The bike commuting clothing dilemma: there are no wrong answers. Well, I guess unless you so badly underestimate the weather, and the business hours of public transportation, that you are forced to call a cab at two in the morning to drive you home. That would certainly be a wrong answer. But I've never done that.
Nonetheless, I have learned a little bit during my time commuting by bicycle nearly every day through an Oregon winter. The meta-question of the bike clothing dilemma can be distilled to: "Should I wear bike stuff, or should I wear my normal clothing?" This post will not attempt to be exhaustive, but will help you ask yourself the right questions.
Some background. During my final year of college, I worked at the local branch of a nationally-recognized coffee shop company. I would work the four in the morning shift, and then head off to class for the day. I will let my astute readers do the math: to be at work by ten till four, I had to leave my house at about a quarter after three. Which meant that I was biking through some of the least pleasant hours of the winter.
When I first started this routine, I attempted to wear my work clothes with rain pants and jacket over the top. I soon learned that even on a 25 minute ride, my legs, clad in rubber, could generate a substantial amount of sweat. Additionally, if it was actually raining, the rain paints were a sopping mess when I finished the ride. I then had the issue of storing my wet, muddy pants somewhere—I certainly didn't want to put them in my bag—until my shift was over. I eventually solved the lower body problem by wearing a bike-tights/cargo shorts combination. I was surprised that in all but the strongest downpours, my legs and my shorts did not get overly wet.
After a few months of similar trial and error, I settled on the following metric for deciding what to wear/pack: The less distance/hills/load/dress code/etc. anticipated for the commute, the closer to normal clothing you can get. For example, I currently bike to work every day. And I also wear a suit every day. However, I bike approximately... 400 yards to work. So, my rating on the above metric is relatively low, and I'm able to simply wear the clothes I wear for work on my ride.
Let's take the inverse: Suppose we are riding fifteen miles each way to school, with a shift at the local eatery thrown in. In this case, we'd most likely want to wear something that is bike-specific for the ride, and pack our clothes. Now don't get me wrong, bike-specific does not necessarily mean spandex. Just wear what you’re comfortable in on the bike; pack the rest. This will avoid the problem of sweating into the clothes you’re going to wear all day.
When October rolls around, and you start commuting through weather that’s not typically considered bike-friendly, you will have to adjust your wardrobe. Of course the normal adages apply here: wear multiple thin layers as opposed to one big layer, so you can adjust your insulation as conditions and your body heat change. As I said above, I found that tights under shorts worked well for my lower half. They were flexible on the bike, and worked well in weather from 60 degrees down to about 25.
I never invested in a good warm had that would fit under my helmet. I ended up finding a solution that worked well for me. I would put the hood of the sweatshirt and/or rain jacket I was wearing up, and put my helmet over that. It not only kept my head warm, it kept my hood tightly in place where I wanted it. Hoods are prone to blowing off in the wind.
A few one-word mentions of things to be aware of: Bike shoes versus normal shoes, neoprene booties (get them), gloves, fenders (will be adressed elsewhere, but they are essential, and have something to do with clothing, i.e. keeping you dry), scarves or something else to keep your neck warm.
Before I leave the bike clothing topic for now, let me add this: It is a great joy to get where you are going under your own power, in bad weather, while remaining very comfortable. There were many times that I found myself cycling in thirty-five degree weather, with a light rain, at three-thirty in the morning—and realized how snug I felt, and how happy. It is one of those secret joys, which one knows will not be attempted by most people. One feels like the explorer who just came back from the wilderness to exclamations of “Oh my! But wasn’t it dangerous?” Of course any good explorer will accept the adulations and perpetuate the myth, but inwardly he chuckles: It was actually quite fun…
Let’s touch lightly on another question: What should I use to carry my stuff? The two basic answers here are 1) Some sort of bag that you wear, or 2) Some sort of container that hangs on your bike. For the year that I was biking considerable distances with a considerable load, I used a large messenger-style bag. It fit everything I needed, and it was completely waterproof. I don’t think this is a bad way to go, but I’ve recently begun using a rear rack to carry the smaller loads that I do now, and it is certainly nice to get the weight off my shoulders. The potential downside to racks and panniers (those bags that hang down on the sides of the bike) is that your load will not be as portable when you leave you bike behind. In some situations, this is not a big deal. In situations like mine, where I was hopping off my bike to go to class here, a coffee shop there, etc., it was certainly nice to have my things already in a carrying bag.
