Marginal warmth gains to hoard heat for your winter rides

There’s no one trick to staying warm while riding outside in a Canadian winter. But there are lots of small tricks.

Together, these add up. Call it marginal gains. That term may usually refer to skinny pro roadies looking to get up mountains fractions of a second faster. But the same approach, chasing the cumulative effect of independently small improvements, can help you keep riding outside all winter in comfort, or relative comfort.

Marginal warmth gains

Carbon fibre bars (and brake levers)

Citing the benefits of carbon fibre bars usually includes lighter weight and improved stiffness. But, come winter, there’s a fringe benefit that becomes a central selling feature: they’re warmer. Or, at least, they don’t transfer the cold through the grips to your hands the same way alloy bars do.

If you want to get into really marginal gains, carbon (or any non-metal composite) lever blades make a surprising impact on warmth. Especially for that lonely braking finger floating out there on its own away from the warmth of its friends. It’s hard to have any brake modulation with a frozen finger so, while we called this marginal, it can be pretty important if you’re riding frozen trails.

Heat-focused hand-ware

We all know that, on the coldest days, mitts are warmer than fingered gloves. But it’s hard to grab a brake lever with mittens on.

There are a few different styles of gloves designed to maximize heat on the bike on frosty days. Which one works best for you will depend what kind of riding you’re doing. The general idea is the same: keeping fingers together is warmer than separating them. Two finger “lobster” gloves, pogies that go over the bars, mitts with one index finger for braking: all are different approaches depending how much control you need (road cruising vs fat biking on trails) and how often – or how quickly –  you need to be able to take your hands off the bars.

Flat pedals win medals… and winter

Flat pedals aren’t just more fun than clipless, they’re also warmer. The cleat – and screws required to keep the cleat in place, act like an access port in winter, letting the cold stab deep into the core of even the warmest shoe. There’s not much less fun than feeling like you’re pedalling with an ice cube underfoot.

Beards, etc..

This is one gain that I…