What not to wear

Woohoo!  Only 85 more days to go. I’ve been following a face book page about the Amtrak Empire Builder train. They have had some delays due to mudslides and snow in Montana recently. I hope they get that figured out.  We are so looking forward to the trip in May out west on the train.

We have been struggling with what riding clothes to take along for cold weather. The mountain passes we will be cycling over can be snow covered and very cold well into June. We will be riding over  McKenzie Pass in Oregon and that pass often doesn’t even open to traffic until June because of the snow!  We will be there approximately the first of June so that could be interesting, and we need to be prepared. I’ve also read that it is not uncommon to get snow in Montana in June.

The idea is to wear lots of layers of clothes that are moisture wicking to keep you as dry as possible. I’m going to take merino wool long underwear, some long pants, and rain pants and wool long sleeve tee shirt, a bike jersey, an insulated Patagonia Nano Puff midlayer coat, and a rain coat if needed. The thing that I’m not so sure about is what to do about keeping my hands and feet warm. I like to ride with Keen bike sandals which are obviously are not so good for cold weather. I’m going to try some neoprene foot covers with wool socks. (I guess I’ll have to let you know how that works out). Also I am taking some wind proof type of gloves that I haven’t yet found. This all sounds like a lot of stuff to haul, but I feel like I will be able to send a lot of it home once we get later into summer and further south. In the end it will all work out I guess.

Let the adventure begin. McKenzie pass, Lolo pass, Hoosier Pass  here we come.  Brrr