Kim's footwear for cold weather cycling

Kim has written a blog post about cold weather footwear.

Frostbite is unacceptable and toes are of special concern for winter cyclists. Considering the negative consequences, I have put a lot of thought and trial into my footwear system to be used in conjunction with platform pedals. I have tested this system in temperatures as low as -30º and it works.

The concept behind my set up is a thick layer of insulation that is water proofed inside and out. Waterproofing protects your insulated layers from getting soaked from your sweat and water from outside. The insulation will sustain its heat retaining ability for prolonged days on the trail.

The first layer that goes on the foot is a ‘sacrificial’ wool liner sock. This sock is thin and ends up getting wet from your sweat, and basically serves for comfort. On top of the liner goes a vapor barrier sock. Bjørn and I use Sephenson Warmlite, and had our VBL (Vapor Barrier Liner) socks customized to be tall, as to fit with our tall outer boots. Over the vapor barrier goes a warm, thick sock.

The VBL sock is a brilliant idea and can be applied to any footwear system. The purpose of this sock is to protect your insulation from your own sweat.

Unlike other parts of your body, it is impossible to temperature regulate your feet to keep them from sweating while on the go. Your foot will sweat until it is saturated. Without the vapor barrier, the insulation from your thick sock and your boot will wick sweat away from your foot, and your foot will continue sweating until your insulation is saturated. Sweat wicking is advertised in outdoor clothing as an advantage. But in cold temperatures, water wicked into the clothing doesn’t evaporate and disappear - it freezes. Clothes can become ruined until you get a chance to dry them out.

With the vapor barrier on, your foot will sweat until the liner sock is wet, then it will stop. Your insulative layers are safe.

On top of my three socks, I wear two boots. The first is a high-top Loben. This is a soft-soled felt boot that is very warm. This is the most debatable component of my set up, and I may experiment with something else in the future. The Loben is, in my opinion, not a very good boot standing alone. The sole is unsupportive, and the felt provides no protection from water or wind. But worn with this combination, it provides a lot of insulation and warmth.

On top of the Loben I wear an insulated Neo over-boot. This boot provides more insulation, a sole with excellent traction, and waterproofing against the outside elements. The kind that I have has a fold out gaiter that reaches to the knee. Mine are not studded, because that would be annoying on my bike pedals and add weight. The sole is pretty good on ice as is. There is room to put a chemical heat pack inside during extreme cold.

With all this on my feet, I feel like a storm trooper. But overall I can ride my bike and walk in comfort, without feeling cold. While I have more limited range of motion and agility, the sacrifice is completely worth it to me.

If you are considering a similar set up, my recommendation would be to get boots that fit well; not too small and not too big. If they are too small you will be compressing the insulation and losing heat. If they are too big, your foot will slip around inside the boot and it will decrease your efficiency, waste energy and maybe drive you a little crazy. My Lobens are a size too big and it is regretful. I took measures to fit them to my foot, but could have avoided it by getting a better fitting boot.

Kim McNett

Fatbike to the Arctic: How to Prepare

Winter cycling in Alaska began in the 19th century — before the automobile, trains and even roads. In 1898, gold hungry men followed the frozen Yukon River from Dawson and rode to Nome on “wheels.” These hardy souls were known as “wheelmen” and they began a tradition that is alive in Alaska, over 100 years later.

Vast improvements have been made in all things winter cycling over the last 100 years, but none more important than the wheel itself. Four- and even five-inch tires open a world of possibilities for the winter cyclist.

Read more here: http://www.adventurecycling.org/resources/blog/fatbike-to-the-arctic-how-to-prepare/

DIY Beaver Mittens

I have had for many years a pair of seal mitts that have performed amazingly well for winter cycling. Many people prefer to use pogies for cold weather riding and I too often find them useful, but on extended cold weather cycling expeditions actual cycling only accounts for some of the time and chore list. Setting up and breaking down camp typically happens during the coldest time of day. Warm mittens are needed throughout and with all things bike expedition, why carry two of something if one will suffice.

My very close family friend, who I consider an aunt, made my seal mittens - anana Umara.  She is Siberian Yupik and grew up on St. Lawrence Island learning to sew skins from her mother.

