Guide on Ways to Keep Your Feet Warm While Riding a Bike
We’re going to be talking about feet. Tips on keeping your feet warm and had lots of questions since then. So I thought I’d expand a bit. OK, five tips for keeping your feet warm on a bike. It will work for anything.
Tip No 1: Wear the right socks. Now, I know this sounds kind of obvious, but it seems to be really overlooked. The most important part of keeping your feet warm in wintertime is choosing the right socks. Now there are a couple ways of looking at this, but fundamentally what you need is a good thick pair of wool socks to keep them warm.
Wool is the best. Merino wool is a little bit more comfortable. A little bit more expensive, but worth it I love merino wool socks, I wear them every day of the winter. But beyond that, there are a couple of other little trips tips that work for me.
Make sure those socks are really long If they come up to your knee, I don’t know the physics behind it, but they seem to keep my feet a lot warmer when they come up really high. So ski socks are great for that kind of thing. You can always find long wool socks. But I one thing I do, and lots of people disagree with this, because of point.
No 2, which you’ll see in a minute, but I often layer up my feet too. Now I’ve got a really thin pair of really high wool socks. So they’re nice and thin they pull them up really high they come up to here. And then over top of that, I put a thicker pair of traditional wool socks. So it’s still comfortable but I get all of the warmth in there, and that seems to work really well for me.
Some people say one pair is all you need. That’s probably true, but there you go: make sure you pick the right socks. Tip number two do not overstuff your shoes. So yes: you need to wear warm socks, but you want to make sure your boots are not too tight you want to leave a little pocket of air around your foot between your sock and the inside of your boot.
Your body heat will warm that air up and that helps keep your foot warm. If your shoes are too tight, if you’re stuffed too many socks in there, you’re not going to have that pocket of air and your feet will get cold much quicker. Tip No 3: ditch the cycling shoes. Now I know a lot of people have these shoes, and these are mine I use them all the time.
Cycling shoes are great for a lot of things. They clip into your pedal to keep your foot in the right position, which helps peddling power and peddling speed. They’re made for lightness, they are quick, they’re streamlined. Usually, they are not made for warmth. When your foot is tightly packed in there, it’s really tough to keep it warm.
So my solution? Ditch the cycling shoes. Tip No 4: Pick the right shoes for your ride. So you’ve given up the cycling shoes, and you’ve given up the idea that you’re going to set some kind of personal bests on your commute to work in the winter time, or any kind of winter ride. I mean riding in the winter is slower anyway.
So what’s most important is keeping your feet warm. So what do you wear? Here are a couple suggestions for you. If you are geared up for cycling and you are one of those people who likes to dress athletically, get a pair of these. These are mid-level hiking boots, maybe three season, maybe fall, maybe winter hiking boots. Anything like that will work.
These are pretty good. They’re sleek enough that you can still ride quickly. They’re waterproof so I don’t mind them getting wet. I don’t mind them getting dirty. There’s enough room to stuff some warm socks in there, and for a lot of those rides these work really well. I wear these on some rides when it gets down to about -10 degrees Celsius, -15 degrees Celsius.
If it gets really cold like really, really cold. Give it all up and bring out the big guns. Just just wear the warmest boots you’ve got. It’s important to keep your feet warm, so these are great. They’re kind of big and they’re bulky.
They’re not great on the bike but they’re super warm and keep me warm and comfortable, and keep me going even on those really really cold days. I’ve worn these down to – 20 minus -25 degrees Celsius, and even colder than that, so these are a great option. But that’s if you’re dressing specifically for your ride. What if you’re dressing for your destination? What if you need something to wear to get to work and to wear at work as well? Well this is the thing that really opened my eyes, and I’m wearing them right now.
You don’t need to wear Blundstones, but I love these boots. They’re not insulated or anything, so I still need to wear warm socks, but I can stuff them in there they keep my feet warm on those average winter days and I can wear them all day at work too. So it’s really key for me to find boots that I can wear on my ride and where I’m going as well. So these were a life-changer for me I wear them probably too much, almost every day of the winter, and I love them.
So there you go. There are a few tips for you. OK top number five: Let’s call this one the bread-bag hack. So, I’ve never tried this before, but I’ve heard it from a lot of people It’s a little weird, but some people swear by it. When it’s really cold, and you’re having no luck keeping your feet warm, get it a little plastic bag. Maybe an old bread bag, maybe a little bag like this and actually stick your foot into that bag and then shove that into your shoe. Now, I can’t imagine how sweaty your foot would get, but if you think about it, it probably does a decent job of keeping that body heat in there. So, I don’t know I’ve never tried it, but if you’re desperate, give it a whirl and let me know how it goes. The last thing I want to say is don’t neglect your feet. Cold toes means a bad ride. I should have said at the beginning.