Clothing Layers

As the snow starts melting and the weather finally breaks into spring there will soon come a day where you roll out your bike. Whether you enjoy hitting the bike trails that wind through the forest or burning up the asphalt with your street bike, you should always get your bike and your body ready.

Prepping your bike

Lubrication – During the long winter months your bike can be susceptible to moisture or dry air. Take the time to lubricate your handlebars at the headset where the frame and bars connect, your pedals, cranks, chain, and then your brakes and gear lines.

Tires – Inspect your tires for any cracks or bulges that may have formed then fill them up with air to the proper pressure.

Moving Parts – Look over all moving parts for defect or obstruction. Shift through all your gears as you pedal the bike upside down to make sure it shifts properly and the chain isn’t skipping or kinking during revolutions.

Brakes – Adjust your brakes and test them so both pads clamp evenly against your wheel and are free of dust and debris. If the pads are worn down then now is the time to replace them.

Prepping your body

Mobility – If you haven’t been on a bike all winter take the time to do a few sets of lunges and knee rises. Warm up your wrists, elbows, and shoulders with some push-ups.

Biking Apparel – Layer your clothing starting with a pair of Champion brand bike shorts or compression pants or capris (for women) to keep your warm and preventing unwanted friction. If you are a woman then you’ll appreciate a seamless sports bra for comfort and support. Layer your upper body with a comfortable training t-shirt or top and either an Eco Fleece Jacket or an All-Weather Soft Shell Jacket depending on the conditions and wind chill.

Safety – Plan your route before getting on the trail or road. Nothing puts you at risk more than trying to make split decisions on the fly because you aren’t sure which way to go. Check your helmet, adjust your reflectors, fill your water bottle, and then give everything one last look over.

Once everything is prepared then enjoy the fresh air and cool wind in your face. You’ll be able to embrace the experience and have a lot more fun once you have the peace of mind that everything is prepped and ready.

With temperatures lingering at a frosty 19 degrees you would think that most would cuddle up next to a warm fire and hide. But for one amazing mother in Utah, her fire seems to come from within!

Shawna, of NatureForKids.net, shows that with the proper cross country ski wear, and a touch of scenic beauty, you can get outdoors and enjoy nature even on the coldest of days. She exemplifies the model family camper who isn't afraid to take her children along with her. Knowing how to be prepared with the right thermal layers gives her more confidence and comfort to do what she loves. What does Shawna love? She loves cross country skiing around a high altitude reservoir outside of Brigham City, Utah.

It was no surprise to see her sporting some high quality ColdPruf Extreme Performance Thermals under her coat. Most of all she loves the comfort and bargain of her Merino Wool Outdoor Trail Socks.

In regards to the Merino Wool Trail Socks - Shawna says, "First thing I noticed was how cushioned they were. They fit snug and the seams aren’t bothersome at the toe. They’ve kept my feet warm enough that I haven’t had to give them a second thought while outside."

You can read the full experience, review, and get to know Shawna on her blog by visiting: Nature For Kids

Facing the Wind During an Idaho Blizzard

Snow is falling heavy on Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado tonight, and the wind is howling, driving the temperature to a bone chilling 7 degrees. Last week the temperature dropped down to 7 below 0 but the wind chill today just makes it feel so much colder.

A blizzard is no time to be outside but if you must, you can be ready to stay warm.  Here are a few helpful tips for choosing the right thermal base layer clothing for the job:

Base Layer Technologies

Choose base layer clothing based on your activity level and the temperature outside.  Designers from our top brands like Minus33 and ColdPruf have developed ways to use base layer to keep you comfortable and warm using powerful thermal technologies.

The Cross-Country Skier
Let's say you made a new years resolution to cross country ski every Saturday, despite the weather.  You'll need a high performance base layer, suited for high activity.  That's where the innovative ColdPruf Platinum performance line comes in, an advanced blend of 30% merino wool for maximum warmth and 70% CPT performance polyester to wick moisture and keep you dry.

