FABB Blog

Photo: Washington Post

People like Branyan and Elizabeth MacGregor, 49, who has a 28-mile round trip between her Vienna home and downtown D.C. office, have to dress for the cold weather.

"If I were advising somebody who was just starting out, I’d say, see what you’ve got in your closet and try to use that,” said MacGregor, who began commuting by bike about eight years ago. “You don’t have to spend a lot of money on this. I wear a merino wool base layer. I wear ski sweaters, usually. I have a variety of weights, and then either a cycling jersey or a fleece vest or a wool vest. And then I wear a wind-breaking layer on top. And I have tights that I wear, too."

In the wintertime, she abandons her bike shoes, which clip onto the pedals, and screws on a pair of platform pedals so she can wear warm "street boots."

"I wear either a wool cap and a buff around my neck, or I wear a balaclava, like I did today," she said on a morning when the temperature was in the mid-30s. "I have thick fleece gloves."

MacGregor said she embraced the bike commute after "a couple of bad days on the Red Line."

"My son was young, and I wasn't getting a lot of chance to exercise. So I thought if I combine the commute with the exercise, that will be a way for me stay in shape," she said.