Staying warm on a bike in the Winter

Happy Friday. My students have exams today and are all writing essays telling the story of Reconstruction after the Civil War. For a history nerd like myself, I look forward to reading what they have to say.

But I'm actually here to document my riding wear last night, when the temps were about -9, closer to -30 with windchills. I had class last night, and driving to the U is the silliest idea ever. So after I finished up teaching, I went home, selected my riding gear, watched a little Seinfeld and headed to class. On the way there, I was toasty warm. Not too warm, but warm enough. The sun was still out, so I had that going for me, too. But when I left class around 815, the temps dropped, and the sun dropped and the wind picked up. I was a little worried I would get cold, however I stayed warm the whole way home as well.

This was at about 8:45 or so when I got home. I like how Parker is peaking his head out from behind my leg.

After riding through several Minnesota winter's (this is my 5th now) you start to get used to it, and you really know what to expect (well kinda.) Also with riding this much comes the joy of having lots of different clothing items to chose from for whatever temp it happens to be outside. Below is what I wore last night.

2 pairs of gloves. My base layer are a pair of Mountain Hardware gloves my Aunt gave me and they are amazing. The shells are Outdoor Research mitt shells that my Grandpa gave me years ago for skiing. They block wind really well without overheating your hands.

On my head I started with my balaclava, then a patchwork winter cycling hat (with ear flaps) that I got at Babes in Bikeland 2 years ago. I use a bern helmet (works great in Winter!) and it was definitely cold enough for my goggles.

This fleece neckwarmer has been in my possession for at least 10 years. Still holding up well. And over that, I wear a GIANT bandana (which is actually a map of the Riverwest neighborhood in Milwaukee, from the Riverwest 24 this past summer.)

Over my cuddle duds (best long underwear EVER) I wore my short sleeve wool jersey and a flannel. And on some lined jeans.

I usually wear hiking boats, but I have these awesome leather shoes that I wore a lot in the fall when riding and so I gave them a shot. They keep my feet SO WARM!

As always, I had on my legwarmers. I also had on my new BIKELOVE wool socks that A got me for Christmas (thanks, doll) and one more layer of  LL Bean wool socks.

these socks are awesome

All in all, I felt great when I got home. Sometimes (as my girl Low said it in her blog post yesterday, ordinary people can do extraordinary things when they put their mind to it. Riding in the winter isn't so bad. Just sayin'.