Cycling in Cold Weather

Question
Hi Jerry,

I'm from Malaysia and now I doing my Master study in Netherlands. Every morning I have to cycle to the university about I'm and i have to cycle back to my home in the evening for another I'm. I'm not used to cold weather (now about 2 - 6C), so I have to use 2 t-shirt,2 pullover and 1 waterproof jacket on the top. This will kept me warm all the way to the university. My question is one of my friend told me that it is not good for my health (it will cause- cough, pneomonia) to put over many clothes on my body because while cycling I'm heating up my body naturally, so i don't need to put on thick clothes. Is it true?

Answer
Hi Azlim,

It is best to "layer" the clothing as you are doing that way if you do get too warm you can remove some, I would say the T-Shirt, Pullover and waterproof jacket would probably be enough. I am not the best at calculating Centigrade Versus Fahrenheit but I think 2-6 is fairly cold since that is the temp of the Blood Bank Refrigerator at the hospital where I work.

You have to determine the amount of layering yourself by trying different amounts of layering. I am assuming that you remove most of these clothes while at the University, correct?

As far as getting pneumonia from staying warm. Pneumonia and colds etc are caused by viruses and other organisms, not by changes in body temperature.

Hope this helps

Have a great day

Jerry Goodwin
www.bmgfitness.com
www.healthandfitnessebookclub.com