My mitts are made of fur seal and the fur is facing out on the top, thumb and underside of the forearm. The palms were originally made of tanned moose hide. With a few years of serious use the moose hide palms began to deteriorate. After debating options I decided to replace the palms with Cordura. This modern fabric is waterproof and tough. After two years, the repair has proven successful. As an aside, I enjoy the aesthetic – modern primitive.

My partner Kim has been without fur mitts and on previous winter expeditions her hands have suffered as a result. For this winters expedition we decided to amend her deficiency and bought a beaver pelt to sew into mittens. Beaver has coarse guard hairs but very dense ‘down hair’, making it warm and soft and a good choice for mittens.

My seal mitts were made of four individual pieces, hand stitched together with dental floss. I used this pattern and tried to mimic, as close as possible, the workmanship for Kim’s pair.

Step one was laying out the pelt, tanned side up, and tracing a pattern. Once the layout was complete I used a razor knife and cut out the pieces of hide, making sure to only cut the hide and not the fur. I then moved to the cordura and cut out the palm piece.

Sewing fur has many tricks and I have much to learn, but one technique I picked up along the way was to sew through the hide, tanned side first. The other direction causes the needle and thread to bind with the fur and pull it through the stitch. This is time consuming and messy looking.

I sewed the palm to the top piece of hide inside out until I reached the thumb and wrist intersection and stopped. I then turned the mitten right side out and attached the thumb piece with a few pins. Keeping the mitten right side out, I sewed the thumb on using a baseball stitch.

At this point I had three unfinished intersections - two at the thumb and one at the wrist. I then pined the final piece, the bottom of the forearm, and continued to sew with the baseball stitch right side out. Once all the seams were done on the bottom forearm, I turned the mitten inside out and finished the intersections.

The mitten looked done at this point but there were a few steps remaining. A band of trim is needed at the opening, a tethering system and lastly I used a conservative amount of seam seal on the stitches.

For the trim I used a strip of one-inch cordura, overlapped the opening and hand stitched through the three layers. This piece of trim serves to protect the fur, is an attachment point for the tether and has a nice aesthetic.

The tether I use is based on images I have seen from turn of the century polar explorers. I use one inch webbing and sew four pieces together at right angles making a rectangle shape, big enough to easily fit over your head with hat(s) and hood on. I then sew either webbing or chord to the middle of the ends of the rectangle slightly longer than shoulder to wrist and attach the other end to the cuff/trim of the mitten. The tether should be long enough that your range of motion is never restricted but not too long as to become a nuisance. These mittens are loose fitting and it is ideal to be able to shake them off when dexterity is required and then easily slip them back on.

Layering is the key to this kind of mitten.  Temperatures can fluctuate wildly on long winter trips. Being able to regulate is very important. The outer layer should be too big to be worn with nothing else but supple enough to work with only a thin liner glove. The liner glove is the first layer but all subsequent layers are mitts. I typically carry two home made fleece liner mittens - one thin and snug fitting the other thick and loose enough to fit over the liner glove and liner mitt. They should all fit together without constriction. For cold weather, tight fitting and constricting gloves and footwear are to be avoided at all cost, as this leads to poor circulation and eventually frostbite.

Many people have strong ethics and feelings against using natural furs for clothing. For me, this is a complicated issue. On the one hand I am against unnecessary cruelty and believe fur farms are often a terrible idea. On the other hand fur trapping is a small part of Alaska’s sustainable economy and there is no doubt that indigenous people figured out what works best against the cold. Every item we use in life has some hidden, external cost associated with it. I personally try my best to be ethical in my purchases and weigh out the pros and cons. For me, this beaver is sacred. I can only hope that it lived a fruitful life, had offspring and died without unnecessary pain. It will now live on and provide warmth to another being who is greatly appreciative. 

Beyond the mittens I also sewed seat covers for our bike saddles, using two pieces of hide and a tube of cordura around the bottom perimeter, with a chord to tighten the cover onto the saddle. In the past we have used sheepskin saddle covers with great results. I believe the beaver saddle covers will be an improvement over the sheepskin.

Next blog post will be about retrofitting a floorless mid shelter to work with a wood stove.