A handful of biking clothes that you really know and like is better than a wardrobe full of also-rans, and the right mid layer will be a year-round friend. In deep winter, you can sandwich it between a base layer and a shell, knowing that even when you pause mid-ride, you’ll stay warm for a bit. In the shoulder seasons, with just a base underneath, it’s warmer than a shell, but way less sweaty. It’ll be densely woven enough that it’ll keep a bit of wind off, it’ll be fine when it’s damp, and you’ll just look forward to wearing it.
For 20 years, my own just-right mid layer was a black, boxy brushed-Lycra, non-cycling Sprayway top with a high collar and a generous half-length zip, which I won as a prize. I used it for messing about on a bike in the woods, for freezing commutes, as a warmup top for cyclocross races because I knew no one would steal it from the start line, and on summer bikepacking trips for when the evening air got damp and chilly. It went through the wash a million times, got ripped on barbed wire, and knowing how much I liked it, my best cycling buddy even insisted we turn round and retrace our steps when it fell off my seatpack somewhere at night on a bivvy trip.
