kitcheck.cc
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How it works

From forecast to kit list

kitcheck.cc turns the weather for your ride into a kit list for head, upper body, hands, legs and feet. Here's how, in five steps.

Updated

  1. Step 1

    The forecast for your whole ride

    The hourly forecast from Open-Meteo for every hour of your ride window: the feels-like temperature (wind chill and humidity included), wind speed and the chance of rain. A cold start or rain later in the ride shows up in the advice.

    With a GPX route, the forecast is taken at points along the route (about every 6 km, or further apart on very long routes, plus the highest point) for the time you'll pass them. Wind is judged against your direction: a headwind counts fully, a tailwind barely.

  2. Step 2

    How it feels on the bike

    Riding hard feels much warmer than an easy spin. With a forecast of 10°C (50°F), it feels like:

    • EasyRecovery / leisure9°C 48°F
    • ModerateEndurance ride10°C 50°F
    • HardTraining / fast group13°C 55°F
    • RaceFull effort15°C 59°F

    How warm you naturally run counts too. At a moderate pace and 10°C (50°F):

    Always cold: 5°CRuns cold: 8°CAverage: 10°CRuns warm: 12°CAlways warm: 14°C

    Strong wind adds a small extra penalty for riding into it. From about 25 km/h (16 mph) a wind gilet is suggested as an option.

  3. Step 3

    Hands, feet and head are different

    Effort warms your body, but your fingers, toes and ears barely benefit. For gloves, overshoes and head covering, effort counts for only about a third and warmth tendency for three quarters. That's why riding hard lightens your layers but not your gloves.

    Near freezing (a feels-like of 2°C or lower), effort doesn't lighten the body kit either: you start cold, and every stop or descent is cold. The kit card mentions the lighter option instead.

    Gloves and overshoes are chosen for the whole ride, because nobody carries a second pair. If it gets colder or wet later, you get the warmer pair from the start, with a note saying why.

  4. Step 4

    Rain and heat

    40%chance of rain: packable rain jacket as an option
    60%rain likely: rain kit scaled to the temperature
    27°Cfrom 27°C (81°F) feels-like: extra bottle and sunscreen

    Cold rain gets a waterproof jacket, gloves and overshoes; mild rain a packable jacket and thin rain overshoes; warm rain makes the jacket optional.

  5. Step 5

    Required and optional

    Every zone gets required items and, where it's a judgement call, optional ones: arm warmers on a fresh spring morning, toe covers on a long descent. When conditions change during the ride, notes tell you when to take something off or put it on.

Limits

The recommendation is a well-informed starting point, not a guarantee. Forecasts can be wrong, especially for rain more than a day ahead, and people differ: use the warmth tendency setting if the advice is consistently too warm or too cold for you. The logic is built for road cycling. The kit guide and the temperature chart use the same logic.

Sources and independence

See it work on your ride

The calculator uses the hourly forecast for your location and ride window, including wind, rain and how hard you're going.

Use the calculator