8 Useful Things To Keep You Cycling Through The Winter Months

The clocks have gone back, the weather is turning so here are 8 things I find extremely useful for keeping me riding through the winter months!

Hope you enjoy the video, please do like and subscribe and leave a comment down below with your winter essentials for cycling!

Castelli Gabba https://www.sigmasports.com/item/Castelli/Gabba-RoS-2-Short-Sleeve-Jersey/YTWF?s=1
Garmin Varia https://www.sigmasports.com/item/Garmin/Varia-Radar-RTL515-Rear-Light/Q335?s=1 and alternative for Fabric Lumaray https://www.merlincycles.com/ravemen-fr160-pro-usb-rechargeable-front-light-281003.html
100% Photochromic Lenses https://www.100percent.com/products/racetrap-replacement-lens-photochromic-clear-smoke
Neck Gaiter UCI World Champs https://www.deporvillage.co.uk/santini-uci-world-champion-neck-warmer-white
DeFeet Woolie Boolie Socks https://winstanleysbikes.co.uk/defeet-woolie-boolie-6-inch-d-logo-socks#172=1941&173=167
Castelli Diluvio Pro Overshoes https://www.balfesbikes.co.uk/clothing/overshoes/castelli-diluvio-pro-shoe-covers-in-black__72681
Specialized Element 1.0 Gloves (current version) https://www.cyclestore.co.uk/specialized_waterproof_gloves-ID_89339
Isopropyl (Rubbing) Alcohol https://www.amazon.co.uk/BritishBasics-Purpose-Isopropyl-Isopropanol-Cleaning/dp/B09RBGTRL8/ref=asc_df_B09RBGTRL8?th=1

Music: Hazy by Ariel Shalom (from Artlist.io)

