I love the heat and humidity but there's something about winter riding that soothes my soul and sharpens my mind. It's as if the cooler it gets outside, the more excited I get to go outside for a bike ride. I was not always this way - it took me several years to learn how to dress appropriately for cold weather riding but as the saying goes "there's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing."
Where we live in Greenville, SC. the weather can be unpredictable. Luckily, we are never too cold for too long and it rarely snows. While this is a great thing for year-round outdoor cycling, it does make it tricky for what to wear.
As an example, in the past two weeks, we have enjoyed a variety of weather for a variety of outdoor rides.
Warmish 2-hour afternoon gravel ride. Private skills session with our athlete Diane.
9:30am, 3hr group ride. Started off foggy, stayed cloudy, got warm and then cooler again.
Very cold 3.5 hour mountain bike ride.
Sunny sky, cold 4 hour road bike ride.
Our Greenville cycling community is all about year-round outside riding. There are so many group rides, events and other activities to encourage people to ride outside no matter the weather. With no formal group ride planned this past weekend, my friend Carley took me (and two others) on her favorite route. I was really excited for this route as it included a few roads that I had never explored before. I love that after 8 years, we are still discovering new safe roads for cycling. The views were incredible and the time went by so quickly. Since I had my Garmin bike computer set on the route, I had no idea how long we had been riding. When I got home, I was surprised to see that we rode for 4.5 hours and 73 miles. Although it was in the upper 30's when we started our ride at 9:30am, the sunny sky helped us stay warm, even though it stayed in the 40's throughout our ride. Although this wasn't a "hilly" route, we did manage to accumulate ~6200 feet of elevation over 4.5 hours.
With this being my first cold outdoor road bike ride this year, I naturally overdressed for this ride as I wasn't sure what to wear. But before I left for the ride, I decided to make a quick change and I ended up dressing perfectly for this ride.
-Base layer
-Long sleeve cycling jersey
-Cycling shorts
-Leg warmers
-Shoe covers
-Long sleeve gloves
-Ear covers
Depending on the air temp, wind chill, ride speed, intensity, duration and location (ex. protected wooded area like mountain biking vs. exposed gravel or road biking), there's a lot to consider when it comes to dressing appropriate for cold weather riding.
A put together a video of showcasing some of the clothing that I have invested into for the winter cycling season. Because I ride outside year round, my wardrobe for outdoor winter riding is much larger than what I need/use for warm weather riding. But it's worth it. It would be a shame to spend the entire winter riding indoors. My bikes (and me) love to be outside.
With this being my first cold outdoor road bike ride this year, I naturally overdressed for this ride as I wasn't sure what to wear. But before I left for the ride, I decided to make a quick change and I ended up dressing perfectly for this ride.
-Base layer
-Long sleeve cycling jersey
-Cycling shorts
-Leg warmers
-Shoe covers
-Long sleeve gloves
-Ear covers
Depending on the air temp, wind chill, ride speed, intensity, duration and location (ex. protected wooded area like mountain biking vs. exposed gravel or road biking), there's a lot to consider when it comes to dressing appropriate for cold weather riding.
A put together a video of showcasing some of the clothing that I have invested into for the winter cycling season. Because I ride outside year round, my wardrobe for outdoor winter riding is much larger than what I need/use for warm weather riding. But it's worth it. It would be a shame to spend the entire winter riding indoors. My bikes (and me) love to be outside.