Woke up on my day off hoping to get some miles in-rain and more rain!

I have some mudguards going on today but will need some leg wear etc.
Have a yellow endura gridlock jacket and some gloves etc.

Need some motiavation before I pay up for a gym membership and use the car!

Help!

When it gets colder I will be using Endura road overshoes, Endura stealthlite waterproof tights and either an Altura Crosslite or Endura Stealth jacket. Gloves still to be decided, might treat myself to some new ones this winter.

I will mainly be riding my new winter hack bike

I have the same gear for my roadbike but didn't want to use it for commuting!

Waterproof tights on my shopping list now.

Nice bike btw.

Wateerproof tights are really nice and warm, much better than waterproof shorts/trousers. Also a skullcap of some sort under your helmet to cover your ears and stopping the rain soaking your hair. Clear glasses to keep the wind out you eyes on very cold days too.

I use my nice carbon road bike for commuting as it make the journey more pleasurable – thats how I stay strong. I ride a bike I love and enjoy L) A lot of my miles are done commuting so why use something thats uncomforatble, shifts badly and is slow – apart from saving money on components, prevent theft or extra training………. 🙂

Please don't get that gym membership and drive your car!

You'll find the mudgaurds help hugely at keeping you dry and shite free. With nice bright front and rear lights, a reflective jacket and maybe some sealskins type waterproof socks, you'll find that cycling isn't that bad in bad weather.

I have a buff which I really love to use as a neckwarmer and on downhills I pull it up to cover my nose and mouth, I find it keeps the face that bit warmer on a chilly descent.

I don't commute very far – 4 miles or so. Drizzle – I don't bother with any special kit. Raining hard – full cheapo waterproof suit. Only get caught in the rain a couple of times a year tho – nice dry climate here

Mudguards are essential

My train into London was like a TB clinic day outing, I cant ride that far, but am now right on the edge of bringing a bike in daily to ride across town to avoid the underground TB clinic.

Rode in this morning on this:

Alfine geared hub and mudguards are the winter bits…

Its raining today, but quite warm so bib shorts, knee warmers and overshoes. In winter is will be thermal bib tights and Shimano MW-02s.

Them neoprene Aldi winter gloves were really cheap & great for commuting, I keep a dry pair at work. The ubiquitous seal-skinz socks as ever, always a good move. If you've decent full guards (SKS Commuters) then that's half the job done already.
And as said before, you can count on one hand the number of days you'll get totally soaked over a Winters commuting.
Don't overlook visibility though, 2 or even 3 high level LED flashers for the back (& side?) & plenty of Hi-Vis tape on stuff.

just my normal bike (rigid kona lava dome with slicks) and shower in work

I wear the same as I would for Offroad.

Endura Convert Jacket
Altura waterproof 3/4's
Shimano winter boots
Sealskins
Regular gloves – atm but will wear sealskin winter gloves when it gets cold
If cold I wear a skullcap under my helmet, legwarmers and I have overshoes for when it's really cold…

This year I may invest in some mud guards for my winters commuting..

If it's raining I also have my lights on flashing mode to make sure I'm seen properly….

Bike:

1. Full length mudguards, with a decent flap on the front one (keeps the spray of your feet).

2. Decent lights. Currently use L&M Vega on the front; Cateye LD1100 ("holy hand grenade") on the rear. Tesco red flashing jobbie on the back of the lid.

Clothes:

1. Bib longs in the winter, though I do just use shorts and leg warmers. don't mind wet legs.

2. Endura overshoes. The pair I have better last longer than the last.

3. Warm socks – sealskinz in v wet weather, otherwise just wool socks with the overshoes.

4. This year I'm thinking of buying a new jacket. Prob hi-viz (useful in the daylight and half light, but makes no difference understreetlights) with reflective panels/strips. Must be road cut. Suggestions?

