Canada, help a brother out.
This is going to be my first winter where I'm planning on hitting trails quite a bit on my MTB.
I know nothing of winter gear and so far have a few questions.
1. First my toes. Oh man my toes are bloody cold. I have clipless summer shoes that came with insulated insoles that I changed over to. This does nothing for the cold air ripping through the mesh top. I'm not wanting to change to a winter shoe mostly for cost and frequency of use reasons.
I've noticed that there's shoe "toe" covers and full winter covers both for sale. Anyone have advice on either or what to look for?
These didn't help much LOL.
2. To save my ears from frostbite I simply pulled out my padding and put a toque on under my helmet. It sat a little high but worked. Is there a better way to cover up my ears?
3. Snow clogged shoe cleats. Lots of smashing my shoes off the pedals to clear the snow. Any tips or is this the norm?
4. My hydration hose keeps freezing up at the valve at -4 temps so I had to keep drinking every few min to keep er flowing. What do you do when it really gets cold?
5. Anything I should be doing to my bike to prevent damage in the sub zero weather?
6. How do the trails look in the middle of the winter? Is it worth it to order a set of cleated tires or will I be ok with my xc rubber?
Other than those things I think so far the frozen ground is a blast to ride on. My temperature spikes early in the ride so I don't need to bundle up much and ride times are under 4hr so there's not much if any standing around.
To anyone who looked at my links, Yes I do have my pants tucked into my socks and Yes those are mechanics gloves from work.
Thanks
This is going to be my first winter where I'm planning on hitting trails quite a bit on my MTB.
I know nothing of winter gear and so far have a few questions.
1. First my toes. Oh man my toes are bloody cold. I have clipless summer shoes that came with insulated insoles that I changed over to. This does nothing for the cold air ripping through the mesh top. I'm not wanting to change to a winter shoe mostly for cost and frequency of use reasons.
I've noticed that there's shoe "toe" covers and full winter covers both for sale. Anyone have advice on either or what to look for?
These didn't help much LOL.
2. To save my ears from frostbite I simply pulled out my padding and put a toque on under my helmet. It sat a little high but worked. Is there a better way to cover up my ears?
3. Snow clogged shoe cleats. Lots of smashing my shoes off the pedals to clear the snow. Any tips or is this the norm?
4. My hydration hose keeps freezing up at the valve at -4 temps so I had to keep drinking every few min to keep er flowing. What do you do when it really gets cold?
5. Anything I should be doing to my bike to prevent damage in the sub zero weather?
6. How do the trails look in the middle of the winter? Is it worth it to order a set of cleated tires or will I be ok with my xc rubber?
Other than those things I think so far the frozen ground is a blast to ride on. My temperature spikes early in the ride so I don't need to bundle up much and ride times are under 4hr so there's not much if any standing around.
To anyone who looked at my links, Yes I do have my pants tucked into my socks and Yes those are mechanics gloves from work.
Thanks