warm gloves: opinions on Swany sx-15 x-over glove?

On 2004-12-09, penned:
Ah, the dreaded "Gaper's Gap". It helps if your goggles mesh with your
helmet, but even then you can still have a gap.

Yeah. My goggles "appear" to be smushed right up to my helmet, but those
little bittie air molecules find a path somehow. As I said, though, it's only
happened in one particular situation that I can recall.

On really cold days, I will
sometimes put a piece of tape along the top of my goggles, then fold it over
(as opposed to sticking it to the helmet) so that it sticks up above the
goggles. It doesn't form a seal, but redirects the airflow enough to keep
my forehead from freezing.

Not a bad idea. I'd been thinking of gluing a piece of felt, turtle fur, or
something to the brim of my helmet, but looks have, I admit, prevented me from
implementing that plan. A little windfoil might be just the ticket, and
nicely temporary. Do your goggles become sticky from the stuff?

Looks kind of goofy, but seeing as how I also
put a band-aid over my nose on cold days to ward off frostbite, looks
obviously aren't my main concern. I haven't worked up to putting duct tape
on my cheeks, like some junior racers I saw at Jackson Hole a few years
back.

Ouch, duct tape cheeks! Haven't they heard of neck gaiters? =P

I'm not too worried about looking goofie. I've never been one of those snow
bunnies in tight pants and perfect hair. In fact, for years, I skied in so
much gear that I doubt you could tell I was female. Most likely you could
only guess that I might be human =P Anyway, no one looks all that great when
wearing a snot-covered scarf, I'm pretty sure.

I also have problems with cold hands. My feet do better now that I've
stopped trying to tighten my boots as the day goes on.

Yeah. I used to tighten my boots down for the first run, then keep tightening
as the day progressed. Now I make my boots pretty loose for the first run,
and only tighten if I feel I'm having control issues. We'll see what happens
if/when I get my new boots next week.

For my hands, I have a pair of Marmot Gore-Tex shell gloves with
gauntlets. I wear those over poly-fleece gloves, with wicking liners
as needed. I've only had a couple of times when that wasn't enough.
Once my hands do get too cold, I'm forced to go inside and stick them
under the blow dryers in the bathrooms. Haven't tried the hand
warmers. For years, I always carried a pack of them with me, but when
I finally tried to use them, they had expired and were worthless.

I think I used them once in my boots, to no effect. I don't think there was
enough room in my boot for the oxygen the packs need to activate.

Still, I have a good feeling about the mitten/glove liner combo I got last
night. I guess I'll find out this weekend. Is there any reason not to wear a
mitten in a casual, non-competitive race? It'll be my first race ever, so I'm
planning to ski pretty conservatively and just see what it's all about. Of
course, once I actually get there, I'm sure my ego won't stand for that ...

P.S. I'm not sure I like this new beta Google thing, the first time I tried
to post it lost my stuff while I was cutting out some of the previous quoted
posts. Now it doesn't show any included post stuff.

I've heard bad things about it. I also tried to search for some posts
recently (I read NGs via a console-based reader, but sometimes I like to see
posts on the web just to make viewing image links easier), and the interface
blows. It's hard to get to a particular newsgroup, which is all I really want
to do.

--
monique
Longmont, CO

Monique wrote:
Do your goggles become sticky from the stuff?

Yup. Maybe with tape that hadn't been carried around in my boot bag
for several years prior to use I might have better luck. I was able to
clean them off with some high-strength cleaner.

Ouch, duct tape cheeks! Haven't they heard of neck gaiters? =P

We're talking racers (teenagers, at that) here...logic is secondary.
They probably thought the duct tape would be more aerodynamic. For
most of us, just remembering to zip up your jacket before hitting the
NASTAR course is enough with regards to aerodynamics. Mittens won't
slow you down at all.

Monique Y. Mudama wrote:

Also, make sure that the boot fitter checks for boot pressure over those
spots where you should feel your pedal pulse most strongly like on top of
your foot, right above the arch -- but she/he/it should do that anyway.


I never thought about this. How do you check for boot pressure there? It's
not like they can reach in and feel the gap, right?

Also, what do you mean by the term "pedal pulse"?

The pulse in your foot (pronounced "pee-dal", not like on a bicycle).
If you're a light-skinned person, you likely can see the big vein as it
crosses over your instep. Pressure there is going to mess with your
circulation, obviously, and that will mess with your ability to keep
your feet warm, among other things.

