How To Do High-Tech Winter Clothes
If you think the cycling season ends when the temperature plummets toward zero, think again. If you’ve got it in you, this could be your time to shine. Winter makes it easy for you to look hard core – even if you only aspire to be an athlete.
Picture this: When frost is forming on the windows and your friends are bundled up in so many layers, they look like penguins on parade, you come strolling out in your skin-tight, thermal leggings, hop on your bike and hit the road.
Not knowing any better, they all assume you’re going to freeze or wimp right out and come crawling home. But the beauty part is, you’re not even cold.
So what’s your secret? It’s all in the clothes. With high-tech wicking, microfibers and breathable fabrics, the biggest challenge you’ve got with cycling in the winter isn’t getting warm enough, it’s staying cool!
Looking cool, however, is going to be no problem at all. Check out our reviews of winter kit to mix up an invincible combo from head-to-toe. (
1. A wicking BASE LAYER next to your skin.
No matter how cold it is, you’re going to be sweating when you ride. Wicking material carries moisture away from your body. Since hypothermia is a thing to be avoided, this is an excellent idea.
2. An INSULATION LAYER between your base and outer layers.
This layer also has to be made of breathable material, otherwise, it’ll push back in the moisture that your base layer just wicked out.
3. A waterproof, wind-blocking OUTER LAYER exposed to the weather.
Here’s a place where high-tech clothes and street clothes really diverge. Street wisdom says that if it drops down to -1C, you put on a thicker, heavier coat. On a bike, that ain’t necessarily so. If you’re wearing high-tech inner layers that didn’t even exist ten years ago – wicking and breathing and keeping you warm – your outer layer can be incredibly lightweight, even when there’s snow all around.
This high-tech kit is going to cost you, but if you do it right, you can ride all winter and hit the spring significantly more fit than those fair-weather cyclists who’ve been holed up all winter at the gym!