ColdPruf Platinum Shirt
for Men

ColdPruf Platinum Shirt
for Women

The Winter Worker

On the other hand, if you're working a low activity day in the military, mining, agriculture, or construction industry, you'll probably want a base layer suited for medium to low activity - something that keeps you warm at idle but breathes well, and fast drying, to keep you dry when you really need to work up a sweat.  Many of our mining and military customers choose to wear polypropylene thermal underwear as their preferred base layer for these very reasons.

Desert Sand
Heavy Weight
Polypropylene
for Men or Women

Black
Heavy Weight
Polypropylene
for Men or Women

High Adventure

Finally, if you're an avid high adventure buff, taking on the most extreme winter conditions, you should really consider the Minus33 100% Merino Wool base layer.  It's so so comfortable, you wear it day and night.  More importantly, its wick technology helps you perform in changing activity levels coupled with it's brute warmth no matter the temperature.

Minus33 Expedition
100% Merino Wool
for Men

Minus33 Expedition
100% Merino Wool
for Women

The Cold Office

If you work in a warehouse or poorly heated office, or even one that gets chilly on a cold blizzard day, consider light-weight thermal underwear. These super-comfortable yet light-weight 100% merino wool thermals are just right for keeping you toasty when it's a little cool in the office. Soft and warm, yet light enough that you won't overheat. They're perfect for a hike in the mountains on a cool fall day too.

Minus33 Light-Weight
100% Merino Wool
for Women

Do your feet stay wet, cold and clammy when you're hiking, biking, skiing, snowboarding, exercising, etc? You might want to try some thin polypropylene sock liners by Fox River Mills (children sizes). Polypropylene sock liners are great for warm or cold weather. The polypropylene fabric is designed to keep your feet nice and dry helping your feet to regulate their temperature better. Polypro sock liners are especially nice in the winter time because they add a layer of warmth to your feet while keeping them dry. Polypropylene retains more heat than any other fabric and it also absorbs less water than any other fabric. If you have trouble with smelly feet, you'll want the Fox River Polypro socks with x-static. X-static is an anti-bacteria fabric that prevents odor causing bacteria from developing in your socks.

What can you wear that will keep you dry, block wind, provide warmth, and allow you plenty of flexibility? The answer? Soft Shells. The latest craze in outerwear that promises to answer the problems that skiers, snowshoers, runners and other winter or otherwise cold weather sports enthusiasts have complained about since winter sporting was invented.

Traditionally, an outer shell is made of tough nylon that has a waterproof membrane laminated to it to add many of the qualities desired by winter athletes. However, the nylon restricted flexibility and the waterproof membrane caused excessive sweating and a lack of water vapor release from the garment.

So what is a Soft Shell? Well, most Soft Shells are a mixture of fabric technologies. The core of the fabric is typically a soft, warm, wind resistant polyester fleece that retains body heat well, yet has exceptional breathability. The manufacturer then coates the fleece with DWR© (Durable Water Restistant). DWR makes the garment very water resistant and the garment can endure multiple washings and still retain its water resistancy. Finally, many manufacturers will also laminate a WindStopper© membrane to the fabric to eliminate the penetration of wind through the garment. Windstopper© completely blocks wind, yet it still allows the garment to breathe.

Soft Shells are great for most any winter sport, especially high endurance sports. The only thing to worry about is the fact that that they are not completely waterproof. If you are going to be exposed to wet conditions for an extended period of time, water will start to soak through you soft shell.

If you find yourself asking this question each year shortly after daylight savings time kicks in, then you need to pay close attention. There is no need to freeze when the weather turns cold. The proper clothing and proper clothing layers can eliminate any discomfort that winter typically causes. When I say proper clothing, I'm refering to the design of the clothing as well as the materials used to make it. For proper clothing layers, you can read my Layering Guide for a complete description of proper clothing layer techniques.

