One of the most common complaints among road cyclists trudging through the winter miles is that of cold hands.
Though your whole self tends to feel cold in the first minutes of a ride, once your heart begins to pump harder your core often warms up. Your extremities – hands and feet – however, tend to just get steadily colder without the right protection.
The good news is that the cycling industry is largely populated by cyclists, who understand the pains of numb and cold hands. Therefore, most clothing brands have made serious efforts to create gloves that actually work.
Some are better than others. Here are the finger warmers we recommend…
Rapha Merino Gloves
Merino is known for providing super snuggly warmth, without being thick or restrictive. It also doesn’t pick up whiffs, which is a welcome bonus in a glove.
These gloves are described as being ideal for ‘cool to mild conditions’, but personally I’ve worn them through the winter (admittedly in Surrey, not the freezing depths of Scotland) with no problem. You sometimes feel the odd breeze through the fairly thin material, but I’ll take that over thick gloves that reduce feel of the handlebars and make shifting a mission.
The key material is the merino wool, with 6 per cent Elastane for stretch. They also feature goatskin leather on the palms and fingers, a high density foam padding and reinforced grippers where they’re needed.
They come in blue and black, or all black, and cost £35. They’re not female specific, but do come up pretty small. See them here in sizes XXS-XL.
