We’ve recently had a few posts about how to solve the cold hands problem that can accompany winter riding. Excellent suggestions have come forth about a variety of different types of gloves/mittens, chemical hand warmers, etc. Some athletes have simply chosen to ride indoors until the bloom of Spring and give those Computrainers a work out. If, however, you want to stay outside all winter, depending upon your climate, some alterations may be in order to remain comfortable.
As we noted both here and in my blog, a surprising number of athletes suffer from Raynaud’s Syndrome, a spasming of the small arteries in the digits, often when cold. The fingers initially turn white and become numb, then, when the problem is resolving (which it does spontaneously when the fingers get warm) the fingers can become a host of colors including red, purple, and in a few cases almost black. Finally, they slowly return to normal. About 5% of men and 8% of women have Raynaud’s and it can affect ears, toes, and even your nose.
So, to remain comfortable we have to remain warm. All it takes is a little trial and error. I’d suggest you start by putting a thermometer outside your window to get an accurate temperature before you venture out. It’s better than the Weather Channel anyway. Then, get an idea of what gloves, layering of gloves, mittens and layering/lining of mittens you need at 50 - 55 degrees, 40 - 45 degrees, etc. If your mittens are so bulky that you may lose control of the bike, figure out something else. One thing that many over look is a product called Bar Mitts (they also have Mountain Mitts for your mountain bike.) These are sleeve-like neoprene that fit right over your handle bars and block cold, rain and snow…not that you’ll be riding outdoors on 23 mm tires in the snow. You don’t even need very thick gloves to stay toasty. I’ll admit that they may look a little dorky but the bike group conversation will quickly move on to something else and you keep your hands warm. I’ll attach a couple pictures from a local riders bike.
As always, please share your experience and comments
I haven’t been officially diagnosed with Raynaud’s, but I have the symptoms. My fingers will turn white and blue (and scarlet when warming - you forgot to mention how they burn as they warm) even in temps that aren’t all that extreme (40 degrees but w/ wind). I’ve found it very useful to constant squeeze my fists when running or cycling in the cold; for me mittens are much much better than gloves. Since my toes also turn grey, I put on neoprene fin socks before I get out of the outdoor pool when cold (and remove them as I put on real shoes).
I seem to have Raynaud like symptoms when I stop biking or running, it can even happen indoors on a treadmill or trainer or outdoors in weather as warm as 60°F
When I stop, my hands get cold and have even turned white. It’s always preceded by blue fingernails. I have to warm them by taking a hot shower or at the very least run them under warm water for about 10 minutes.
This only happens after exercise, I’ve been able to shovel snow or go snowboarding without this happening. Bloodwork from my last physical showed no abnormalities.
Every have an athlete on nifedipine or other calcium channel blocker or topical niacin? Tough with most athletes since their BP tends to bottom out with the Ca channel blocker. I’ve also had a pharmacist compound a topical cream with niacin to vasodilate and capsaicin for that nice, warm feeling (similar to embrocation). Great trick/tip for 'ya
I have had Raynauds Syndrome for over ten years now. I noticed the changes when I became more active and dropped some weight. To have it is a pain in the rump as it hinders a lot of cold weather outdoor activities that I want to do. After the fingers froze for the third time while riding, I bought a pair of Climitts for my commuter and haven’t looked back. Soon I will get a pair of BarMitts for the other bikes and wish someone would come out with something to help us while riding a TT bike.
2 hot mits hand warmers in each glove does the trick. I use polypropylene glove liners, 2 warmers in each of my Pearl Izumi lobster mit gloves. For the feet I put the adhesive style warmers on the dorsal surface of my sock the put my cycling shoes on, then my fleece lined neoprene booties.
I have never been formally diagnosed with Raynauds but I have all the symptoms. With the above approach I have no problems in cold conditions. It’s a no brainer, you put everything on and go. It’s the tweener temps I struggle with for my hands. So now I overdress and would rather be too warm than suffer the consequences. You can always take stuff off during a ride, but you can’t put stuff on if you don’t have it. Once you are cold it’s too late.
I could have written what you wrote to the “T”. I have the exact same reaction you have, in the same conditions. My wife thinks its a thorasic condition, as she fashions herself as a medical expert, even though she is not…She usually is right about these things.
I wonder if this is Reynaud’s? My feet are fine…it is just the hands
Every have an athlete on nifedipine or other calcium channel blocker or topical niacin? Tough with most athletes since their BP tends to bottom out with the Ca channel blocker. I’ve also had a pharmacist compound a topical cream with niacin to vasodilate and capsaicin for that nice, warm feeling (similar to embrocation). Great trick/tip for 'ya
Got a recipe for that hand cream? That sounds like a great solution to my Raynaud’s in my hands. Is that something I can home brew? Or is there an off-the-shelf product that is similar (e.g. Bengay?) How about rroofs magic hand warming cream – you could have Dave Z market it: “Firenutz” or something…
EDIT: I guess DZ already has a product like this out: DZ InHeat.