--
Mary Malmros
Some days you're the windshield, other days you're the bug.

On 2004-12-09, Mary Malmros penned:
Monique Y. Mudama wrote:

Also, what do you mean by the term "pedal pulse"?

The pulse in your foot (pronounced "pee-dal", not like on a bicycle). If
you're a light-skinned person, you likely can see the big vein as it crosses
over your instep. Pressure there is going to mess with your circulation,
obviously, and that will mess with your ability to keep your feet warm,
among other things.

Oh! Okay, that all makes sense. When I thought of it as related to bicycles,
it really didn't.

Speaking of feet and boots, I bought my current pair of boots during the '98
season. What all may have changed in boot technology since then? Are they
likely to be able to do more for fit (1) and circulation?

(1) The joint where my pinky toe connects to the rest of the foot, right
around the ball of the foot, sticks out a lot. I've never had a pair of ski
boots that didn't cause pressure there, resulting in varying degrees of pain.
I have the same thing with any tight-fitting footwear. I got around it in my
hockey skates by buying skates a size too large, extra wide, and having them
punched out. Frankly, the small loss of control is worth it so that I am no
longer wincing half-way through an hour-long game.

--
monique
Longmont, CO

Monique Y. Mudama wrote:

On 2004-12-08, Dave M penned:






Apparently this is the same idea as taking aspirin on trans-Atlantic flights
to prevent the deep vein thrombosis or some such. For skiing and flying she
takes a normal dose (two or maybe three but I'll ask) on the way up the hill
in the morning (or on the way to the airport) and claims that it should
help.



Sounds good. A lot of people take aspirin every day for heart conditions and
such, so one every ski day should be no problem.

Except ... I usually try to put off joint and muscle pain by taking some aleve
before I ski, too. I wonder if it's a good idea to take both.




Oh, you meant the whiskey -- of course. Start with one shot of the Irish in
your coffee in the morning (decaf is best as noted but wholly unreasonable
from my perspective) and titrate up from there throughout the day. HTH



I'm a lightweight when it comes to holding my liquor, so I'm thinking that's
not the best option for me =/



A quick correction..... Reynauds (which is some wierd connective
tissue issue) is _not_ helped by aspirin but general cirulatory issues
may be. Anyway, no harm in trying, I guess. The doc did tell me that
too much aspirin is, of course, bad and can lead to GI bleeds. I guess
follow common sense and see. One or two a day is prolly not gonna hurt
you too much -- she usually takes two in the am.

As to the Irish, I can't drink and ski. It reduces my motivation to ski
too much and simultaneously increases my impulse to sit around and BS.

Dave

Monique Y. Mudama wrote:

On 2004-12-09, Janet penned:


My Hubby always had a problem with his feet getting cold until I bought him
the Hottronix boot warmers. They have a footbed that goes into the boot
which contains the warming element.



Does that mean you can't get a custom footbed if you use them?



My wife hat the hottronix put into her custom footbed. They helped some
but she really prefers the all over warmth. To each his and/or her own.

Dave M.

Monique Y. Mudama wrote:

On 2004-12-08, Dave M penned:


You might consider the boots that have the heating elements built into the
liner rather than the after market HotFeet type product. The liner option
gives you more heat all over rather than just on the bottom of your foot
which is not where the bloodflow is coming from anyway.



Heating is definitely one option I'll be exploring. Unfortunately, my history
of getting boots that fit my feet well hasn't been so hot, so it's quite
possible I won't be able to get ones with built-in heating. I'll just have to
see how it goes.



Also, make sure that the boot fitter checks for boot pressure over those
spots where you should feel your pedal pulse most strongly like on top of
your foot, right above the arch -- but she/he/it should do that anyway.



I never thought about this. How do you check for boot pressure there? It's
not like they can reach in and feel the gap, right?

Also, what do you mean by the term "pedal pulse"?



Tighten your boots down, maybe a little more than you would to ski, with
your skiin' socks wear them for a while - like fifteen or twnety minutes
- take them off and look for red spots or check by feel for hot and cold
spots. If there is uneven pressure, your foot will react to it and it
will either be visible or palpable. It can be worse if you have an
unusually high arch that flattens when you buckle the boots or if you
have weaker peripheral ciculation - like perpetually cold feet even if
the rest of you is warm.

But then I am am a "real" doctor, not one of these glorified mechanic
MD types .... I have watched them mess with the wife's boot enough
to have some idea of how it *should work. Thankfully, my Atomic boots
fit like a glove with only minimal messing around.