So, lets talk about proper clothing. What will keep you the warmest? There are two factors to consider here. First, you want a material that has a very low heat transfer. This means that the material stay warm longer once it is heated by your body. Second, you want a fabric that will trap as much air inside of it as possible. Air is a perfect insulator. So the more of it that is trapped inside a fabric, the warmer it will be. Fleece fabrics have excellent insulating properties because they trap heat in between all of the fluffy fibers. One fabric out there that maximized both of these insulating properties is called polypropylene fleece. Polypropylene has the lowest thermal conductivity of any clothing fabric produced. Because of this, the fleece version of polypropylene retains more warmth than almost anything else you'll find. There are plenty of other similar fabrics. Polyester fleece is probably the second best insulator. Polyester also has a low thermal conductivity. There is an added bonus to polypropylene and polyester fleece clothing. They both retain warmth when wet. So, if you start to sweat a little, you will not get cold like you would with a cotton fabric.

So, stop freezing your way through the winter. Proper dress means starting with the right long johns and then utilizing the proper clothing layers.

Last winter, I planned a snowmobiling trip to Utah. Now, I'm a native a Florida and I now live in South Georgia so, the thought of winter time in a place like Utah used to send chills all through me. I've watched most of Warren Millers ski videos. They depict these hardcore skiers taking choppers to the very tops of mountains to ski down. But, one thing you never get from those videos is any inclination as to just how cold it gets at those elevations. Even on the close up shots, you don't see any hint of shivering or coldness. In fact, on some of the interviews at the bottom the are actually sweating. The first time I visited the mountains as an adult was in the summer time. I hiked to the top of mountain that was just over 12,000 ft. Since it was summer time, I didn't bother to bring anything warm. That day just happened to be cloudy and I froze. In the middle of summer! So, how do these skiers keep warm in the winter time? They use a clothing system called layering. The most important being the base layer. If you wear the proper base layer in any weather condition, you dramatically increase your comfort level. Particularly in cold weather. You can read more on layering here.

Now, what happens each year is that more and more people catch on to this layering system. But, they don't prepare in time. Often, a trip gets planned somewhat spontaneously, and at the last minute, they find themselves running from store to store to find the right thermals. The problem is that each winter, outdoor retailers stock their shelves with a limited amount of thermal underwear. They usually base their stock on how much they sold the year before. They might stock a little more if the predictions are for a longer, colder winter. But, either way, they only stock so much. Not to mention how many of each size gets stocked. So, the would be toasty recreationist ends up compromising their layering system with something inferior. Instead of a nice fitting, warm, base layer, a 100% cotton gym sweat suit is substituted and the misery on the mountain begins. The point I'm trying to make here is that if you are serious about staying warm this winter, you need to get the right thermals well before your trip. Don't wait until everything that you would prefer to wear is sold out and you stuck "substituting."

Here are some of our reader's favorite articles:

100% COTTON-COMFORT ENEMY #1 - How can such a soft, snuggly, comfortable fabric like cotton be so hated among veterans of the high activity sports world? In this post, we'll cover the basics of why cotton is a definite no-no when putting together your wardrobe for any outdoor or otherwise high intensity sports activity.

Florida Residents Buying Thermal Underwear in the Spring! - It doesn't make sense to many people when I tell them that around 70% of our online sales for thermal underwear during the months of March thru June come from Florida and other southern states. So why would so many people from the warmest states want thermal underwear in the spring and summer?

Layering for Cold Weather Activities - For many, when the trees shed their leaves, the grass stops growing, and winter sets in, the human hibernation begins. It’s time to crawl into a centrally heated cave, and wait out the cold winter months. After all, without a natural fur coat, humans were never meant to brave temperatures below 65 degrees right?

Trekking Poles: How useful can they be? - If you've been on a hike recently, you probably noticed some of your fellow hikers trekking along with what looks like ski poles in their hands.

I have found several very useful guides relating to travelling in hot weather conditions. Each of these guides also includes other useful information about travel abroad. The first one can be found at: http://www.verber.com/mark/travel/packing.html about half way down the page.

This post: http://ask.metafilter.com/22843/Is-travel-clothing-worth-it goes into some specifics as to what types of clothing materials work better than others in hot weather. For instance, you don't want something that takes forever to dry or does not breathe well.