Three Essential Ways to Keep Warm This Winter

You would think that days dealing the unfortunate card of 7 degree wind chills and a chance of snow are the sort of days that deter any logical human being from self-propelling their entirely exposed selves down Broad Street. Well it does... just not to me.

I love summer weather. Make no mistake. Long cruise-y rides or short sprints within a sea of fellow cyclists. It's an amazing thing to see our city's giant cycling culture come to life in the warmer weather. I just wish that we could keep that sort of thing constant throughout the year instead of such a seasonal exhibition.

I've grown to realize that winter riding really isn't that bad. When it comes down to it, you really only need three key winter clothing items to keep you comfortable - all of which you would usually wear. A hat and gloves are the first two obvious choices. Any sort of warm hat works well while riding... especially when you clamp a helmet down on top of it (cough cough). Gloves are slightly more tricky. The classic thin-cotton-black-finger-gloves usually won't provide much help when the freezing air is literally attacking you head on. Instead, I've found that thicker mitten/cut-off combo tends to cut the wind pretty well. But by far the most important article of clothing that I've discovered to be the key contributer to my winter success is a scarf. Yeah. Weird right? I used to think scarves were merely a fashion accessory, but in fact they are actually the most efficient way to keep the heat in. I prefer to wear mine balaclava-style, over the nose and mouth, and then around the neck with the rest tucked in my coat and draped down my chest/torso. It blocks the unforgiving winds, and generates heat on your face as you exhale. Perfect.

Wearing these three items has kept me so warm that a hoodie and flannel have sufficed for layering this past week through days in the mid-twenties.

Try it out. Nothing would warm me up more than to see campus bike racks filled year-round. *

By Brian Davidson, Bike Temple Messenger, January 21, 2011