Last week, in our guide to essential cycle to work gear, we ran through
your options for keeping your lower half comfortable. This week it’s
the turn of your upper body.
While your legs are hard at work on the cranks, your upper body is relatively inactive. So it’s going to need a whole different approach to keeping you comfortable.
On top of that it’s your upper body that is going to bear the brunt of bad weather, so with these two points in mind here is our guide to how to keep your upper body as dry and comfortable as possible on your cycle to work:
Keeping your body dry and comfortable is pretty easy if all you’re doing is a relatively sedate exercise like walking. You can wear a fully waterproof jacket over your normal clothes and keep dry underneath.
Get on a bike though and it’s a whole new ball game. Although cycling is as difficult as you make it, a sedate cycle wearing normal clothes is entirely possible if the distance allows, cycling in bad weather (or Britain) will make some sort of jacket necessary. The kind of cardiovascular exercise cycling involves means your body is going to want to breath. Or sweat if it gets too hot.
Most normal jackets don’t have the appropriate levels of breathability to cope with cycling. So whilst your trusty cagoule may do a grand job of keeping the rain off, you’ll be sweating a deluge inside. End game? You’re soaking wet either way.
So a cycling specific jacket is a good idea. There are all sorts to choose from, whether periods of good weather mean that you just want something you can easily pack away. The Montane range of jackets is great at this. Lightweight, waterproof and breathable.
For worse weather, Endura’s Gridlock jacket is a great choice – and it also highlights another important factor in choosing a jacket. Being seen. Reflective strips and bright colours are de rigeur for cycling commuters. Another very popular jacket is the Altura Night Vision, it’s name illustrating why it is so well-liked by cyclists keen to be seen on the road.
We should at this point mention cycling jerseys. Perfect for drier weather conditions, they are generally windproof, breathable and quite visible. For commuters, in this country at least, cycling means that you are committed to riding twice a day – with eight hours in between. Eight hours is a lifetime for the British climate. Dress for the worst…
Underneath your top layer many cyclists choose to wear a base layer. Base layers are very specific items that do a great job at wicking away sweat from your skin, keeping you dry (and not giving the sweat a chance to get cold on the surface of your skin) and comfortable during periods of inactivity. At traffic lights for instance. They can help keep you warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
Most base layers are made from synthetic materials. Items like the Specialized First Layer or the Altura Inter Base Layer are a great inexpensive way of improving your on-bike comfort. Top of the range base layers are made of merino wool, like the Endura Baa Baa base layer. On top of being very breathable, merino wool is also more easily washed than it’s synthetic counterparts.
So if you’re buying for a partner it’s probably worth the extra…
