Introduction: Cycling uphill lead to an increase in deep body and skin temperature as higher external and metabolic workloads are required to offset gravitational resistance. Inevitably speed is reduced thereby lowering natural convection (airflow) contributing to body heat storage. Even in temperate conditions the sensation of feeling hot and uncomfortable may result which limits performance. By contrast, cycling downhill accelerates heat loss and requires lower work rates leading to cold discomfort. Historically, cyclists have behaviorally thermoregulated prior to cycling downhill by inserting newspapers up their jerseys. Yet, there is no experimental data to support the idea that this improves thermal perception and profile; we hypothesized it would. Method: Eight trained male participants took part following ethical approval. Their mean (SD) characteristics were: age 26 (3.7) years, height 1.73 (0.1) m, mass 66.9 (10.0) kg, peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) 4.4 (0.9) L.min-1, peak power output 338 (78) W). After a laboratory test of VO2peak participants had two further laboratory visits completing 30-minutes simulated uphill cycling (65% VO2peak188 (41) W) followed by 15-minutes of simulated downhill cycling (25% VO2peak41 (12) W) in front of an industrial fan (wind speed: 4.6 (0.1) m.s-1). In one trial they inserted two standard tabloid newspapers in to their jersey (PAPER) prior to downhill cycling. The other trial was a control (NOPAPER). Whole body and torso thermal sensation (TS) and comfort (TC; both 20 cm visual analogue scale), aural temperature (Tau), skin temperature (Tskin), and newspaper mass change (ê) were measured. Data were compared using ANOVA and t-test to 0.05 alpha level. Results: After uphill cycling thermal profile was similar and participants felt hot (grand mean (SD) TS: 17.3 [1.4] cm), uncomfortable (TC: 6.2 [5.1] cm), had significantly changed Tau(ê1.08 [0.4] °C) and Tsk(31.9 [1.0] °C] °C); p<0.05 for time only. During downhill cycling the PAPER (torso) TS was higher but TC only descriptively differed (PAPER cfNOPAPER TS: 10.7 [1.] cm cf6.9 [0.7] cm; neutral cf slightly cool; TC: 14.7 [0.8] cm cf13.8 [1.0] cm; comfortable cf just comfortable). The PAPER maintained chest Tsk(29.5 (1.5) °Ccf25.6 (1.5) °C) but did not defend mean Tsk(p>0.05). Newspaper mass indicated some impaired sweat evaporation (êmass: 5.7 (4.9) g; p=0.01). Discussion: Downhill cycling thermal perception and local thermal profile was improved by inserting the paper. The magnitude of these effects was localized. These data support the anecdotal idea that this is an effective practice to preserve heat and thermal perception. At higher wind speeds the effects may be magnified to encompass the whole-body profile as the extent of thermal discomfort relief provided by the paper may be more salient.