I’ve been thinking about doing some local cat 4 crits as a bit of something to break up my base training. What do people do for kit in these sort of races when the tempature is around 4/5 degrees. I’m guessing to dress more for an autumn ride (Gabba/Full Length Bibs/ Toe thingy/Summer Cap) what do others tends to go for?
45 degrees? I’d wear a longsleeve skin suit, and light leg warmers (maybe). I raced CX and it’s easy to overcook once you get going with the effort
45 degrees? Hmmm…well if the sun was out I’d do full finger gloves, arm warmers, thermal cap, undershirt, regular skinsuit, velotoze, defeet woolies.
45 degrees is mighty nice weather for a fast crit. Many riders would probably ride in just their regular kit.
Personally, I would do a long sleeve jersey, vest, gloves for upper body, and bib shorts with leg warmers for lower body.
Sorry 4/5 being 4c or 5c not 45f maybe 40f (sorry I forgot about franhiet and didn’t think 45c would count as winter)
Leg warmers, arm warmers, EMBRO CREAM!
You’re going to warm up as soon as you start putting in effort, so jackets are going to become an issue. It also minimizes the cost of crashes if you do end up going down.
For me it’s baselayer (long sleeve), long bibs, jersey, merino socks, skull cap and full finger gloves.
Last year it was so cold in February I was using ski gloves with liners and still had to bash my hands on the bars to get any feeling back into my fingers.
Take a light jacket that you can throw to one side as well. Great for warming up in and putting back on once the race has finished. If it’s cold, your temperature will plummet after an all out race.
@Rob1 Oh! Sorry for the confusion, then. I guess I would amend my earlier post to include knee warmers then.
However, if it were windy w/ a North wind I might go with something heavier. Or if it were an especially long crit w/o much sunlight. The longer I ride the colder my extremities get. I did a 100 mile ride this weekend in 2C weather (94.4 mi Ride Activity on January 13, 2019 by Avoyce N D on Strava). For that ride I wore full finger thinsulate gloves with liner, wool neck gator, thermal cap, full thermal base layer, thermal bibs, long sleeve jersey, arm warmers, defeet woolies, and waterproof shoe covers. Absolutely no sun on the ride but I was bearably warm from start to finish.
I did a 100 mile ride the weekend before in -1C weather (100.2 mi Ride Activity on January 5, 2019 by Avoyce N D on Strava), absolutely no sun, same kit, still bearably comfortable.
So I don’t think you need MORE than that but for a crit, which is usually short and intense, you probably can get away with a lot LESS than that.
Oh wait…4 or 5 degrees c not 45 degrees.
In that case the only race I’m doing is the race to get under the comforter!