The bag topic brings to mind another crucial aspect of bike commuting: the staging area. It is a very good thing if you have a locker room, shower, and/or simply a good storage place at your destination. But more on this later…
Nonetheless, I have learned a little bit during my time commuting by bicycle nearly every day through an Oregon winter. The meta-question of the bike clothing dilemma can be distilled to: "Should I wear bike stuff, or should I wear my normal clothing?" This post will not attempt to be exhaustive, but will help you ask yourself the right questions.
Some background. During my final year of college, I worked at the local branch of a nationally-recognized coffee shop company. I would work the four in the morning shift, and then head off to class for the day. I will let my astute readers do the math: to be at work by ten till four, I had to leave my house at about a quarter after three. Which meant that I was biking through some of the least pleasant hours of the winter.
When I first started this routine, I attempted to wear my work clothes with rain pants and jacket over the top. I soon learned that even on a 25 minute ride, my legs, clad in rubber, could generate a substantial amount of sweat. Additionally, if it was actually raining, the rain paints were a sopping mess when I finished the ride. I then had the issue of storing my wet, muddy pants somewhere—I certainly didn't want to put them in my bag—until my shift was over. I eventually solved the lower body problem by wearing a bike-tights/cargo shorts combination. I was surprised that in all but the strongest downpours, my legs and my shorts did not get overly wet.
After a few months of similar trial and error, I settled on the following metric for deciding what to wear/pack: The less distance/hills/load/dress code/etc. anticipated for the commute, the closer to normal clothing you can get. For example, I currently bike to work every day. And I also wear a suit every day. However, I bike approximately... 400 yards to work. So, my rating on the above metric is relatively low, and I'm able to simply wear the clothes I wear for work on my ride.
Let's take the inverse: Suppose we are riding fifteen miles each way to school, with a shift at the local eatery thrown in. In this case, we'd most likely want to wear something that is bike-specific for the ride, and pack our clothes. Now don't get me wrong, bike-specific does not necessarily mean spandex. Just wear what you’re comfortable in on the bike; pack the rest. This will avoid the problem of sweating into the clothes you’re going to wear all day.
When October rolls around, and you start commuting through weather that’s not typically considered bike-friendly, you will have to adjust your wardrobe. Of course the normal adages apply here: wear multiple thin layers as opposed to one big layer, so you can adjust your insulation as conditions and your body heat change. As I said above, I found that tights under shorts worked well for my lower half. They were flexible on the bike, and worked well in weather from 60 degrees down to about 25.
I never invested in a good warm had that would fit under my helmet. I ended up finding a solution that worked well for me. I would put the hood of the sweatshirt and/or rain jacket I was wearing up, and put my helmet over that. It not only kept my head warm, it kept my hood tightly in place where I wanted it. Hoods are prone to blowing off in the wind.
A few one-word mentions of things to be aware of: Bike shoes versus normal shoes, neoprene booties (get them), gloves, fenders (will be adressed elsewhere, but they are essential, and have something to do with clothing, i.e. keeping you dry), scarves or something else to keep your neck warm.
Before I leave the bike clothing topic for now, let me add this: It is a great joy to get where you are going under your own power, in bad weather, while remaining very comfortable. There were many times that I found myself cycling in thirty-five degree weather, with a light rain, at three-thirty in the morning—and realized how snug I felt, and how happy. It is one of those secret joys, which one knows will not be attempted by most people. One feels like the explorer who just came back from the wilderness to exclamations of “Oh my! But wasn’t it dangerous?” Of course any good explorer will accept the adulations and perpetuate the myth, but inwardly he chuckles: It was actually quite fun…
Let’s touch lightly on another question: What should I use to carry my stuff? The two basic answers here are 1) Some sort of bag that you wear, or 2) Some sort of container that hangs on your bike. For the year that I was biking considerable distances with a considerable load, I used a large messenger-style bag. It fit everything I needed, and it was completely waterproof. I don’t think this is a bad way to go, but I’ve recently begun using a rear rack to carry the smaller loads that I do now, and it is certainly nice to get the weight off my shoulders. The potential downside to racks and panniers (those bags that hang down on the sides of the bike) is that your load will not be as portable when you leave you bike behind. In some situations, this is not a big deal. In situations like mine, where I was hopping off my bike to go to class here, a coffee shop there, etc., it was certainly nice to have my things already in a carrying bag.
The bag topic brings to mind another crucial aspect of bike commuting: the staging area. It is a very good thing if you have a locker room, shower, and/or simply a good storage place at your destination. But more on this later…