Yep I get this pretty bad… I find that the key (for me) is to not let my hands get at all cold to start with… the second they feel a bit cool, get the gloves on STAT. I have found it can be really bad when driving (I drive stick) so I even keep a pair of NorthFace thermal (thin) gloves in the car now. Thanks for posting this. I sure hope it doesn’t spread to the toes! that would suck!
Niacin is a cutaneous vasodilator, and most cyclists know what embrocation/capsaicin creams do.
Not a bad idea to market … maybe hit up mad alchemy (www.madalchemy.com) since they make some awesome and HOT embrocation that most cold weather cyclocross racers know and just add in some topical niacin cream. Maybe call it, Flaming Fingers or something?
AP - yep, for those with both hands and feet it’s a downer.** Goallout **points out a interesting fact that some Raynaud’s folks have their worst symptoms in the fall, the so-called tweener days. I’ve heard this before. They’ll tell you that once Winter sets in for good, their hands (toes) still get cold but other phenomena are not present.
rroof “finger balm” sounds interesting but I have no experience with it. Anyone else?
I looked at your your angiogram (I’m not a vascular radiologist) and since it was done a while ago and you’re still a ST star, it may not be of clinical significance. It’s actually not all that uncommon and this may be of help: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2738336
Of course, it has nothing to do with Raynaud’s and most people with radial dominance are unaware of it.
I’ve had moderate success with simply massaging my individual fingers/hands heavily for 2-3 minutes prior to a run while rubbing on a petrolatum and lanolin based product called “Bag Balm” that old farmers swear by. Even having drier skin seems to worsen my Raynaud’s symptoms so the bag balm provides a pretty heavy barrier to prevent moisture loss during the workout and it sticks really well because it’s designed for use on cow’s udders. It is very sticky at first though. Plus the massage increases some blood flow temporarily. My symptoms become quite painful as the thermometer approaches 30 degrees with running so cycling is out of the question. I have yet to find a wonderful glove that makes for a life changing experience. I put on a thin polypropylene glove right after the bag balm and then another thicker glove or mitten for running. Raising my core temperature indoors prior to a cold weather workout seems to help so a bike trainer warm up prior to a run is often successful. I think the Raynaud’s really did me in this year in Clearwater 70.3 because the ocean temperature dropped so abruptly. My hands were white and blue within 5 minutes of warming up and I began to have several SIPE symptoms that worsened throughout the race with some nice frothy sputum and wheezing. I couldn’t feel my feet for at least the first half of the bike. Seems my body is great at overloading my core with blood volume but not my distal extremities. I am apparently going to have to be very selective of the races I attend in order to avoid the cold water temps!
I have the same issues as you and the few cold water races I did in the past were very painful.
For temps in the 40s (which is about as cold as it gets here), I just found some Descente gloves which have a mitten pouch you can add if it’s really cold and they are the best gloves I’ve come across. I have about 5 different pair that haven’t worked as well.
Feet-I’m still looking for booties that work.
Embrocation definitely! Mad Alchemy is the best. I put it on legs, hands and feet.
I’ve had moderate success with simply massaging my individual fingers/hands heavily for 2-3 minutes prior to a run while rubbing on a petrolatum and lanolin based product called “Bag Balm” that old farmers swear by. Even having drier skin seems to worsen my Raynaud’s symptoms so the bag balm provides a pretty heavy barrier to prevent moisture loss during the workout and it sticks really well because it’s designed for use on cow’s udders. It is very sticky at first though. Plus the massage increases some blood flow temporarily. My symptoms become quite painful as the thermometer approaches 30 degrees with running so cycling is out of the question. I have yet to find a wonderful glove that makes for a life changing experience. I put on a thin polypropylene glove right after the bag balm and then another thicker glove or mitten for running. Raising my core temperature indoors prior to a cold weather workout seems to help so a bike trainer warm up prior to a run is often successful. I think the Raynaud’s really did me in this year in Clearwater 70.3 because the ocean temperature dropped so abruptly. My hands were white and blue within 5 minutes of warming up and I began to have several SIPE symptoms that worsened throughout the race with some nice frothy sputum and wheezing. I couldn’t feel my feet for at least the first half of the bike. Seems my body is great at overloading my core with blood volume but not my distal extremities. I am apparently going to have to be very selective of the races I attend in order to avoid the cold water temps!
The Bag Balm is likely working as a vapor barrier – it reduces evaporative heat loss from sweat. If that works for you, you might try plastic food service gloves. Your hands will turn into prune-skin, but they’ll be warm.
For running, I like to use ragg-wool mitts or gloves. Most other materials wet out from sweat over the course of a run, and end up cold, setting off my Raynauds. But, wool has the ability to absorb more moisture without wetting out (the cliche is “warm when wet”). Unless it’s raining, I can run for up to three hours without overwhelming a pair of wool mitts with moisture. Fleece and such only lasts 30 minutes.
When the surface fibers of a wicking fabric are wet, you get a triple whammy of cold: (1) Water has much higher thermal conductivity than air. (2) You get evaporative heat loss as the liquid water vaporizes. (3) Under the right conditions, the dew point will be inside the fabric, so water will evaporate near your skin, then condense when it hits the dew point, then wick back to your skin in a vicious cold cycle – short circuiting the insulation.
