Originally Posted by
downtube42
Lots of things can cause hands/feet to be cold.
Cold core
Cold limbs
Restricted blood flow
Maybe cold head, I'm not sure
Poor circulation
And of course simply insufficient insulation at the hands/feet to keep the warmth in.
This past Sunday I rode 9 hours in temperatures from 28F to 40F. Depending on effort level and wind exposure, my experience included bouts of cold hands, cold feet, and perfectly comfortable. In my experience that's just how it is.
My understanding is that a warm core is key since your torso tries to sequester additional blood to keep you organs warm. When that is toasty then the core will not be so greedy allowing more blood to the extremities. Two big areas of heat loss I learned from skiing is the head and neck. Be sure to wear a under helmet beanie and a neck gator.
I am relatively thin (6’1” and 164 lbs) and have had difficulty keeping toes and fingers warm, so I really concentrate on keeping the areas above warm, then wear thermal tights, base layers warm gloves and either booties or shoe toe covers. Today was 45* and I was good with a base layer, thermal jersey and insulated vest, thermal legs and toe covers and cycling cap inside my helmet. However today was hill repeats with 2000’ in 20 miles, so plenty of opportunity to generate heat.