How to Dress for the Bitterest Cold

It was -13 degrees in Chicago today, but I still had to run my errands. Below is a photo essay of my outfit. Overall I was warm. My trip had me outside on my bike for less than an hour with several indoor stops. Still, my hands and feet were painfully cold and beginning to go numb towards the end.

The outer layer is all about shells. I use snowmobile gloves whenever the temp goes below 20 degrees, but even they weren't enough today. Same with the ski goggles. 

Under the rabbit-fur hat I wore an ear strap thing. My head was plenty warm except for the exposed skin on my nose and upper lip. Underneath the shell is fleece which kept my core warm enough. 

Wool jersey and Craft rain pants. 

Those pants are flannel-lined. I was just wearing one pair of wool socks, but I should have worn a second. The Mavic snow boots are good, but breathe a little too much for sub arctic weather. I also think it's a bad idea to ride clipped-in on the snow, but I did it today to test the shoes. 

For a base layer I wore Craft long underwear and a North Face shirt thing. Both are said to be good for their wicking properties, but I didn't really sweat, so I don't know. 

A note on the bike: I was riding my regular 'cross/touring bike with 35c dirt tires pumped to 48psi. Most of the streets had a covering of hard-pack snow, and for this the bike and tires worked just fine as long as I kept above jogging pace. I had to dab a foot down a few times in the deeper stuff when I had to make a turn. I gave up on dedicated snow tires a few years ago and I still don't regret that decision. Aggressive, wide cyclocross tires work well in almost all winter conditions you'd encounter in a city like Chicago. The one issue I had is that in this weather the grease in the shifters felt like it was freezing over. By the end of the ride the lever movement felt slower than usual.