I like biking when there’s ice on the ground.

While some people spin their bike wheels inside, a few intrepid souls still venture forth to skirt black ice in the bike lane. Lucky for us, Tidewater Virginia doesn’t get tundra-cold, like Chicago or Minneapolis. We only suffer a couple of weeks of ice-on-the-ground winter, not months. Our Tidewater winters are just long enough to make us appreciate what we don’t usually get, but mild enough for us to learn some lessons.

As a Tenderfoot Boy Scout in the Green Mountains of Vermont, I learned to layer up and keep dry from scoutmasters who were veterans of the cold Korean War. Snow banks dividing the school parking lot from the playground became mountain passes and hilltop forts in epic snowball battles. The lessons I learned then keep me warm on my bike today.

In the summertime our savannah-evolved, simian bodies work to shed heat through evaporation (sweating), particularly when we’re engaged in physical activity. But in the winter, the problem becomes keeping the heat in.

Your mother was right: put a hat on or you’ll catch your death of cold! Over half of the heat produced by the human body is vented through our heads. Some physiologists theorize that the human brain & head evolved as a radiator to cool a human body adapted to endurance activity. A bigger head let our ancestors run longer and farther across the savannah in pursuit of dinner. Those apes with smaller heads succumbed to heat stroke, didn’t catch their dinner, and never passed on their genes…

The key when exercising outside in the cold is to retain some of that heat in an insulating layer around your body. The easiest way to do that is to put on a hat. Wool hats are better than cotton or (most) synthetic hats, but some hat is better than no hat. Look for a hat that can cover at least the tops of your ears. Because there’s lots of cartilage, but few blood vessels, your ears do not retain heat well. Keep your ears covered, but make sure you don’t block out the sound of that bus coming up behind you.

As the Canadian Boy Scouts teach, you can “keep warm by following the guidelines that spell the word COLD:”

Superbowl Ride; fully-insulated winter mountain bikers. Photo | Wes Cheney

C – Clean
A greasy, dirty fleece hoodie isn’t as puffy as a clean hoody. That puffiness comes from air. Air insulates. Clean clothes keep you warm twice: once when you wash them in steamy laundromat, and a second time when you wear them.

O – Overheating
Overheating when you’re biking is a bad idea in summer, but it can be even more dangerous in the winter: if you raise your core temperature too much, your body will start sweating, which dampens your clothes, and damp clothes don’t insulate as well. Damp clothes are cold clothes. But by wearing layers of clothes you can adjust to a variety of weather factors and activity levels, and thus avoid sweating. In a worst-case scenario you could sweat and freeze yourself to death, but hypothermia is pretty rare this far south.

L – Loose Layers
When it comes to layers, less can be better, especially on your fingers and feet. A single pair of mittens can be warmer than a double pair of tight gloves. Tight clothing constricts blood flow, and blood flow is how your body transfers heat from the core to the extremities. Particularly when you’re riding, several thin layers of clothing can insulate more than a single, bulky jacket. A wicking, long sleeve t-shirt (think Under Armour or bike jerseys), a wool sweater, a fleece hoodie, and a windbreaker can keep you toasty warm when the mercury drops below “Zero Centigrade.”

D – Dry
Water transfers heat better than air. Which is a different way of saying that air insulates better than water. This is why the air in a baking oven doesn’t feel that hot, even though it’s hot enough to boil water. So when your clothes get wet from sweat, rain or puddles, they begin transferring more heat away from your body. If you start to lose too much heat, your body starts conserving heat by restricting the flow of warm blood to the extremities: you can live without a toe or two, but once your brain and heart stop, it’s all over. Don’t worry though–you’ll be able to stumble into a 7-Eleven for hot cocoa before you’ll freeze to death in Norfolk.

M&G Sales; local resource for cheap long-lasting military-grade winter clothing. Photo | Wes Cheney

Keep in mind that not all fabrics are created equal: cotton is a decent insulator when dry, but terrible when wet. Once it gets wet, cotton stays wet and transfers your body heat away, and gets really cold (frozen sweatpants are not fun). Wool, on the other hand, retains some of its insulating ability when wet. Many of the new synthetic fleeces rival wool in insulating performance, but can be washed with cotton. The cost of these wonder fabrics has fallen dramatically in the past decade, due in no small part to the increased production of cold weather gear for our wars in Central Asia: American taxpayers have purchased hundreds of thousands of fleece jackets and Gore-Tex parkas for troops deployed in deserts, mountains, and mountain deserts. And accordingly, Norfolk’s best Army-Navy Surplus store, M&G Sales on Granby Street, is a reliable source of cheap, long-lasting military surplus winter clothing. (Or click here to check out the G.I. Extended Cold Weather Clothing System [E.C.W.C.S.].)

