How To Dress When Biking In Olympia In The Fall

First off, this could be applicable outside of Olympia, WA, provided the temperature where you are is around 40-45 degrees Fahrenheit with a slight breeze. It does not need to be raining for this attire to be appropriate, but it usually is in my case. Rest assured, this combination has been arrived at through much painful trial and error. You are getting the benefit of much personal misery, followed by the epiphany below.

1. Let's start with headwear and move down the body. The dilemma with headwear is how to ensure warmth is retained in key areas while also ensuring comfort and preventing over-heating and itching once you start sweating. It is for this reason that I have found a bandana underneath a helmet to be the perfect solution to all of these problems. First of all, you have to make sure your bandana fits snugly over your ears, because that is where you're really going to be hurting once you start moving fast. This combined with the helmet will provide all the coverage you need. You may be tempted, in slightly colder weather, to substitute a "beanie" or warmer cap of some sort instead of the helmet and bandana. I strongly advise against this. In addition to safety concerns, the beanie is sure to make your scalp overly warm and very itchy.

2. Eyewear is not always necessary, or even safe, but as a rule of thumb if it is not raining I would advise something to keep the cold air out of your eyes and thus prevent them from tearing up and impairing your vision. If you wear glasses regularly, great. Wear them on your bike. If not, wear sunglasses when you can (when it is not dark). I would not recommend wearing any sort of goggles because gross.

3. On your neck, a thin scarf should do fine. Heat retention isn't really all that essential when we're talking about the neck, and a thin cover to block the wind will do the job quite nicely. You can also tie the scarf around the back of your head, covering the nose and face if you feel the need. However, a beard should do just fine for this area, and is generally a good thing to have around in the colder months. Ladies, rock the scarf.

4. The upper body/abdomen, is arguably the trickiest area to clothe in cold weather. It is also a difficult area for me to advise you on, given the variable length and thickness of jackets. However, for me, a t-shirt, medium-weight flannel, and rain jacket are just right, so I would advise you to experiment with this, and judge for yourself whether or not you need to add, subtract, or substitute layers.

5. On your hands: gloves. For the love of god gloves.

6. Pants are tricky when you're riding a bike. You are going to be sacrificing one way or another, so you really just have to do some soul-searching and find your true priorities. If you wear jeans, your legs will be warm, without a doubt. No problem there. However, jeans are very rigid, and will definitely restrict the range of motion of your legs. This will make biking more difficult. If you opt for a more flexible pant, such as corduroys, your legs will be freer, but you will be sacrificing warmth. I usually opt for jeans myself, because I am in phenomenal shape and love a challenge because otherwise please this is just too easy, but as I said before, you need to make the choice yourself.

7. Warm socks and water-proof shoes are a given here, and for good reason. Don't mess around when it comes to your feet, their rebellion will be fierce. I also do not recommend leather boots because of this.

One last quick note on biking in the rain: Do it.

K bye have fun!