#cycling #cyclist #cyclingvlog #cyclinglife

Hello friends, welcome back to the channel. It’s the start of November. It’s a very windy day and those changeable conditions that signify the approach of the end of the year are really evident on a dayby-day basis. Although it may be windy today with the sun trying to poke through, they say it’s going to be 17° tomorrow, which is positively barmy for this time of year. But it got me thinking about products, little bits of kit off the norm that keep me riding through all weathers, whether it be autumn, winter, whatever. So, here is my list of useful things. Enjoy. I’m feeling hazy. Can you tell me under your spell? My heart is racing. I got caught in your way. I hope we never will ever switch light into a city and I’m going fast. Will you miss me? If I crash, will you keep me? The first product I’m going to talk about is the jersey you see me wearing here. It’s basically a Castelli Gala. This is the St. Pan sightman team edition. Um, these jerseys have been around for ever. Um, there’s a reason that the pros use them. They keep the wind out. They keep light showers out. They’re an endearing piece of kit that has stood the test of time. Many have tried to emulate them. Many have failed. This is essential for autumn winter riding. Believe me, worth spending the money on. Can you tell me your spell? My heart is racing. I got caught in your way. I hope we’ll never ever switch for a city and I’m going the second on my list some decent lights. Now I run this Garmin Varia rear tail light and radar on the back of my bike all the time. whether it’s riding in the day, night, sun, rain, snow, it comes with me all the time and it’s always on um because it links to my head unit over there and it tells me when there’s cars coming uh behind me, which is incredibly useful. Now, what is a little bit different in the sort of autumn winter months is that I also have a light at the front which sits under my Garmin computer. That is a fabric lumay front light. I can’t show you it working right here because I forgot to charge it. But I take a front light with me um out in these months purely because out where I ride, it can get very misty and foggy very quickly. Um and if you get caught by a freak shower and the clouds go dark, it’s incredibly useful to have. And it’s not that bulky. Just sits right underneath that bike computer. And it’s really good. And believe me, it is really bright. So, here’s the fabric lumay light back at the lab charged this time. Um, I’ve had this light for many years. I’m not sure even if they make them anymore, but I what I do know is that if you go on many of the um Chinese websites that are very well known, there are lots of different options um basically of this light. Um, this is very old one. It’s still got micro USB charging, which in this day and age is quite annoying. Um, don’t know if I can get that focused. There we go. Micro USB. Horrible. Um, but yeah, then it has four modes. Let’s see if we can get it on. Yeah. So, we got flashing We got sort of an intermittent flash solidly on a slightly dimmer version which is quite good. I I usually run this if it’s sort of daylight but kind of cloudy and bit dark. Um that’s the kind of the one that I’d use. Um but yeah, really useful little light. Um it can it’s got both mounts both sides of the mount for a G in there. Um, I can’t remember whether I had to put that in or whether it comes with wahoo mounts or not. I’m sure the ones that are available now do. Uh, but yeah, really good little light. Um, and really useful for winter, daytime riding for dark nights and stuff like that. I would get a stronger, better light than this. Next on my list of useful things is a pair of photochromic lenses like the ones I’m wearing now. Photochromic lenses basically adjust to the amount of light that is out when you’re riding your bike. So if it is dark or those clouds roll in or the fog or anything like that, the glasses will clear to give you a better view. If the sun comes out, they will darken and become like sunglasses. So, they are extremely useful at this time of year when the ch when the conditions are so changeable that you never know what you’re going to get. Photo lenses used to be very expensive when I started cycling, but these days most major eyewear brands make a lens that can be swapped in and out quite easily and they actually are quite affordable. um the ones I’m wearing now which are for the 100% uh speed trap. I think these are um I got these the lens itself for about 20 quid I think. Um so really really reasonable and a very worthwhile upgrade to your cycling kit for the winter. Always check sport pursuit for glasses and lenses. They quite often have some really good deals on and well worth looking for. Next on my list is a product that should be in every cyclist wardrobe. It is the old faithful neck data buff, whatever you want to call it. Um, these things are incredibly useful through the winter months. You can just pull it on, wear it in the normal way, you know, around your neck, fold it up over your nose if that’s what you want to do, or scrunch it all up into a headband. I I quite often wear these for running in the winter, like not not like that, but you know, um because they’re they’re so versatile. You can do them a lot of different ways. when it is does get cold. Um I sometimes find this better than a hat or a cap because you can go into full balaclava mode. So if you go up there and then you pull this bit under there, pull that up, you’ve got a nice little hinge around there and that is going to keep you warm throughout your whole ride. And then simply if you get to up down it comes and then take your helmet off, go back to the way it was. Super useful, super versatile. These things are incredibly cheap. There’s no reason not to have one. The things that always get me through the colder months are my extremities. I think I must have really bad circulation. Um, so I always have to make sure that my feet and the hands are well looked after. Um, and for my feet I default to these, which are the defeat Woolly Bully socks. I think these are the 6in ones. They are super warm. Um, just really, really, really good socks. Um, and when you go out in the winter and you need to keep your feet warm and you’ve got those ports on the bottom of your uh, shoes that let the let the cold air in, you don’t want to be naffing about too much with wrapping foil around your toes and all the other things. These are super warm. Super warm. Highly recommended. Defeat de and then feet. Woolly bullies. Got a little picture of a sheep on them there. If you can see that to focus. Yeah, there we go. They will sort your feet right out over the winter months. Get a pair. Okay, sticking with the feet theme, I’ve got these, the Castelli Diluvio Pro over shoes. Um, they are made of neoprene, so they will keep your feet warm and dry over the winter months. They’ve got some really nice features. Um, I’ve owned a couple of pairs of these. Um, I bought two at the same time last time, so these are actually brand new. Uh, there is an updated version with updated graphics now. So, if you’re looking for them, they don’t necessarily look like this anymore. Um, what I like about them is that they are tall in the ankle bit here. So, if you think your bib tights end here, there is all of this that is keeping your leg dry and keeping wind out of the bottom of your um bib tight. So, it aids with warmth. Um, I think the the neoprene is like 4 mm thick. It’s quite thick. Um, so it keeps them really really nice and warm. On the back here, you’ve got um a YKK zipper, but the edges are glued, the seams, so that’s an extra protection against water getting in. And you’ve also got a reflective panel at the back here to aid with visibility. On the front, there is a um protective kind of part to it. See if I can zoom in on that. I’m not doing very well. There you go. So the toe box normally on over shoes for me anyway is the first thing that kind of disintegrates. But that reinforced panel there um really really helps to stop that from happening. I can’t say enough good things about these. They’re absolutely belting. Um and I wear them all the time when riding in the winter months when it’s wet, especially wet snow, ice, anything like that. Grab yourself a pair of these. They are superb. Sticking with the extremities, I’ll move on to the hands. And these are my favorite uh gloves that I own for the winter. They are the Specialized Element 1.0 gloves. I know there are probably several newer iterations of these because I’ve had them for years. So, look for the element and then a number and see where they come out. These ones I like especially because they have the uh the Gore windstopper fabric um with them. Um they’re and they’re really really comfortable and they’re really warm. They’ve got um a palm a suede palm material so it’s tough. It’s hydrophobic. Um, they’ve got a brushed interior which is really warm. Uh, they’ve got a sort of a thumb part which is good for wiping stuff off your glasses stuff wiping rain off your glasses or anything like that. Um, so they do let they are quite breathable as well, but they’re very very warm. You can wear them on their own or in deep winter you can wear them with a liner. Um, check them out. Obviously, Special Art is probably not so much known for their clothing or their accessories, but these gloves have carried me through many winters already, and they’re still going strong. Um, excellent, excellent gloves if you can get a pair. Uh, so yeah, Specialized Element 1.0 gloves. Those who know me will know of my love for alcohol. Um, but in a cycling terms, not that kind of alcohol, this kind of alcohol. This is isoproprial alcohol, also known as rubbing alcohol. And I think it’s a product that every cyclist should have on their workbench or in their house somewhere as it is just incredibly versatile. You can use it for so many things. It is great at getting marks out of kit. So grease marks in addition to my bar by carb of soda and fairy liquid trick. This can also work really well. It is brilliant. Top tip this for deodorizing your shoes. So if your shoes smell, which quite often the smells get worse over winter because of the sort of you know wet and soggy smells that come with winter riding. This stuff is great for that. But I use this mostly for cleaning the disc rotors on my bike. Um, and in winter it’s incredibly important to have that because you will all know the squeal of the disc brakes, the sound that they make, it’s bloody awful and you’ve got to keep them clean. So, this is excellent at doing that. It is a fraction of the cost of branded disc brake cleaners. Um, if I put this bottle this size up against the leading leading maybe disc brake cleaner, it’s probably about5 difference for the same size bottle. It’s ridiculous. You can get this on Amazon um and most DIYer places, things like that for for dirt cheap. I I don’t see why you would buy the branded one at all. I really don’t. Every cyclist should have a a bottle of this on their worktop. Like I said, it’s incredibly useful. So, there you go. There’s a few hints and tips uh from both me out here on the bike and me back in the office um on things to get you through the winter months. Things that are very, very useful to have on your bike or in your kit locker. So, I hope you enjoyed that. Please drop a like, leave me a comment. What useful things do you have for winter riding? Uh I’d love to hear it. Uh see you in the next video. Until next time. Byebye. Got me under your spell. My heart is racing.