Base layer material

[davids]

The Rapha post, and my own shopping, got me thinking: What material provides the best base layer for wicking and warmth for moderately cold (30 - 50 degree) road riding:

Wool?
Silk?
Polypro?

I've got the latest Sierra Trading Post catalog in my hands, and good deals are to be had on all shirts made of all three.

As always, thanks for playing!

[coylifut]

next to the skin, wool is the undisputed king. However, I've found that not all wool base layers are created equally. For me, a distant second is the man-made stuff from DeFeet. I have a bunch of the Craft stuff as well, but I prefer the DeFeet frabric

[Ginger]

I use wool down to a certain temp, if it gets colder than that (if there's ice on the puddles with no signs of thaw) I throw a filament silk turtleneck on underneath.
Then I'm REALLY toasty.
People think of silk as delicate...but it is a great insulator, but it doesn't have as much loft as the wool. It doesn't wind up with the stank that polypro does after a while.

[trophyoftexas]

....is my choice. I use their Cold Wear with a mock turtle neck and it really seems to do the trick for me. It's a really snug fit that I like the feel of for some reason, usually something that tight seems restricting to me but this doesn't, guess it the "stretchieness" that makes up for that. It also allows me to get extra miles out of my short sleeve jerseys....good light weight long sleeve jerseys are somewhat rare in this part of the country. At different times I've also used both the long sleeve or short sleeve version of the crew neck shirt that Craft makes. It is a ribbed fabric and has a "wind panel" on the front that is really nice if I'm doing a route that has good downhills....the extra panel really does a nice job of keeping the chest area from getting chilled. BUT, perhaps I'm not the best person to get this advice from since living in Texas has made me somewhat of a baby about riding in the cold! On my recent Michigan trip I was needing leg warmers when it dropped below 65! Thinned out blood from medicine and "missing" veins in my legs from heart surg. have contributed to this problem but it sure makes me look like a sissy when everyone else is loving the "warm weather we're having up here!"