to glove or not to glove

to glove or not to glove
for me there is no question

I glove year round
in fact I am not shy about wearing a set of full finger gloves on the mountain bike during the hottest days of summer

here in washington dc winter has just started
with the forever waivering temperatures of the dc winter there is always the riddle of what gear to wear
thus far the beard has been enough
no need for the balaclava just yet
but what about the hands?

the hands are always a mystery...
there can be the difficult balance of trying not to under glove or over glove
it has been established that to ride sans glove is not an option
yet some people choose to roll that way
but how much is too little glove and how much is too much glove
well... that answer becomes clear once the ride starts
usually not immediately
but a bit into the ride where either your hands become sweaty or they grow numb and cold

numb and cold may put me in the upright position riding no handed with my hands tucked into my arm pits
while hot and sweaty may have me riding gloveless for stretches while I let my hands breath
only to rush cold back into the little hand sauna for more sweating
then out again to breath

no...
not offering a solution
but maybe I will mention this

there was a time where I ran my own multi-glove system for varying temperatures
this was more of a snowboard thing than a cycling thing
but the notion would transfer just the same

Outdoor Research makes some large mittens
these mittens are long as well as large
the extend up the arm past the wrist which is great for keeping snow out of your sleeve on those glorious powder day crashes
so I worked this OR mitten combo with a fleece glove on my hand inside
I had an assortment of fleece gloves with different thicknesses
this glove system worked great on the chair
on the long chair rides I would pull off the gloves
always cautious to tuck the gloves into my jacket as so not to drop them from the chair
then with the fleece gloves I was usually able to manipulate things that I could not manage with the awkward mitten
fuel up... eat an energy bar... hydrate with some water or gatorade
then slap the gloves back on
and maybe bend over to clip in the back foot so I could then ride away instead of skateing away only to have to drop my butt to the snow as I clip in

pearlizumi
not sure if Outdoor Research still makes those mitts?