What do you wear

In trying to sort out what clothing I need around 55F now, my first ride was with a pair of standard borah recumbent shorts, under a pair of (jersey-type material) loose running pants, and a reasonably thick short sleeve wicking type t-shirt. My forearms got a bit chilling at the time, but I still managed to sweat a bit while climbing hills.

Second ride was without the borah recumbent shorts, and up top swapped over to an ultra-thin wicking t-shirt along with a long sleeve cycling jersey and I added a light pair of fleece gloves. My legs got a bit chilly, so I'll be adding a ultra-thin pair of wool leggings next time probably.

On BOTH rides, I had a pair of leg bands to help control the wind from flowing from where it needn't!

Today's ride consisted of the same up top, and down below tried out a pair of 100% Merino Wools Leggings (from Sierra Trading Post) in addition to wearing the loose running pants. And WOW, even though they are ultra-thin leggings, they did the job of keeping my legs warm today!

 

Firehead,
Those are nice looking pants. Where do you source them from and roughly for how much?

 

Worked fine, just a tad more expensive than I expected. However, I know most military uniforms tend to last and last, so maybe these are of the same quality and would do likewise.


As for specific temps, here's what's worked for me so far…

For 55F degree weather, a pair of standard borah recumbent shorts worn under a pair of (jersey-type material) loose running pants, and an ultra-thin wicking short sleeve t-shirt along with a long sleeve cycling jersey. A light pair of fleece gloves will warm things up a bit, if you tend to ride in the shade much.

For 50F degree weather, a pair of standard borah recumbent shorts worn under a pair of (jersey-type material) loose running pants, and an ultra-thin wicking short sleeve t-shirt along with a long sleeve wicking t-shirt, topped with an ultra-thin, no-sleeve, vest.(i.e. windbreaker material) A light pair of fleece gloves.

For 45F degree weather, I start out with a pair of 100% Merino Wool Leggings, then add a pair of standard borah recumbent shorts worn under a pair of (jersey-type material) loose running pants, and an ultra-thin short sleeve wicking t-shirt along with a long sleeve wicking t-shirt, topped with an ultra-thin windbreaker with open netting in the armpits. And a light pair of fleece gloves again, to keep the fingers comfy. And lastly, I added a black Scotchlite helmet cover to keep some of the wind off my head today.
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The combination of both a helmet cover -and- a full coverage type windbreaker, almost proved to be too much for 45F. My typical afternoon ride usually consists of around 1000' of (hill) climbing, and as such it's easy to overheat if I'm not well ventilated.

On the first third of my ride today, I didn't bother to unzip my windbreaker any, thus it wasn't long afterwards before sweat was dripping down into my eyes as I climbed. : So after that, whenever I started climbing, I started to unzip the windbreaker by at least a third and that allowed me to keep from sweating. Lesson learned.

 

Patti,
That's a good idea. I found my silk socks yesterday I used to hike in, but I'm gonna have to dig a bit deeper to find my silk t-shirts & leggings I used for cold weather hiking. Assuming I can turn them up again, I'll probably opt for silk as a first layer, with wool next as it gets colder.

 

Firehead,
You don't sweat in the motorcycle helmet? I've ridden motorcycles since I was 10, but haven't used a motorcycle helmet on a bicycle (yet) in fear there would not be enough ventilation.

Of course, down here in Tennessee we have an abundance of HILLS to deal with…and that's what usually causes me to sweat.