Layering up for chilly days

It’s a funny thing how you learn which layers you’ll be needing to keep you warm on different wintery days – and even then – it’s always funny that we check with someone else ‘What are you planning to wear?’ 

Today, as I prepared to treat myself to a ride in the daylight sunshine, I nipped outside to check the temperature and wind before picking out my layers. 

Legs: definitely need to be covered so today I can enjoy my favourite global warming bib shorts if I also wear my pritygrity legwarmers. 

Body: it’s relatively mild for November and I can still wear my lightweight long sleeve jersey but I’ll be needing an extra layer underneath, so I doubled up a short sleeve base layer with a long sleeve one, added a short sleeve jersey and topped it all off with my global warming long sleeve jersey. 

Tucking a neck warmer in my rear pocket, just in case, and popping my cycling cap under my helmet, I was ready to go.  Uh oh!  It was a bit fresh as I set off, but thankfully Narrow Lane did its job to warm me up and away I went happy as Larry!

But the story could easily have been so different.  How many times have you been caught short in the rain and come back frozen to an iceberg, so frozen that you can hardly work the breaks?   Equally, who else has over done the layers and sweltered their way through a seemingly endless ride with nowhere to stow that unnecessary clothing?  You may even have considered chucking it over the hedge to retrieve another day!

Top tip! You should be just about warm enough standing around preparing your bike for your ride.  If you are noticeably cold at this stage, you probably need another layer – a gillet or a windproof jacket for example. 

Top tip two! Pay attention to ways to moderate your temperature.  Now that it’s nearly winter, it’s easy to moderate temperature with tricks like neck ventilation – unzipping the top of your jersey makes a big difference, or conversely, adding a neck warmer pulled up to your chin will keep you significantly warmer.  My ears suffer the cold in the winter so my neck warmer often becomes my ear warmer band, or even my whole head warmer under my cycling cap.

So, what’s your favourite wintery layer?