Categories: Accessories and GearEtiquetteLook ProThe Hardmen

Dress Like An Onion: The Art of Layering

Kelly crushes fools with properly layered kit.

The thing about the cold is that you can never tell how cold it is from looking out a kitchen window. You have to dress up, get out training and when you come back, you then know how cold it is.

– Sean Kelly

Apart from the obvious lesson in Rules #5 and #9, hidden within Sean’s sage advice lies a paradox: if we can never tell how cold it is until we’ve arrived home from our ride, then how are we to determine how much kit to wear?

The Kelly Paradox is the layering equivalent of the Goldilocks Principle, wherein we aim to be neither overdressed, causing us to overheat sweat excessively, nor underdressed, causing us to needlessly lose energy through shivering and to hate life at a conceptual level. By extension, it also implies that whatever choice you make, you will get it wrong.

The answer lies in the art of layering, wherein one deploys several layers of clothing that can be unzipped, shed, and added back as both the temperature and the engine room heat up and cool back down throughout a ride.

The first rule of kitting up is that we should expect to be chilly for the first ten or fifteen minutes, allowing for the body to warm up and start producing its own heat to counter the cool outside temperatures. But this may not account for changing temperatures throughout the ride, and therefor we will need to be prepared to alter the composition of the kit.

The second rule of kitting up is that unless it is mid-summer, you are likely to misjudge the weather, so you should be prepared to make adjustments en route. Please observe the following pointers when kitting up for your ride.

Always wear a base layer, which should be made of wicking material and is designed to keep the skin of your torso dry. In colder weather, heavier wool base layers may be used as an insulation layer against the skin.
Long Sleeve jerseys and full leggings are always encouraged at the café for pre-ride espressi unless it is genuinely warm and sunny, in which case one is encouraged to bask in the sun and admire you own guns, Boonen-style.
Arm warmers are preferable to long sleeve jerseys unless the weather is sufficiently cool or the temp sufficiently moderate to ensure the long sleeve jersey will not be shed throughout the ride. Arm warmers may be slipped down to the wrists for further cooling. Under no circumstances, however, are the sleeves of a long sleeve jersey to be pulled up towards the elbows to regulate temperature.
A gilet should be considered before a long sleeve jersey as it can be easily removed and stowed mid-ride. A gilet should be light and close-fitting like a jersey. When stowing, fold flat in thirds from top to bottom, then in half along the zipper. Slip this between your jersey and bibs rather than into a jersey pocket. This should be done for bonus Casually Deliberate points while riding hands-free.
It is acceptable for any and all layers to be unzipped and allowed to flap in the wind, emphasizing how hard you are crushing it. Additional Casually Deliberate points are also available for zipping back up while riding hands-free, particularly when doing so while cresting a climb with fools suffering on your wheel.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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View Comments

Oli says:

Nov 12 2015 at 2:30 am

@bea

Who hasn't?
wiscot says:

Nov 12 2015 at 5:25 am

@DavyMuur

@wiscot

The pic was taken on St. Mary’s Hill in Dublin during the Tour of Ireland.

I think you mean Patrick’s hill in Cork?

Errr . . . sure, the one in Cork! I get them confused, cough, cough.
DavyMuur says:

Nov 12 2015 at 6:56 am

@wiscot

@DavyMuur

@wiscot

The pic was taken on St. Mary’s Hill in Dublin during the Tour of Ireland.

I think you mean Patrick’s hill in Cork?

Errr . . . sure, the one in Cork! I get them confused, cough, cough.

Hehe, yeah, no worries! I confuse them myself sometimes too. But seriously though, Dublin is pretty flat. I suspect it was in fact (St.)Patrick's Hill in Cork, which was a staple feature of the Nissan Classic (formerly Tour of Ireland).
Matt says:

Nov 12 2015 at 7:12 am

@RobSandy

@frank

@RobSandy

@Matt

@chuckp

Perhaps the other fork leg was crushed and melted down to produce the necessary material for the 900mm bars the far left rider is using.

One of my mates rides off road with bars that wide. It fucking freaks me out. Looks like he’s riding his bike with a broom.

You don’t want to be riding too much technical single track with bars like that. Holy hell.

Is this an appropriate time to initiate a road bike bar width discussion? I’ve got 44’s on mine, and feel like they get wider every time I ride. I’m getting some 42cm wide 3T Rotundos for Christmas, so will be down-widthing as well as going to a classic bend.

Any thoughts from the class?

