The Glacier Glove company has been making neoprene gloves for various wet and cold activities for almost 30 years and their products have been used by the likes of the Navy Seals, the US Coast Guard, Mt Everest climbers, and onAntarctic Expeditions.
Next month, the company will be releasing a version createdespeciallyfor cycling. I received a pre-release pair for testing, and so far I am really impressed!
When I first pulled these out of the package, that distinctive neoprene smell took me back to growing up on the coast of Maine around commercial fishing and other cold, wet, winter activities. There’s no lobster fishing going on here in Colorado, but it isfrequentlycold enough to warrant a good pair of gloves for winter riding.
The cycling-specific Glacier Gloves are just the right thickness and sport articulated fingers for a more natural fit while grasping the handlebars. The gloves extend well up the wrist for extended coverage with no gaps between the glove cuff and your arm warmers, jacket, or long sleeve jersey. Although the natural neoprene fit means they won’t really go anywhere, these gloves also include avelcrostrap to cinch things down tight.
On the bike these feel great. Tactile feedback is adequate, the natural padding of the neoprene provides excellent vibration dampening, and the articulated fingers help with working the brakes and shifters. Mostimportantly, these gloves are WARM! The neoprene does a great job of keeping heat in, and wind and water out. You will feel like your hands are in the pockets of your favorite coat rather than leading the way through the icy wind at 20 miles per hour. In all seriousness, it needs to be colder than 35 or so or they will betoo warm.
A couple of things about these gloves take a little getting used to. For example the first couple of times I shifted gears I got a “gear and a half” due to the extra thickness compared to my regular riding gloves. And though I’ve learned to work my smart phone and cycling computer while wearing my regular gloves, there is no way that will work with the Glacier Gloves; they will have to come off. Also, the velcro strap falls exactly where my heart rate monitor / wrist watch fits. I expected this to be a problem, but the glove strap is long enough to wrap around wrist and watch with length to spare, and the glove material is pliable enough that it caused me no discomfort whatsoever. If the gloves start to get a little stinky, like neoprene sometimes does, turn them inside out and wash them in warm water with some mild hand soap. Rinse themthoroughly, dry them out, and you’re back in business.
Bottom line: If you ride your bike in cold and/or wet weather, you need a pair of these gloves! They are scheduled to hit the streets in December, so maybe Santa will drop a pair under the tree for you…
Thanks to the folks at Glacier Glove for sending these gloves for testing.
Footnote:Because these are not publicly available yet, I had to settle for a pair of XXL gloves which are a bit too big for me. They seem to run pretty true to size, so when you order, use their sizing guide, or order the same size you wear in regular cycling gloves.
Since the XXL gloves are too big for me I’ll be buying my own pair, and if anyone can correctly identify the trail where the pic below was taken, I’ll send this pair to our resident Singletracks snow rider, Funrover, for his continuing winter excursions. 😀
Photo by Funrover