5. Buff – fleece and thin material. Won't use it until winter, though.

6. Cap – useful under the lid if raining or a chilly day.

7. Gloves – cuirrently using Adidas spring/autumn gloves. Need to replace my old dead Dectahlong winter pair with something new this time. Suggestions?

8. Jersey – depending on temp, I layer up or down. This year, I'm contemplating a long sleeved merino or dry-wool jersey (probably from Shutt VR).

My bike won't take mudguards (nowhere near enough clearance) so I usually just put up. Got decent waterproofs and excellent facilities at work. I have to admit to getting the train in this morning though!

As an aside, only slightly related to the bad weather thing, I've just bought an extra set of lights to go along with the 2 rear, 2 front I already have. Knog Skink rear (4 LED) and Knog Beetle front (2 LED) and I'm sure that cars gave me a wider berth because of it. I now have 2 on the seatpost, one on the RH seatstay. On the front, 2 on the bars and one on the RH fork. I'll be getting a helmet mounted Joystick soon as well. Really helps, especially in bad weather – my rule is that if cars have their lights on, I have mine on too.

Thanks for the tips everyone!

I was close to just getting the gym membership etc.

It's my 2 days off from work so I'm putting mudguards on my hackbike and winter road bike, crud guards on the xc bike.

Also getting my clothing sorted 2morro-Cheap tights would be great as I want to spend a bit more when I'm in shape.

Ok right-organising all my gear, tools and buying some taupalin for the bike to dry on.

I guess I'll get my money back from a month not driving the car to work etc. It was hell sitting in a 1hr traffic jam in the car park-I went back to work!

Thanks, will post pics of winter bike once I get my guards on etc.

(I do reccomend the Stealth jacket-waterproof and fairly warm last time I rode in winter-yrs ago. Bit overkill for short commutes.)

Started to rain again but this time I'm smiling-it's war and rain is not going to win!

That looks very stealth-like Simon, nice 😉

Definitely mudguards. Arm warmers and gilets are useful this time of year for cold in, warm home days. I often wear Ron Hill cycling treksters (the ones with the water repellant finish) on wet days; may look a bit beardy but they're cheap and fit for purpose 🙂

Colder weather will see the Endura Bib tights coming out.

I find, no matter what I wear I still get wet one way or another when I commute in wet weather.

If I wrap myself up head to foot in all waterproof attire I just sweat so much that it defeats the point.

For me, I try and keep my upper body hands and feet dry, the rest, well it just gets wet and I do a complete change of cloths and dry off when I get to work.

(Saying that the new eVENT waterproof jacket seems to breath well so far this year)

If you're not going far I'm a big fan of wearing a normal waterproof jacket rather than anything cycling specific – means you can put the hood over your helmet and avoid the rain pouring down the back of your neck 🙂

Foxyrider – Member

I use my nice carbon road bike for commuting as it make the journey more pleasurable – thats how I stay strong. I ride a bike I love and enjoy L) A lot of my miles are done commuting so why use something thats uncomforatble, shifts badly and is slow – apart from saving money on components, prevent theft or extra training……….

I will occasionally commute on this in the winter…

Afterall, it's a 30 mile E/W commute and it nice to do it on a poshish bike occasionally but I don't fancy having to replace a 10spd ultegra drivetrain in the spring at the current prices hence the cheap hack bike built using stuff from my old road bike 🙂

Nice bike pics posted here even for commuting.

one on the RH fork

Wouldn't having one on the LH fork-leg be better, to attract the attention of dozy drivers about to pull out of junctions on the left? Actually, this may be an argument to have on on each fork leg….

Gloves:

Just bought a pair of these.

Jacket:
I've various, Altura Night Vision is good,Endura used to do a nice snug fit one in hi-viz too.

one large smug grin.

especially when the lorry driver i overtook shouted
"you had enough of living then?"

no, you fat tard, but i would if i was stuck on my fat arse in that truck for peanuts everyday!

Cheers AA – good suggesitons.

