Cold wet glove thread
This past weekend, my wife and I finally came up short in the glove department. We did a 4:40 tandem ride of 70 miles at a steady 37° in the pouring rain and wind. My stoker completely lost the use of her hands for the last hour or so of the ride. This was beyond all our glove choices which worked before and which we had brought with us:
PI Lobster gloves - this was surprising. First time they've failed us.
Gore Power Windstopper w/poly liners
PI Elite Softshell
Performance Kenda
They all became completely saturated and then got cold. My analysis is that once any glove or mitten becomes completely saturated, heat loss is conductive and water is a very good conductor. The outside of the glove loses heat from the cold water pouring onto it. The temperature of the surface water is further reduced by evaporative cooling (windchill). The only heat source is the hand, a very poor heat source under severe conditions when the whole body is taxed with keeping core temperatures up.
By this analysis, the best glove will be the one with the thickest insulation which does not compress when wet. To think of this situation, imagine that you poured your gloves full of ice water, shoved your hands into them, and then immersed them in ice water for 4 hours.
I've been through the glove threads on here and have seen some gloves recommended, but don't want to just start buying gloves. I have gloves. Gloves I found interesting:
Glacier Glove ICE BAY Fishing Glove
IceArmor Edge Gloves
Gore Bike Wear Men's Fusion GTX Gore-Tex Gloves
Giro 100 Proof Winter Gloves
Craft Thermal Split Finger Glove
Craft Men's Bike Siberian Split Finger Glove
Craft Siberian Glove
P.R.O. Softshell WxB 3x1 Glove
Anyone using any of these gloves? Any comments? Gloves I haven't though of?
In replying to this thread, please remember that I am talking about long distance riding in constant rain just above freezing. This is a completely different situation than commuting, riding in cold dry conditions, or riding in showery conditions. This is because of the continuous heat loss in a constant rain. Rain riding in over about 42° has not been a problem with our current gloves, nor has riding in graupel/snow/rain showers down to 35°. It's just continuous very cold rain that has us stumped.
Bar mitts are not an option. Yes, we are crazy.