Two other fabrics to consider are wicking synthetics; worn as a base layer, and waterproof synthetics; worn as an outer layer. Spandex and lycra not only firm up the pudge, but they also wick moisture away from your skin. If you’re dry, you’re warm. If you’ve really got the commitment, Gore-Tex is a miracle fabric: not only does it keep water out, but it also moves sweat out, too. Quality is expensive, but it lasts: I spent almost $200 on a Gore-Tex cycling jacket five years ago, and it’s still got a couple seasons left in it. If you follow the laundering instructions, you’ll enjoy a cozy, dry ride for years to come.

The grizzly man look.

Minimize the amount of exposed skin. Your body is mostly water. Water transfers heat. When the water in your skin starts to crystallize (freeze), your skin cells start to burst, almost as if you were being chewed upon by a Dachshund puppy who answers to the name of “Frostbite.” Scarves, hats and socks will keep a layer of insulating air next to your skin. While a loose scarf pulled up over your nose can block the wind, even better is a beard (some testosterone required).

The black-bloc look.

A scarf can also pre-heat and moisten the air you breathe. Many asthmatics have a difficult time exercising in cold, dry air. If your chest tightens up when the mercury drops, try out the Black-Bloc look.

A cold-weather commuter should try to mix up retro and contemporary styles. Start with a base layer that wicks away perspiration: a thin bike jersey, pantyhose, and running socks. Cover that tight base layer with a second, thin loose layer: a pair of wool/wool-blend socks; thin, full-finger gloves; a wool cap, and maybe a short-sleeve cotton t-shirt or jeans (cotton is fine as long as you keep it dry). Top off your core with a windbreaker, a fleece vest, a hoodie, or any combination of all three. Mittens can be worn over gloves, and socks can be worn over shoes (option not available in all sizes). I’ve seen riders wearing showers caps or wool hats pulled down over helmets. If it’s going to be really cold, or wet and cold, consider wearing plastic newspaper or bread bags over your socks or shoes: The plastic will keep moisture and cold air out. But, it will also keep heat and moisture in, so remember to dry your shoes.

There’s nothing more dispiriting to a cold-weather commuter than a pair of damp gloves and wet shoes before sunrise: the north wind seeps through the seams, and you’d swear that you’ve stuck your hands and feet in a bucket of ice water (actually, you have). You suck it up for the 15 or 30 minutes that it takes to ride across town. So develop the habit of pulling the insoles out of your shoes at night, preferably near a dry heat source. Do the same with your bike cap and gloves as well. Newspaper is an old, cheap moisture trap: stuff your shoes with newspaper for about half an hour, then discard the paper and repeat as necessary until your shoes are dry. If you leave newspaper in your shoes overnight, you’ll still have slightly damp shoes in the morning. But that’s still better than soaking wet shoes…

If you find yourself on the road without your gloves or mittens, remember that armpits are not only smelly, but warm: instead of jamming your hands into your pockets, slide your fingers between our arms and chest, and squeeze hard until the red light turns green. It’s not a perfect solution, but it will at least keep your fingers pliable enough to grab the brake levers when an inattentive driver tries to give you the old left hook…

Photo | Nadya Peek / Flickr

When you get to work or school, head for the handicap-accessible bathroom stall and pull out a bottle of rubbing alcohol: a quick wipe-down of your torso with a paper towel and isopropyl alcohol will kill body-odor-causing bacteria before they can bloom in your warm, damp armpits. Trust me: your co-workers and classmates will thank you.

With a layered, varied wardrobe, a cyclist can easily alter their clothing to match the ride: at dawn it may be foggy and damp, at noon balmy and sunny, and by sunset a bitter north wind is blowing off the Chesapeake Bay. In the morning you might wear a windbreaker over a thin, long-sleeve shirt, at lunchtime a fleece vest is perfect, and on the ride back you’ll be wearing your t-shirt, vest and windbreaker.

So go ahead, ride through the snow: Guys will respect you for your fortitude. Girls will love you for your courage. And your mother will think your nuts.

Next week: Keep yer ass clean: D.I.Y. dollar-store bike fenders.