Anyone suffer from this. I’ve ‘always’ suffered to some extent from cold fingers and toes and thought it normal, but got in last night after a night ride (ambient temp prob 10-12 deg) by the time I got back, and my toes and fingers were numb. I had basic full finger gloves on, nothing insulated so I can accept that, but my toes were frozen, and painful once I got them in the bath and they warmed up, despite having been in on-one merino socks, with kneewarmers to keep legs warm, etc. It’s not normal, and does compromise my winter riding even with winter boots and overshoes on, in cold temps they still freeze.

I’ve been googling and while I don’t fit the characteristics of Raynaud’s which is more to do with sudden temp changes as far as I can tell, there are some self helps that I wondered if anyone has any experience of. Besides the obvious, warm socks, winter boots, and mtfu which is my current, largely unsuccessful self-treatment, anyone used eg. evening primrose / fish oils for gamolenic acid content?

Watching with interest!
I sometimes get Raynaud like symptoms.
Which in turn causes chill Blaine’s.
Not found a fix yet!

I too get cold fingers and toes/feet, although not as severe. Mine is low blood pressure. Once went for a blood test to be told by the nurse wielding the nasty pointy and sharp needle that I had veins like drainpipes. I quickly dismissed it as a chat up line when she stabbed me with the needle 😯

I get numb toes in summer 🙁

I suffer from Raynaud’s. It’s not always sudden temp changes that trigger it. I get ‘attacks’ in all sorts of circumstances. IME, no gloves are proof against it, particularly if my hands get wet or sweaty. It’s bad on the motorbike, too. Heated grips help a little, but don’t work when it is really cold. Funnily enough, even though my feet go numb, I don’t get the horrible pain I get in my hands.

Do you make sure your core is kept sufficiently warm? Extremities tend to suffer when the core gets too cold.

Strange as it sounds, provided that it isn’t ridiculously cold, wearing no gloves at all works for me. When wearing gloves only my fingertips get cold. It’s the contrast with the rest of my hand that kills me I think!

Sounds very much like Raynaud’s

I suffer pretty badly at times as well, I usually take Ginko Biloba tablets which supposedly aid blood flow.

Ginko Biloba tablets

I used these when I went XC skiing in Alaska, they seemed to do the trick

I don’t have reynauds, just generic bad circulation… Glacier Gloves Perfect Curves are the cure for my hands, only gloves ever to keep me really warm, even in frankly silly temps

Presumably you’ve tried Windstopper-type fabric for gloves?

Agree about making sure that your core is warm. Do you wear a Buff?

Wear a hat!

I used to suffer.
Now I dress to ensure I don’t.

Keep warm. Merino baselayer and windproof jacket as a minimum. Depths of winter I’ll wear a Buffalo.
Head: Buff
Hands: Northface Pamir gloves or equivalent
Troosers – full length.
Feet: Merino socks and Shimano winter boots. Nothing too tight.

i agree, cold extremities usually are helped by adding layers not just to the fingers and toes but upping the body core temp. In the cold the body natually protects the core and to do that it removes blood from the extremities, thus cole fingers and toes first.

I’m always well layered, often commented that I’m overdressed. Even in summer I wear a base layer, in winter that’ll be two base layers at least, plus a gilet, armwarmers, legwarmers, etc. I have good windproof gloves, I have merino socks, winter boots and overshoes. I’m never cold on a ride, but my fingers and particularly toes can be like ice.

Yep, me too.

Always have suffered from cold fingers and toes (but not half as much as MrsCat after the ride 😈 )

Given up trying to keep them warm and now accept it as a cost of riding, I do have very low blood pressure and a resting pulse of 53 so that prob doesn’t help – will go check out Raynauds.

You have to dress to conserve heat. Heat is mainly produced in your abdomen and your working muscles, so aim to maintain the temperature of that blood all the way out to your extremities. Arteries run close to the skin surface at your wrists and at your ankles, so no short sleeves or shorts. Use long socks, use gloves that cover your wrists, investigate the chemical warming things you can get from outdoor shops.

if you have got reynaulds then to a certain extent you won’t stop your feet and hands going. keep as warm as possible obviously and then just accept that on cold night rides (or even cool if the atmosphere is wrong) it’s going to happen.

merino base, midlayer,endura soft shell, pearl izumi fleecy neoprene tights, wool socks and lake mxz 401 arctic boots aren’t enough to stop it for me 🙁

I suffer from this too. It is worse when riding clipped in on the road bike and not as bad when mtbing with flats. I suppose the feet moving more must help.

