Any assistance in the ritual hunt for suitable seasonal apparel that precedes English winter cycling has to be welcomed.
The appropriately stretchy, tightly woven, ultra-thin brushed fabric of the Galibier Dolomiti Skull Cap performs well on the late winter Yorkshire moors, providing a snug warmth to head and ears - a marked improvement on a tatty Belgian cotton cap and buff combination.
At 8.6km in length with approximately 300m elevation gain, Cragg Vale in West Yorkshire is England's longest continuous ascent/descent. A perfect testing ground for the Galibier hat and gloves combo...
I had to remove the hat on the second ramp on my way up the steeper side of Cragg Vale, and whilst it had trapped the heat, it had allowed most of the moisture to escape. Once on to the windswept moor it was back to full function, although not quite matching the marketing message "warm head = fast legs"; but I'm not sure I can lay that at the door of the company poet.
One might take issue with the semantics of Galibier's description of the cap's powers of insulation: "Carvico Dolomiti ... has the thermal properties of a material twice as thick" - but let's not.
Its very tight weave does make it very warm, and leaves seamless edges that add no lumpy bulkiness under the helmet.
Roubaix Vision Gloves
Galibier's Roubaix Vision gloves, again tightly woven, held up against the wind chill on the unrelenting false flat that featured in the Yorkshire stages of the 2014 Tour de France.
They are light enough to fit as liners under a heavier winter glove, but highly capable in their own right: they held the heat perfectly all the way down the other side of Cragg, while transmitting just enough of my spare wattage to operate a smartphone screen.
A nice grippy touch, and white flash motif, enhance contact with wet brake levers/gear shifters and signal serious cycling style to other planet users respectively.
The Roubaix Vision are a well-made, double-stitched glove, lightweight but achieving high performance at a very reasonable price.
The gloves have so far held up well to high-temperature washing, despite a low temperature recommendation which tends to incubate rather than eradicate the micro flora and fauna passengers that can set up home in some glove liners.
I'm finally fully equipped for winter... just in time for the first snowdrops of spring.
Galibier Roubaix Vision Gloves, £16 and Dolomiti Skull Cap, £11.64 from www.galibier.cc.
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