When its wet and cold I usually wear a gore fusion jacket, gore waterproof shorts and either overshoes or shimano winter boots. I use a cx bike with 25mm slicks and full guards. I very seldom wear longs, needs to be really cold for them, and merino knee warmers is usually enough even down to well below zero temps. Gloves are the hard bit though but I've found a combination of merino glove liners and specialized sub zeros works well in all but really heavy rain for the full commute. I'm thinking of getting some Tuff Bag paclite mits for the traffic free bits.

Other items I wear in winter are a polartec buff, gore skull cap and either a prowool helly hansen top or a rapha long sleeve top. Oh and merino socks – 1 or 2 pairs depending on how minus the temp is.

At the moment when its wet gore waterproof shorts, endura mt500 overshoes and rapha stowaway jacket are working well.

lights, lights, lights.
with optional winter gloves and overshoes if it's really cold. Otherwise it's 'as summer' but with arm- and knee-warmers. Gilet comes in handy for the morning commute too.
When it gets to proper winter, then I add socks and a skullcap to the above, and dig out the Ground Effect tops.
no waterproofs – can't see the point. Never found a jacket which can breathe enough to leave me still dry by the end of the 30km commute, so don't bother.

damitamit's bike is brilliant. 🙂

Commuting in London for years I found that you don't really need to go overboard with thermal stuff as it is never that cold. I use two pairs of unpadded longs: a pair of Ron Hill Bikesters and some ribbed Endura (or Lusso) longs that I got very cheap. I then rotate shorts/liners on a daily basis (old shorts that have gone see through get further use as liners). On top I use baselayers (I got some great De Marchi ones with a windproof front really cheap) and jerseys supplemented if it is raining/very windy with either a Parrot pertex windproof or a gilet. I find this keep the worst out and dries quickly for the way home.

On my hands I use a pair of winter golf gloves I picked up when I played one of my few rounds of golf. It was a very cold day. These are thin but are windproof and have Thermalite(?) backs. On my feet I have a pair of old style Seal Skinz with normal cycling socks.

My lighting is a dynamo hub front and back plus flashing LEDs front and back, supplemented by those Repro anklebands. I have SKS full length mud guards.

I was wrong my gloves are not Thermalite, just Windstopper, quite cheap though. See here

Had a shocker yesterday – a bit grey and raining and got a good drenching on the way home but perversely I do enjoy it.
Much better day today with nice valley mist to cycle through and up and out of. View from high point on way into work….. nice ride and very lucky really.

I have full lenght guards adn use neopreane over shoes on my feet anda windproof jacket/gloves. the rest is normally shorts and tee buut using bib tights in the coldest months. I find that as long as my hands/feet and upper body is warm then i don't care if it gets wet as after a couple of mins you don't notice it any longer.

You ask for motivation. Well for me its pride in not being beaten, its curiously a more intense experience in heavy rain, it keeps you fit, it burns calories and last but not least it saves money. And makes me feel super self righteous! When others at work express disbelief that I have just ridden 'in that'. (Nearly as good as when you tell them you're ridden a 24 hour race or D2D etc – they have no idea about real life)

on tuesday i used some aldi waterproof overtrouser on my way to school pants were clean and dry all that was wet on me was my hair and hands

nobody mentioning MTFU?

^agree; if you can just MTFU and get out and accept that it is not 'perfect' weather you will still enjoy it for what it is, rather than comparing it to a summers ride on dusty trails.

Just going in to spring here and cruising past all the fairweather commuters is a definite plus – I can comfortably cruise at 35ish KPH whilst all those with the winter off struggle along.

Also, I got sniffles this winter but not 'sick' at all; not having to take the breeding ground that is a warm but damp train, squashed up against someone sneezing on me was one of the major reasons for this along with just being fitter and healthier due to the riding.

If you're anything like me, commuting in the winter means you have permanent sniffles, but never a real full blown cold or Flu type illness….

It really doesn't rain that often anyway.
I want more snow. That's fun.