Yep, keeping the hands warm as well as dry is another reason I use the Aerostitch covers- I can wear my heated gloves underneath them. In fact, what works really well is Gerber heated glove liners; they are very short (they do not even reach the wrist), light and flexible but provide heat electrically of course. But they are NOT gloves and need to be covered or they will wear out in one day's riding so the waterproof covers are the ideal solution, at least for me, for riding in the cold and wet.
And once any part of the body gets soaked and / or really chilled, the ride is going to be unpleasant at best. My first trip through the Rockies was in June and I did not bother to bring heated socks because how could I possibly need them? I nearly did not bring heated pants but fortunately stopped short of that disaster of a mistake. I rode for hours in the low 40's, in the rain, in the mountains with nothing but riding boots and my feet got so cold and ached so bad I thought I would have to quit. After that ride, I replaced the original boot soles with heated boot soles and now whenever I wear my riding boots, winter or summer, they have a cable hanging out of the top. :-) Once even took a treadmill stress test with the cables from those boots banging the boots for the entire test.... but that is a different story.
Brian
Staying warm keeps you safe. I have ridden a lot in cold weather, and still have no heated gear. I do have good gear and am good at layering properly. I rode from Iowa to Pennsylvania one day, after first scraping the ice off the bike, and it didn't break into the 40s until I hit Indianapolis, about the halfway point in an 800 mile ride. It never got above 43 that day. I use a silk sock liner and wool socks. They work wonders. One issue I have noticed people have with boots, and gloves for that matter, is getting them too tight. If your boot is tight, your feet will be cold. Mine are big enough to allow good socks to do their job, trapping air pockets that help insulate you from the cold.
I was planning on getting a heated liner and gloves and possibly the insoles had I needed to ride home the end of November though. I can do it without them, but heated gear is wonderful. The only thing to remember with heated gear on a long ride, is to take backup gear, in case the heated gear fails. It can happen. It happened to a friend of mine, and he was stuck in very cold conditions without warm gear. That is a lot like people who drive across country in their car for the holidays in nothing but jeans a flip flops or other inappropriate attire since they feel they will always be in a heated car or inside, not taking into account what would happe if they get stuck in snow or have a break down on the side of the road in bittier cold.
