Tuesday, November 18, 2025

Bread bag technical support

Bread bags on the feet have their own large category on the internet, but in case you don't have you own experiences or an explanation of the principles, here's mine.

In the 1980s, when I started winter camping, climbing, and mountaineering, vapor barriers were the hip thing. Their advocates acknowledged that vapor barriers would turn anything inside them into a swamp, but the benefits of keeping your body moisture from reaching the cold outer layers apparently outweighed the grode factor of marinading in your own sweat for hours or days.

In my particular circles, we limited it to vapor barrier socks, and, for some, a vapor barrier liner inside the sleeping bag. Basically a basting bag for your whole stinky self. I had one in case of an emergency, but I never used it. But the socks became a standard item.

I actually bought a set of coated nylon vapor barrier socks at one point. The coating wore away in a few uses, leaving me with as pointless nylon socks I could use as whimsically shaped stuff sacks. Bread bags held up better.

The layers go like this: thin poly liner sock, plastic bag, thick insulating sock, boot. The boots might be military surplus "mouse" boots, classic leathers, or the new plastic double boots. In any case, the VBL kept your foot sweat from saturating your essential insulation. If we were staying out for days, I would have fresh liners for every day, but I would also plaster wet liner socks to my chest when I got into my sleeping bag, to dry them out as much as possible in case I needed them.

In low-speed applications like mountain climbing, you might encounter ferocious winds, but it's still a simpler problem than riding a bike, where you're flying your feet through the air with a minimum wind velocity of perhaps 15 miles per hour, often higher. Heavy, insulated boots provide the real protection, and the vapor barriers just help that insulation stay at peak efficiency.

A winter bike ride is a calculation of acceptable loss. You will get moist, and your insulators will fail if you stay out long enough. If you dress lightly enough to keep from getting moist, or noticing that you have, you have no margin of safety if you can't complete your route quickly enough.

You could try vapor barrier suits like the plastic-coated heroes of the 1980s, but I don't recommend it. Arctic natives don't use vapor barriers. My father overwintered on Baffin Island in the early 1950s, the heyday of the military mouse boot. He ditched those for native footwear right away. He wasn't dealing with the challenges presented by either ice climbing or winter cycling. There's no good breathable option for winter cycling footwear as far as I know. But he also took up native outerwear as more effective than military issue, and the system there operates on the same principle as my winter cycling outfit with thicker, breathable insulators rather than shell layers that will cause condensation on the inside of them.

All factors influence the success of a given system. It's not just a matter of generic human in generic cold environment. Activity level and type of activity completely determine what has the best chance of working.

As I have previously noted, the winter cycling sock system requires more bags. Bagging the outer sock blocks wind coming through the shoe. Even if you do have a winter cycling shoe, it can use the help.

Overboots are okay if the conditions are dry, but any openings for a cleat put a hole where you really don't want it. You could use flat pedals, as long as any aggressive traction spikes on the pedal won't damage whatever you chose to keep your feet protected. I use traditional toeclips and straps, so there's some wear and tear on anything I use as an overboot in wet conditions, but nothing overtly jagged.

Back in 1980, the shop I worked in sold little toeclip tents: fabric fairings that fit over the toeclips to block the breeze. You could probably make something out of all kinds of everyday objects, like those red Solo cups. Just try to make it as sustainable as possible.

If all goes well, I get weeks of use out of a bread bag before it is ready to head down the waste stream.

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