair of non-cycling-specific wind/rain pants over my regular pants, to protect my work clothes from the snow, slush, and salt.
Up top, it’s layers galore plus a cycling jacket with pit-zips (I think mine is the MEC HydroCycle, which looks like the old version of the current MEC HydroSecteur).
Add a tube scarf and, when needed, a balaclava. You create your own additional windchill factor when you move, so it’s important to protect exposed flesh when it’s cold.
Don’t forget visibility. Turtle lights front and rear on the bike, a headlamp and a red light on the helmet: redundancy is good, as batteries can conk out in the cold. A Cactus Creek Safety Sash or two can also help make you more visible in low light.
Thanks for the detailed take on biking where there’s a “real” Canadian winter. And, yup, you can never have too many lights.
I would really love to ride my bike more. For the past years, it’s been sitting in my storage room waiting to be used due to being afraid of cars. I’m going to have to stock up on some gear and just get out there! The fresh air is much preferred to the soggy people on transit and I shouldn’t hold back due to the weather.
This is my first year biking so I’m hungry for info – lots of which I found useful here.
So far the temps have just flirted with freezing here on PEI, but the wind is a constant irritant. So far I’ve been ok with nothing more than running shorts, a t-shirt under my MEC Secteur jacket with a MEC head/ear band & winter bicycle gloves. The rain cover for my helmet keeps in too much heat for me until it’s down into the lower single digits.
I like lights. Two red blinkers – on one the frame, the other on my helmet with two white lights up front: a bell set to flash to be seen with and a Cree XML to see with. I have backup lights and batteries in my panniers… my Cree XML ran out yesterday just as it got light enough to no longer need it!
32km/day 5 days/week – not bad for a newbie!
My hope is to keep riding until I need studded tires (all year would be awesome if somewhat unrealistic)
Thanks for the post!
Hey Jamie,
I grew up in Sherwood, PEI, and remember “snow days” when the schools were shut ’cause the buses couldn’t make it through the weather. Where you cycling from and to?
I ride in from Nine Mile Creek (out towards the Glen Afton golf course) into West Royalty (North River Rd & Trans Can).
My wife is hoping I give up before it gets too crazy. I’m hooked and unless I crash it’s on!
My other ride is a lifted Jeep on 35″ tires so everyday I ride the bike(s) saves me $. I was hoping to pay the first bike off in a couple of years – I’ve paid off the first one and bought a second since May!
Riding makes me feel like a kid again – I’m in my mid 40′s, was fat all of my adult life; my at rest HR is 51, avg BP is 112/72 and I feel awesome.
We need more people biking!
I only started commuting in September of this year. Late in the season perhaps… but hey the best time to start is NOW! Biggest challenge in clothing is being over dressed in the cooler morning. By the time I arrive I am a bit sweaty. My ride is 10km in the Montreal’s West Island. Generally i try and ride at least 1-2 a week depending on weather and work/car needs for pickups and deliveries.