# Anyone break out the chemical hand and toe warmers and go for ride this weekend?



## Trek_5200 (Apr 21, 2013)

Sure was cold. If it wasn't for Strictly selling the hand and toe warmers I would have been miserable out there. Did 42 miles this a.m. Anyone get any good rides in? If you rode Saturday when it was even colder kudos.


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## Social Climber (Jan 16, 2013)

I did the hand and toe warmers yesterday. Got in about 35 miles with a buddy of mine. It was 23 degrees when we started, and got up to a balmy 26. The promised sunshine never appeared. 

This was the first time I tried the hand warmers and I must say I found them to be pretty useless. My issues in cold weather are with my fingers and shoving the warmers inside my gloves did nothing. I use lobster gloves with thin liners underneath and for the first 20 minutes or so I thought my fingers might get frostbite. I had to keep flexing them to keep them from going numb. After that they warmed up and I was fine for the rest of the ride. The toe warmers I use are rated for 7 hours but my toes usually start feeling cold after about 2 in weather like this, and that is with thick wool socks and thermal booties over my shoes. Maybe I just have poor circulation. I might try some sock liners, but next weekend temps are supposed to be in the 30s!


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## Trek_5200 (Apr 21, 2013)

Social Climber said:


> I did the hand and toe warmers yesterday. Got in about 35 miles with a buddy of mine. It was 23 degrees when we started, and got up to a balmy 26. The promised sunshine never appeared.
> 
> This was the first time I tried the hand warmers and I must say I found them to be pretty useless. My issues in cold weather are with my fingers and shoving the warmers inside my gloves did nothing. I use lobster gloves with thin liners underneath and for the first 20 minutes or so I thought my fingers might get frostbite. I had to keep flexing them to keep them from going numb. After that they warmed up and I was fine for the rest of the ride. The toe warmers I use are rated for 7 hours but my toes usually start feeling cold after about 2 in weather like this, and that is with thick wool socks and thermal booties over my shoes. Maybe I just have poor circulation. I might try some sock liners, but next weekend temps are supposed to be in the 30s!


Worked for me. Simply having the heat source high up on my hand between the glove liner and the outer glove was sufficient. You do need to expose the warmers to air for a while to get them activated. 

I actually tried toe warmers once last year and found them ineffective. They simply never put off much heat unlike this time. Maybe the packs go bad after a while? Not sure.


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## Social Climber (Jan 16, 2013)

The ones I buy have expiration dates on the package. You should check.


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## geomoney (Oct 9, 2005)

I was able to get in rides both Sat and Sunday. Sat was pretty cold, Sunday was actually a decent day to rack up some miles. Fortunately most of my cold weather gear works really well, not sure what model Sugoi full fingered gloves I have but my fingers never get cold at all during the ride. 

My feet are a totally different story. No matter what combination of shoe, sock, toe warmer or bootie I use, my toes still get cold after about 2 hours. I bought a pair of Lake boots for cold weather, still trying to figure out what combo will work to keep my feet warm. On Saturday my feet just froze, but i did not wear booties over my boots On Sunday I ended up wearing Gore winter socks with chemical toe warmers, Lake shoes and Pearl Izumi neoprene booties. Better than Saturday, but not what i was expecting I stopped after 2 hours to warm my feet, I noticed the toe warmers stopped emitting heat. I put on another set that I had brought with me, that got me home after 2 more hours. I noticed the second set was still a little warm when i got home, but not what I would expect after only 2 hours (the package claims upwards of 6 hours) The remaining packages show an expiration date of Oct 2018. Maybe I'm just expecting more from what they are. Or it just may be that I have really poor circulation in my feet. 

I read that some people put a plastic bag over their socks before they put on their shoes, I'm going to give that a shot next to see if that helps keep my feet warmer.


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## Trek_5200 (Apr 21, 2013)

geomoney said:


> I was able to get in rides both Sat and Sunday. Sat was pretty cold, Sunday was actually a decent day to rack up some miles. Fortunately most of my cold weather gear works really well, not sure what model Sugoi full fingered gloves I have but my fingers never get cold at all during the ride.
> 
> My feet are a totally different story. No matter what combination of shoe, sock, toe warmer or bootie I use, my toes still get cold after about 2 hours. I bought a pair of Lake boots for cold weather, still trying to figure out what combo will work to keep my feet warm. On Saturday my feet just froze, but i did not wear booties over my boots On Sunday I ended up wearing Gore winter socks with chemical toe warmers, Lake shoes and Pearl Izumi neoprene booties. Better than Saturday, but not what i was expecting I stopped after 2 hours to warm my feet, I noticed the toe warmers stopped emitting heat. I put on another set that I had brought with me, that got me home after 2 more hours. I noticed the second set was still a little warm when i got home, but not what I would expect after only 2 hours (the package claims upwards of 6 hours) The remaining packages show an expiration date of Oct 2018. Maybe I'm just expecting more from what they are. Or it just may be that I have really poor circulation in my feet.
> 
> I read that some people put a plastic bag over their socks before they put on their shoes, I'm going to give that a shot next to see if that helps keep my feet warmer.


Saturday was brutal. I'm not sure anything would have worked.


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## stoked (Aug 6, 2004)

I rigged a second pair of insoles with Hotronic S3s that bought during Xmas sale. I've been meaning to try them but got a nasty cold past 2 weeks. Hopefully this weekend I'll try them if it does not snow.


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