Question for winter riding,How do you keep your feet warm?
 

Since getting back on the bike a couple of weeks ago, I have noticed that my feet are the only part of me that seems to get cold. Most of the problem area seems to be my toes. I am wearing my regular MTB shoes with thick wool hunting socks. The coldest riding that I have done to date it at 37 degrees Fahrenheit, which is not that cold to some of you, but I might be willing to ride in colder weather if I could keep my feet warm.

Neoprene toe covers or booties over the shoes.

I use thin socks over thermal socks. I don't normally ride too far when it's cold (less than 10 miles). But I've never had my feet go cold.

I wear the full pack cloth shoe covers from Mountain Equipment Coop with two pairs of socks in my regular clip shoes. I am good to about -10C, lower than that my toes are aching by the end of my 27km commute.

Hmm, I usually just put on two pair of socks if it hits below 15*
Its when it rains is when I have problems :(

Here in Dallas, I use sneakers + a pair of woolly socks, or woolly socks + wicking inner socks. That's good down to 35F or so, about as cold as I've ridden.

Rum!

+1 on the booties. The other thing to think about is that wearing thicker socks is sometimes counter productive in cold weather. You need air space inside your shoes to act as insulation. If wearing the thicker socks makes your shoes tight, you might actually be warmer going back to thinner socks.

You can do a search of BF and find several threads talking about that.

+1. A well-weathered touring friend of mine told me he never bothers with booties during cold weather, and what he does instead is buy a second pair of cycling shoes at least a size too big. Then he can wear a couple of layers of socks in them and not have them fit too tightly, so the insulation can work as intended.

If you plan to ride a lot in the cold and have the money to spend, I've heard a lot of people say good things about Lake winter cycling shoes, which are well suited to cold/wet conditions.

Scott

My LBS swears by these:
http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/pr...ductId=1442699

+1

Tom's answer is what worked best for me. My feet are the warmest part of me when I cycle in the cold.

Since Iam a real FRED I just wear my Irish setter boots and ride warm :)

I used to come back from rides with my feet so cold I could barely walk.
Then I bought a pair of these a couple months ago:

http://www.pearlizumi.com/product.ph...uct_id=1315173

No more cold feet.

Loosen your shoes for a bigger air space. I wear a sweat wicking liner sock under my thick cheap wool sock. My shoe is either a well-ventilated running shoe or a well-worn leather shoe. Under 20 degrees I just add a 2nd wool sock. The cold wind might be a little easier to handle on my 'bent since I ride sort of sole-first into the wind, instead of toe-first.

Well is always, thanks for the suggestions. I was sort of wondering about my shoes/ socks being to tight on my feet as part of the problem. I did a little research, and also found some riders using fleece lined neoprene socks. I am not sure which option I am going to use, but I also need to consider something that keeps my feet dry. It is not always cold here in western Oregon, but there is plenty of rain to deal with.

Switching to platform pedals and boots is a good way to solve the problem.

I just bought some Pearl Izumi AMFIB shoe covers. They're fabulous. I can easily recommend those for wind and water protection.

Doesn't get that cold here. I always wear the samething. I rode in the rain with temps in the forites. Didn't feel too cold. But I have many riding friends that need long fingered gloves when it hits the fifties!:D

I was on what I thought was a nice ride when a dude asked me how in the world I can wear half fingered gloves! And those were my half evaporated gloves!:p

Doesn't get cold enough to use the hardcore stuff here. But I do know others that use shoe covers and booties, not sure why. I use mesh toe mtb shoes with no problems all year. I guess the shoe covers are for style points in this part of the country!:D

Up here we don't get a lot of really cold ( < 20F ) weather, but most of the winter is low 30s and raining.

I wear:
- polypro sock liners
- smartwool socks
- shoes with enough room that they're not tight (poor circulation will make your feet cold no matter how thick your socks are.)
- goretex wind/rainproof shoe covers

I find this combo to be good all the way down to freezing. Then I switch the shoe covers for Bellwether No-Aqua fleece lined booties.

I ride down to about -20C, usually for my 14km commute on side roads and dirt roads. When the temperature starts to drop I pull neoprene booties over my cycling shoes and use slightly thicker socks. Significantly below freezing, though (like colder than -5C) I use platform pedals and winter or hiking boots.

THis is what I did.
Got some neoprene booties for $20 and they work great.

make sure not to fasten the shoes too tight too

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/f...rkansas/tf.jpg
These, thin wool socks and neoprene covers have kept my feet toasty in 6 degree f weather. try not to wear socks so thick it cuts down on circulation. Walmart has them for around $10 in the shoe dept.

For below freezing temps I use platform pedals with powergrips and LLBean insulated snow sneakers with one layer of wool socks. Never felt at all cold on my feet riding down to 10 degrees F, and I can get my feet down quickly if I hit a slick spot and need to keep myself from falling.

Sahalie has some insoles that make about a 10 degree difference for me. http://www.sahalie.com/jump.jsp?item...T&itemID=10974