First “wintery” night ride last night and the toes were feeling it a bit. I wear the 5.10 EPS winter ankle boots and some merino socks. Shoes were pre-warmed and plenty of room in the toe box. Socks aren’t particularly heavy weight.
Would sealskinz, the merino lined ones be much better? Or a heavier merino.
Absolutely sure you haven't got them too tight? I get cold feet when I've overtightened the fasteners...releasing the pressure slightly and they warm up quickly.
Are you wearing trousers or knee pads?
I wear Dexshell light-weight socks all year around, never have an issue TBH - but I've also narrow feet so plenty of 'room' in both socks/shoes. Hot drink before you ride?
Neoprene socks, like they use for watersports, over a pair of thin socks.
Warmer legs. If you can stop the blood from cooling as much on the way to your feet, it makes a difference.
As for the shoes, not much you can do, but I'd wager you've not got as much room as you think. There's a thermal image on this site showing the difference between toes with spacer, and those without.
*I would have posted the pic, but you know, single-track forum!
Long pants (fox ranger) with pads under. I’m sure they aren’t too tight but maybe I nip then around the ankle a tad, with them being boot style?
Could go silly and get some heated socks?
*I would have posted the pic, but you know, single-track forum!
The above image is a fantastic visual representation of the effect Correct Toes has on foot and toe blood flow. The darker areas represent areas of lower blood flow, while the lighter areas are regions experiencing greater circulation.
Better socks.
I am currently running Danish Endurance Hiking Socks.
Suffer from poor circulation but these socks keep my toes plugged in.
(That and Madison DWR trousers, Gore Phantom jacket, merino top, Rab Windstopper gloves etc).
In addition to warmer shoes, better sock and overshoes, we have just experiemented with footwarmers. Currently using the (horribly un-ecofriendly) disposable ones, they transformed mrs_oab from cold toes to snuggly warm for a 3-hour ride last week.
I am planning some heated insoles for both of us for Christmas...
Columbia Fairbanks boots
@kayak23 thanks for that.
@matt_outandabout I'd be interested in feedback on those footwarmers. Work boots out in the wilderness with the steal toe cap heat sink make staying comfortable quite tricky at times.
loosen the shoes, put some long socks or trousers on.
The standard old-skool trick is tinfoil around your toes. And I can confirm it works a treat.
As others have said - you need to ensure your blood is not cooling down too much on its way to your feet, as its the only thing which provides heat internally.
Good insulation is next - the tin foil idea above works well but so does wrapping your toes in a little cling-film or putting a thin sandwhich bag over each foot.
I’m looking forward to getting out in my 5-10 Goretex boots
That and my heated socks🤘🏻🤘🏻
Wore them last winter and never had cold feet after I started wearing them
Warm and dry for me means:
Roubaix bibs (with baggy shorts over if necessary if there's a lot of windchill or rain).
Aldi waterproof cycling socks (better than sealskins IME).
Northwave winter boots
Gripgrab gaiters.
Guaranteed warm and dry feet unless you actually submerge them calf-deep in water which defeats the rubber gaiters.
There's definitely a gap in the market for morewinter flat pedal MTB shoes. Something waterproof and high topped so it works with gaiters, but not bulky like a walking boot, and moon on a stick, not silly money. Sticky soles wear out too quickly to be really worth spending £150 on a pair that will only do ~1000 miles. Basically the 5.10 trail cross gore-tex shoes, but not £150.
Riding trousers/pants, thick knee-length ski socks (Falke SK1) and slack laces usually works for me. If I'm feeling particularly delicate I'll add a pair of merino long johns. Well toasty.
I find insulating insoles also help in certain boots (especially if standing/walking lots).
Are you warm enough in your core? Everyone's different, but if I'm toasty, I don't get cold toes.
If you tend to dress so you're not too hot at the top of the climbs, it might leave you cool enough over the whole ride that your body's constricting circulation.
If you can tolerate being a bit hotter when you're working hard, you might find you're more comfortable for the rest of the time.
Or wear a gilet or something on top that allows you to stay warm on the downs but dump heat quickly when you want to.
Hot drink before you ride?
Causes no end of other issues at my age!
Plus one on proper ski socks
The chemical ones we have work well - they need a few minutes of oxygen to get working before you put them in the shoes, and we found that every hour or so they needed another few moments of oxygen having been put inside a goretex shoe.
We tried over and under feet - not much difference other than when she walked around and could feel it under her foot more.
They lasted longer than the 3 hour ride.
Other than the disposable nature of them, I think they were a big 'win' for us. They are the last thing to reach for though - we already have warm socks, good shoes, and now both have overshoes as well (mine are better than mrs_oab's - hers are Mavic neoprene, mine are stretchy fleece lined Bontrager ones).
