Hey, everyone. Look at your lunar calendar. Today is New Year’s eve, but it’s also the day of the full moon. So? It’s the second time this month that there has been a full moon (the first was on December 2), making today’s a “Blue Moon.” Read more about the blue moon at Wikipedia.

 
Send a Comment

 
Who likes bicycling with cold hands? Not me, and not you either, I’d wager. Riding with icy pegs for fingers is no fun. But it’s not as if it’s simple to keep hands warm when the temperature drops. Warmth and dexterity must be reconciled. Mittens are the enemy of dexterity, while gloves don’t always manage to keep the hands warm in slicing cold winds. I’ve always favored gloves, but they’re not as warm as mittens. There’s more. To some degree, warmth is a function of the thickness of insulation. But if there’s too much insulation, dexterity is hampered and it’s hard to get a solid grip on the bars. As with everything else, outfitting the hands for cold weather is a trade-off.

Keeping my hands warm while still being able to manipulate the shifters and brakes isn’t as difficult on my mountain bike as it is on my road bikes. Grip-shifters bring the controls right there next to my hands on the flat bars. And the brake levers are shaped in such a way that even thick mittens can grab them securely. But on my drop-barred road bikes, the brake levers are gracefully curved and resist mittens. And with mittens on, working the lever shifters on my vintage Schwinn requires I give extra thought to shifting, but the bar-ends on my Surly LHT are simple enough to manage.

So what’s it to be, gloves or mittens? I still prefer insulated fleece gloves when cycling in freezing and sub-freezing conditions…

 
…though I will use mittens on my mountain bike. If the gloves don’t keep my hands warm, I wear windstopper gloves as liners inside the fleece gloves.

 
Doesn’t appeal to you? Then how about a middle way? Lobster mitts provide some of the best of both gloves and mittens. Your index and middle fingers slip down into one wide slot, and ring and pinkie fingers slip into a second wide slot—that’s a picture of Farwell’s lobster mitt at the head of the article. They’re windproof and fleece-lined, which makes them good on their own in cool conditions, and for colder weather, a wool or fleece liner glove improves insulation.

 
Unfortunately, reasonably priced lobster mitts are hard to find, but keep your eyes peeled. I got a pair of unlined lobster mitts for less than USD15 on sale through Nashbar Bike not long ago. They’re lightweight, windproof, and can be tucked into a corner of my handlebar bag, right next to toe-warmers, just in case.

 
Send a Comment