I have 44's and always think that 42cm would be slightly too narrow, since I chose parents that gave me large shoulders (which fucks up my aerodynamics, thanks mom and dad). But then I think about Adam Hansen, who is several centimeters taller than me and rides 38's. So fuck.
Matt says:

Nov 12 2015 at 7:16 am

@RobSandy

But regarding the bar shape, I love big round drops. There are many more positions for your hands, etc. but the most important element is that they look sexy. I believe @Frank has waxed poetic about his Rotundos in the past, no?
RobSandy says:

Nov 12 2015 at 7:50 am

@Matt

I have 44’s and always think that 42cm would be slightly too narrow, since I chose parents that gave me large shoulders (which fucks up my aerodynamics, thanks mom and dad). But then I think about Adam Hansen, who is several centimeters taller than me and rides 38’s. So fuck.

I also have broad shoulders. But the only solution I can see to finding 44s too wide is to at least try 42s.

My wife has 38s on her Bianchi -they seem comically narrow to me.

I did take the top on 3T Rotundos from one of Frank's articles; I'd assumed that anything Frank liked would be way out of my budget but I found a good deal on the Rotundos for my Dad to buy me. Worth a try, anyway. Also, means I can switch to white bar tape so my bike goes faster.
frank says:

Nov 12 2015 at 2:30 pm

@RobSandy

@frank

@RobSandy

@Matt

@chuckp

Perhaps the other fork leg was crushed and melted down to produce the necessary material for the 900mm bars the far left rider is using.

One of my mates rides off road with bars that wide. It fucking freaks me out. Looks like he’s riding his bike with a broom.

You don’t want to be riding too much technical single track with bars like that. Holy hell.

Is this an appropriate time to initiate a road bike bar width discussion? I’ve got 44’s on mine, and feel like they get wider every time I ride. I’m getting some 42cm wide 3T Rotundos for Christmas, so will be down-widthing as well as going to a classic bend.

Any thoughts from the class?

The rule of thumb is to go the width of your shoulders, which is fine, but I think it's really down to preference. Narrow is more aero, but wider is probably better for breathing, so don't just pick one, experiment. I rode a 42cm bar for a while because The Prophet liked narrow bars but it always felt a little narrow. Especially when climbing on the tops I find my hands to be about as far apart as they will go, so that tells me that wider is more natural for me.

For some reason my 44cm alu Rotundos are slightly narrower than my 44cm carbon ones - by like a cm, making the carbons more like 45's, but I do like them nice and wide like that; when I ride the rain bike I do notice the bars feel a tad narrow, but only for the first few minutes, and only if I just rode the #1 immediately before. Also, I have the alu ones on the Graveur and the position is off by enough that I never notice the bars being narrow, even though they're the same as the ones on the Nine Bike.
frank says:

Nov 12 2015 at 2:31 pm

@DavyMuur

@wiscot

@DavyMuur

@wiscot

The pic was taken on St. Mary’s Hill in Dublin during the Tour of Ireland.

I think you mean Patrick’s hill in Cork?

Errr . . . sure, the one in Cork! I get them confused, cough, cough.

Hehe, yeah, no worries! I confuse them myself sometimes too. But seriously though, Dublin is pretty flat. I suspect it was in fact (St.)Patrick’s Hill in Cork, which was a staple feature of the Nissan Classic (formerly Tour of Ireland).

I believe you are correct. I was actually going to caption it as such but wasn't sure enough to take the gamble.

Man, I loved that PDM kit.
frank says:

Nov 12 2015 at 2:33 pm

@Matt

@RobSandy

But regarding the bar shape, I love big round drops. There are many more positions for your hands, etc. but the most important element is that they look sexy. I believe @Frank has waxed poetic about his Rotundos in the past, no?

Loves me my rotundos, but would try the fiziks in an instant; they appear to have a nice deep drop to them which would rule.

Bar shape, there's another one you should fool about with and just pick something you like; there's no right or wrong there.
frank says:

Nov 12 2015 at 2:35 pm

@RobSandy

@Matt

I have 44’s and always think that 42cm would be slightly too narrow, since I chose parents that gave me large shoulders (which fucks up my aerodynamics, thanks mom and dad). But then I think about Adam Hansen, who is several centimeters taller than me and rides 38’s. So fuck.

I also have broad shoulders. But the only solution I can see to finding 44s too wide is to at least try 42s.

My wife has 38s on her Bianchi -they seem comically narrow to me.

I did take the top on 3T Rotundos from one of Frank’s articles; I’d assumed that anything Frank liked would be way out of my budget but I found a good deal on the Rotundos for my Dad to buy me. Worth a try, anyway. Also, means I can switch to white bar tape so my bike goes faster.

Bril!

Also note that not all 44's are treated equally; make sure you know how the vendor is measuring them (c-c or o-o) so you don't bugger yourself.