Gorewear C3 WINDSTOPPER® Stretch Mid Glove Review

Review by Erin Trail

The Gorewear C3 WINDSTOPPER® Stretch Mid Gloves are a great shoulder season and winter cycling glove that’s warm enough on most cold days while still allowing for finger dexterity.

I like a winter glove that has some padding in the palm but doesn’t feel big and bulky.  I have some giant lobster-claw style gloves and I just never use them – they’re just too much for me. I had recently worn a hole in my favorite winter cycling gloves and was excited to try the Gorewear mid-weight line.

Testing Conditions

Gravel and road rides on dry, but cold days, with temperatures ranging from low 30s to mid-50s.  One ride had windchill in the mid-20s.

Fit and Function

I got a size large (due to an ordering mixup) and they are on the big, but manageable side.  Ideally, a medium would be better as I have a bit too much room in the fingertips with the large size.  The rest of the glove fits well, with the cuff hitting a few inches past my wrist. I can easily cover my Garmin or Whoop with the cuffs or use them to layer over the sleeve cuffs of my jersey.  There’s enough give to the cuff to allow for a variety of wear orientations (under or over a layer or device).

The padding on the gloves is in the “just right” category for me. The padding isn’t bulky and is at the proper contact point locations, preventing numbness or pain in my hands. The gloves also have a little silicone grip at the base of each finger, helping the rider hold onto their handlebars as they get jostled around on rough gravel.

The top of Gorewear C3 WINDSTOPPER® Stretch Mid Gloves has reflective striping, so if you’re caught out at night, oncoming traffic can see your gloves reflecting in the dark. The index finger has a little grip on it for smartphone devices, so you don’t have to remove your gloves to use your phone. The inside of the gloves is a smooth material on the palm and a light fleece at the back of the hand.  These gloves just feel good to wear.

The main thing that impressed me about the Gorewear C3 WINDSTOPPER® Stretch Mid Gloves is the warmth and wind proofing. The gloves use WINDSTOPPER® Fabric by GORE-TEX LABS to make them lightweight while staying warm and windproof.  Out of all of my rides, my hands were only cold during a speedy descent with a windchill in the mid-20’s. Once I was done descending, my hands warmed right up.

The Gorewear C3 WINDSTOPPER® Stretch Mid Gloves come in high-viz yellow and black.  I think these gloves are appropriate for all kinds of cold weather riding: road, gravel, mountain, and even fat biking.  In a pinch, they’d even work as driving gloves or at sporting events.

Closing Thoughts

I was looking for a lightweight, padded, and windproof cycling glove for winter riding and the Gorewear C3 WINDSTOPPER® Stretch Mid Gloves delivered. They were comfortable on my bars for long rides.  The warmth and wind blocking capabilities was impressive.  I also appreciated the little features built in, like silicone finger grips and the “just right” padding on the palms.  These gloves would be great for anyone looking for a slim winter glove for finger dexterity while also keeping your fingers warm.

Erin Trail

Erin Trail’s hobby is collecting hobbies. She’s a 5th Generation Coloradan and grew up exploring the outdoors on family camping trips and hikes.  Her first backpacking trip was at eight years old to Grizzly Reservoir – she proudly carried all of her own gear those 3 miles from the main parking lot to the Reservoir.

Erin is an adult-onset athlete who started as a Masters Swimmer and then developed into a triathlete.  She completed 5 Ironman races and nearly 20 x 70.3 distance Ironman races, including the World Championship in Lahti, Finland, in 2023.  Somewhere along her triathlon journey, she picked up a deep love of cycling.

Cycling encouraged her to see landscapes in a new way, learn new skills and to develop self reliance; now she often goes and does Type 2 rides just to see if she can do it.  She’s got all the bikes: gravel, mountain, fat bike, time trial and road.

She is even known to combine her love of camping and cycling and go off on solo 24 hour overnight bikepacking trips in the mountains of Colorado. In addition to bikes, she teaches yoga, lifts weights, skis, SUPs and has recently purchased a campervan.

Erin is a former Montana park ranger with a degree in environmental engineering.  She loves getting into technical details while putting her gear (and herself) through the paces. She shares her home in Colorado with her husband, Will, and her 3 cats (Zipper, Brewtus, and Simcoe).

2025 brings some exciting things.  Erin has qualified to be on Team USA for USA Triathlon and will be competing in a World Championship off-road triathlon in Pontevedra, Spain in June. To prepare for this event, she’s got several mountain bike races and training weekends planned in the months leading up to the big day.  Additionally, she’s racing Ironman Boise 70.3 in July.  Once her race schedule closes out in July, she’ll be moving to more adventure based activities (bikepacking, vanlife, and mountain bike festivals).

When not adventuring, she can be found on a sunny patio somewhere, drinking beers with her husband.