Getting cold toes this early is not a good sign! For ultimate warmness, I cannae beat Bontrager Old Man Winter boots. They are amazing but super ugly, big and heavy. I put up with that for warm toes though. I've tried happy happy hot feet electric heated insoles before and they are OK up until deep winter when they just don't give enough warmth. Coupled with a waterproof boot like a Shimano XM9, they do work but not when it gets a bit below 0. Then it is time for Old Man Winter. As per all the above advice, wear trousers (and thermal bib longs underneath), nice thick merino wool socks and loose shoes then go from there. Bib longs do help btw.
I gave in a couple of years ago and asked for heated insoles and got given some warmawear ones.
They give about 2 hours of toes not freezing and made winter riding without getting chilblains realistic again. They are quite thick (I think you effectively have AA batteries under your heel) but thinner at the toe. Charge up from USB overnight. The heat is not much but is enough. I don't have the fancy Bluetooth ones so you have to pull them out of the boots to switch on / off. No leads to pull or Bluetooth connections to lose though.
The other big difference for me is fleece tights. I've got polartech stretch fleece ones but roubaix lycra is probably similar.
Shoes make the biggest difference in my opinion. Lots of good tips suggested already, but unless your shoes are almost completely wind proof, you can be fighting a losing battle.
As mentioned already, tin foil.
I find tin foil just breaks down into pieces. But while in one piece, it does work.
Middle_oab has proper insulated insoles - Supafeet redhot I think.
I get horribly painful feet..I could wear speedo's or a full ski suit elsewhere but it makes no difference.
I used to try and stick in thicker and thicker socks but this didn't help. What worked was buying shoes 1/2 to a size bigger wearing some merino seal skins and when cold wearing extra socks under but not so that circulation got restricted. Likewise for ski/snowboard shoes..
For me at least it was not having feet constricted ... if they were no amount of insulation would make a difference.
what heated socks are you using?
Warm legs, thin wool socks underneath chunky wool socks and Lake boots 2 or 3 sizes too big with extra insoles - heated sounds good but not tried - did it for me.
Interested in these heated socks. Do you get what you pay for, or are the cheap ones just the same but without the mark-up?
Bigger shoes and thicker socks. The toe spacers are meant to work for improved circulation but most biking shoes are way to narrow to start with.
One day someone might make foot shaped shoes rather than pointy ones.
Totally agree, a foot shaped cycling shoe would be wonderful.
Can I throw a cat among the pigeons here. So so far I’ve never had cold toes.
So in winter I’d wear some forbike socks or 50/01 ones and then some sealskinz winter socks on top, I have 5/10 freeriders and not the DLX ones and I’ve never had cold toes.
The way I look at it is the DLX will be great for keeping out water but are they the same for keeping in heat? So my big standard freeriders I don’t notice it but will be taking in air as such and the pockets of air in my shoes and socks will be warming up.
The other day at hammers rode through a very deep river on the off piste and feet stayed warm all the time, however I think some people extremities do just get cold easier, work on circulation exercises maybe whatever they will be. Surely merino socks of a good quality and then waterproof socks would be the cure
Space in your shoes, as others have pointed out. It becomes even more difficult for big foot specimens to get shoes that look good, fit, and fit properly for extreme weather. Take the socks you'll wear to the shop, and don't compromise.
I had to cross the Andes with the only pair of NorthFace boots that I could buy pre-trip (I was in the Gulf Region, so severely limited in retail choice). They were touching my toes on the inside. The cold just conducted through there and gave me a real hard time. We spent almost a month going up and down and it was just a cycle of pain.
When I find footwear that fits, and has enough space around my toes, I buy multiple pairs to last years. Space for feet swelling, space for changing socks according to the weather.
Long socks & warm legs have been a winner for me. I use some ski socks that are fairly thin around the foot (compared to hiking socks) and come all the way up to my knees.
I'm not entirely convinced that the blood cools down on the way down to your feet, but I do think that having warmer muscles & skin on the way down keeps the vessels open & blood flowing better. Either way, long socks have made a huge difference for me.
Tin foil (around the same area as you would have protection on safety shoe) between sock layers. A dog poo bag over the foil is handy for binning the crumbled remain of it afterwards and another water proof layer.
Out for a few hours this morning and my Heated socks on with the Adidas Goretex boots and feet were toasty
The ones I use are Xbuty ones
Run them on medium for longer battery life
I use windproof and waterproof Dexshell socks plus two layers of merino socks underneath and that’s usually ok. The Dexshells are a size larger than normal though (X-large rather than large), and I wear my boots loose. I sometimes use foot warmers on the outside of the Dexshell socks if it’s properly sub-zero, but as they need air to work I switch to wearing my walking boots which have more room in the toe.