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Jack Frost may be nipping at your nose when its cold and wet outside but he can’t touch your toes when you’re wearing the Louis Garneau Thermal Plus Shoe Covers.

Review: Louis Garneau Thermal Plus Shoe Cover

We Liked

Finally some cold weather rolled through Colorado and was it cold! Making for what was a fitting test for the Louis Garneau Thermal Plus Shoe Covers. The Thermal Plus Shoe Covers are for extreme weather use, and I tested these in wet and cold 35-0 degrees F. Being so light at 57g each and thin under 1mm thick I was skeptical that my feet would stay warm and dry.

The Thermal Plus Shoe Covers construction is a little different than the other covers I have used made for extreme cold weather use. First is the lightweight thin design, this is made possible by using Polyurethane-coated Carbon Lycra WP “completely water proof as far as I could tell” over a Drytex 2000 lining with taped and sealed seams. The Carbon Lycra WP not only looks uber cool but is very abrasion resistant. At the ankle is the FLEX ZONE a pre-curved section to eliminates pressure points, then the elastic cuff is more of the Carbon Lycra WP with silicon grippers on the inside will keep any wet and cold out that is if you don’t have chicken legs as I do. The double stitching on the outside adds a nice contrast to the upper and is functional as it is reflective just like heal reflector and the pull loop on the rear of the cuff. The cuff does not have a zipper that’s good as it is more comfortable and bad you do need to put these covers on before you put your shoes on then pull them over the shoes. Then there is the elastic is around the bottom opening to keep a good seal on the shoe and secured with a 52mm wide velcro fastener mid foot that has a rubberized Garneau pull tab for easy removal.

The first day of testing I wore with my T-Flex 300 shoes the Cross Bike Review 2011 CX Shoe of the Year, with some lightweight socks on mainly a trail ride. I made a point to ride through as much muck I could find on the trail, running dismounts through deeper snow sections and into puddles to splash as much almost frozen water up on my feet as possible. Over the 90mins that I was out there my face was frozen, I could barley feel my fingers but my feet remained mostly dry and basically warm, some snow did make it past the ankle because of my scrawney ankles.

On the road the next day when most of the snow was cleared on the main roads with my road shoes and lightweight socks again riding through the unavoidable puddles and descending at up to 45mph same result as the day before face and hands frozen while my feet remained mostly dry and not what I would say was warm but they were far from frozen. I noticed later I did not close off the air vents on the soles of the shoes and had perforated insoles in. The next time out I made the point to tape off the vent openings on my shoes and used the solid insoles. Result success feet were dry and warm throughout the ride. I even used the covers as gaiters over my running shoes when out for a snowshoe run and performed better than the gaiters I normal use.

We Didn't Like

For me the ankle opening was a little big around when I was wearing anklet socks and when running through deeper snow would get a little inside. I do not think this will be a problem with most wearing a pair of thicker crew socks did help.

The Final Say

The Louis Garneau Thermal Plus Shoe Cover are an excellent choice for the rider that rides in cold and wet conditions from commuting to racing CX. They stay in place, work with either road or MTB shoes with spikes, look great, are durable and take up very little space in your gear bag so no reason not to have them with you all the time. Jack Frost may be nipping at your nose but he can’t touch your toes when you’re wearing the Louis Garneau Thermal Plus Shoe Covers.

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