Dave M.

Monique Y. Mudama wrote:

On 2004-12-09, Mary Malmros penned:

Monique Y. Mudama wrote:


Also, what do you mean by the term "pedal pulse"?

The pulse in your foot (pronounced "pee-dal", not like on a bicycle). If
you're a light-skinned person, you likely can see the big vein as it crosses
over your instep. Pressure there is going to mess with your circulation,
obviously, and that will mess with your ability to keep your feet warm,
among other things.


Oh! Okay, that all makes sense. When I thought of it as related to bicycles,
it really didn't.

Speaking of feet and boots, I bought my current pair of boots during the '98
season. What all may have changed in boot technology since then? Are they
likely to be able to do more for fit (1) and circulation?

Dunno that there's been any rad changes in technology, except for what's
going on with soft boots. The difference may be in how you get them fit
now vs. how you did it then.

(1) The joint where my pinky toe connects to the rest of the foot, right
around the ball of the foot, sticks out a lot. I've never had a pair of ski
boots that didn't cause pressure there, resulting in varying degrees of pain.
I have the same thing with any tight-fitting footwear.

I can pretty much guarantee that my feet have a stranger shape than
yours -- and it's caused by injuries that left fairly sensitive scar
stuff behind them. I've got a bulge on top of my right foot that looks
like I've got a large shooter marble embedded in my second metatarsal.
What it actually is, is a huge wad of scar tissue from a non-union
fracture. I've sprained both insteps rather badly, broken toes, you
name it. The solution was a good bootfitter who paid attention to all
of the above.

I got around it in my
hockey skates by buying skates a size too large, extra wide, and having them
punched out. Frankly, the small loss of control is worth it so that I am no
longer wincing half-way through an hour-long game.



--
Mary Malmros
Some days you're the windshield, other days you're the bug.

Monique Y. Mudama wrote:
On 2004-12-09, Mary Malmros penned:

Monique Y. Mudama wrote:


Also, what do you mean by the term "pedal pulse"?

The pulse in your foot (pronounced "pee-dal", not like on a bicycle). If
you're a light-skinned person, you likely can see the big vein as it crosses
over your instep. Pressure there is going to mess with your circulation,
obviously, and that will mess with your ability to keep your feet warm,
among other things.


Oh! Okay, that all makes sense. When I thought of it as related to bicycles,
it really didn't.

Speaking of feet and boots, I bought my current pair of boots during the '98
season. What all may have changed in boot technology since then? Are they
likely to be able to do more for fit (1) and circulation?

No significant changes in boots (although from the ads you'd think they
invented whole new pedal extremities for humans) except the pretty much
worthless "soft boot" which I classify with "rear entry boots" and both
of which you should avoid like ebola.


(1) The joint where my pinky toe connects to the rest of the foot, right
around the ball of the foot, sticks out a lot. I've never had a pair of ski
boots that didn't cause pressure there, resulting in varying degrees of pain.

This is a very typical problem - every bootfitter worth squat can soften
the boots, push the plastic out right over that joint, and have you back
on the slopes painless in about an hour - most of which time is wasted
trying to sell you something else. Last time I had it done the shop
owner didn't charge anything even though he knew I build my own boots
and had never spent anything on boots in his shop.

On 2004-12-09, lal_truckee penned:
Monique Y. Mudama wrote:

No significant changes in boots (although from the ads you'd think they
invented whole new pedal extremities for humans) except the pretty much
worthless "soft boot" which I classify with "rear entry boots" and both of
which you should avoid like ebola.

Yeah, I'm suspicious of the "soft boot" thing, and I never cared for
rear-entry. I've heard folks sing the praises of both, though.

This is a very typical problem - every bootfitter worth squat can soften the
boots, push the plastic out right over that joint, and have you back on the
slopes painless in about an hour - most of which time is wasted trying to
sell you something else. Last time I had it done the shop owner didn't
charge anything even though he knew I build my own boots and had never spent
anything on boots in his shop.

I've had my current boot pushed out at least three times, possibly more. I've
also had hockey skates in the past that I tried to fix in this way, and it
never worked. Eventually I got wider skates, *and* had them punched out, and
that finally worked. Granted, I have more toe room than the salesguy thought
was best, but it's worked out for me.

I think that a certain amount can be done by pushing the plastic out, but
there are limits. At least, that's been my experience.

--
monique
Longmont, CO