Originally Posted by
stephenjubb
Some good advice, but if you get hot cycling with clothing, remove it before it gets damp.
Do not wear cotton when cycling, it holds moisture and will make you cold.
Another one I found when I winter camped, unless you have a tent that erects really easily (like a hillberg) if your tent is wet try and wear gloves putting it up. I put up a wet tent in winter in freezing conditions and my hands were really cold within a minute (from the water) and it tooks 4 times as long to erect with great difficulty. imaging doing that in wet, cold and windy weather with no gloves?
Actually you have a point here on setting up the tent. It might not be a bad idea to take something like leather work gloves for tent setup during the late fall-early spring periods. Something I would not have thought about until you mentioned it.
Funny thing is I'm wear cotton exclusively this winter up top. I don't have any trouble even when temps are down into the 20s and lower. Actually the colder he better. Once the temps start to get up around 30 degrees I start getting the sweaty back, below there I pretty much stay dry. I fess I have a wind jacket that only zips up/down part way. I always keep the zipper open unless its that cold or windy. Today I left home at 26 degrees and rode 65 miles on the main ride and strangely the first past of the ride I was sweating a fair amount...I was surprised. I wasn't cold by it as long as I kept producing the body heat. After 20 miles I stopped to go to the bathroom and fill up the water bottle and the next 20+ miles I was high and dry. I dried out very nicely. By leaving the front unzipped allows the air flow to keep things cooled down enough and I think since I have a rather flappy wind jacket that is also helping with the drying process. The only ones I could that had long sleeves when I bought mine were XL or XXL. Normally I wear either a M or L. I think the oversized wind jacket creates additional drag but it also helps to keep everything dried by allowing more wind flow.
The secret as gpsblake put it is to stay dry. If you don't get wet it doesn't make a difference what kind of clothing you have on. You don't need the wicking clothing, you need the ventilation clothing. I will fess I'm a 40 year old and I'm out on the bike all the time so I'm in good shape and that may be helping to give me increased metabolism that helps to keep me warmer...I don't know. I just know when I listen to most people talk they totally hate the thought of going out and doing any winter riding. It normally boils down to not liking riding in the cold. I guess its because they can't stay warm...because they don't stay dry.
In all avenues of life it's the same philosophy...Less IS more.