Like earlier poster the coldness can occur in silly warm temps. Unless it’s really cold warm gloves don’t seem to make much difference.

It can completely ruin a day on the bike though.

I always suffered. The I came across icebreaker merino long sleeve tops.

Down to c -10c in the Peaks I still wear M&S cotton socks now.

I share your pain, I can suffer with chilblains even in the middle of summer when circulation shouldn’t be an issue. When I went to see the docs about it and to get a proper ‘diagnosis’ I was basically told even if they did diagnose it any medication would alter my ability to conceive children so I never bothered. Also recently I had a stay in hospital and it made IV administration really tricky, even with the biggest veins in my hand it killed me to have the medication injected in, I had to get the nurses to go at the slowest pace possible so I didnt scream the place down. Road rides are worst for me in terms of completely loosing the feeling in my feet but I have to say im not looking forward to my feet in the impending winter weather. Atm I use baabaas and manage with them. The biggest help I personally find is when I stop for a breather I get off the bike and walk around to get the movement and circulation back in my feet.

I have similar issues – hands worse than feet.

Doesn’t matter what I do or don’t wear. On a coldish day my hands will go numb for the first hour or so of a ride (or doing anything outdoorsy), despite proper thick gloves. I can have a jolly good sweat on to the point of having ditched hat, buff, opened all the zips & vents and my hands will still look like those off a dead person. After an hour of hard exercise the blood will start to get through and they’ll be fine until I cool down again. The last 3 or 4 years I’ve had serious chilblains too. Drives me crackers!

It simply seems that I have crap circulation! Will the ginko stuff help?

I’m seeing the doc on Friday for a knee issue – just a cyst I think – and I’ll discuss this too. For me it’s definitely more feet than hands, I can mange hands OK by wind milling when stopped, etc. (and it makes it fun to sneak up on the wife and get them up her jumper), but feet is a different matter. Will have to try insulating the ankles better, I’ve often gone out in winter in thin liner socks, then merino socks, spesh defrosters, overshoes, fleece tights with kneewarmers underneath, and a full top layer. But maybe it’s where I’ve got just that single tights layer over the lower calf / ankle, below where the kneewarmers end and above the sock line.

It’s just – shorts over tights looks so gash and is saved for only the worst of conditions! Maybe it’s time to give into the function over form argument and go for 3 season tights.

I went to the doctors with symptoms of reynauds, just been looking online n reckon i’ve got it, he said it was poor circulation and i had to live with it (my doctor pretty much told me to MTFU! 🙂 ). Gonna try some of that ginko stuff and see if it helps this winter. My hands suffer a lot worse than my feet, full on four dead fingers on both hands when it hits, its chornic at work trying to get fiddly bolts into threads when you can’t feel owt.

Ginger as in ginger biscuits, iron tablets , and keeping hands warm all is supposed to help, non work for me, but you can get tablets to improve circulation, for the price of a prescription,but cant remeber what theyre called.
Blue/yellow/purple hands look weird to people who dont know about reynauds, and the sence of feeling has gone, cut my hands quite often and not realised till i see the blood stains on work im doing, then its out with the sandpaper,to remove them.

Um, you won’t take me seriously, but from a medical point of view it may be worth while approaching your GP for sildenafil.

Viagra….

We use it at work occasionally in cases where an increase in perfusion might be of use.

Always suffered with cold feet. Only thing that works whilst on the trails in winter is get off and walk for a couple of minutes every now and then. Seems to get the blood flowing in my feet again and therefore the warmth.

I suffer really badly with Reynauds, especially in my hands. Total nightmare on the bike in cold, wet conditions. I did a search last night and came up with a recommendation for a supplement called L-argenine. I’ll give it a try, I think.

Would strong espresso’s help I.e raise heart rate/blood pressure?