I was going to answer this post until I saw you are in Texas. If you want to try winter cycling, come up here to Madison, Wisconsin. We're also one of the best microbrewery/craft brew cities in America, so if you don't lose all of your fingers to frostbite on your first ride, I'll buy you a beer.

Just kidding, I used to live in Texas for about 15 years. It was a good place to be a teenager. And it was HOT (temperature-wise). Really, really hot.

Obviously, I have to prepare for the cold a little differently up here. I tried silk long underwear at first, and although comfortable (because of the silk's softness, not for its insulation properties), it was not durable at all. This was while wearing them under jeans, cargo pants, cotton T-shirts and things like that. I don't know why the salesperson advised you not to use silk liners with wool specifically, but if you ride daily I wouldn't expect the silk liners to last very long, no matter what they are paired with.