Winter Cycling - First winter ride - dat was fun!

Yeah, it was only 7 miles or so, but it wasn't only a novelty spin around the block - it was intentional and a workout. I rode my clunky old Schwinn mountain bike, which has sort of dual-purpose tires - a solid center ridge, and then decent knobs and a pretty sharp shoulder. I was amazed at how well they did; most of the time they felt no worse than riding on leaves. The only time I felt like I didn't have much control was riding on a rails-to-trails path that had been heavily walked on, refroze, and then got covered by more snow.

We've got on the order of 8" of snow on the ground now, so in some places it's well over the bottom of my pedal stroke. I loved plowing through snow deep enough to get kicked back up by the back of the rim and tire rising back up though the surface.

I wore a fleece-lined nylon hat under my helmet; that was too much, and my head got all nasty and hot. On top, I wore a long-sleeved polypropylene top, a fleece vest, and a cheap nylon shell; that was pretty good. South of the gut, I wore bike shorts, polypro long johns, fleece sweats, and nylon pants that, sadly, matched the nylon shell. I think I could have done without the fleece sweats. I wore some thinsulate-lined deerskin work gloves (nice), and two pairs of regular-old bike socks under my regular-old clip-in shoes (with BeBop pedals, which worked great); my toes were a little cold and quite wet by the time I got home. I think it was in the mid- to upper 20's when I rode.

Now my bike is of course caked with snow; the rear der. is barely functional, not that it really mattered. What sort of maintenance would you do? It's in my unheated, detached garage, and it's not going to get above freezing for, well, until March, as far as I can tell, so it's not going to melt. Should I just leave it as it is, or try to knock the snow off, or what? And what sort of lubes do you use for sub-freezing riding on snowmobile trails?

Thanks,

did

Yeah, it was only 7 miles or so, but it wasn't only a novelty spin around the block - it was intentional and a workout. I rode my clunky old Schwinn mountain bike, which has sort of dual-purpose tires - a solid center ridge, and then decent knobs and a pretty sharp shoulder. I was amazed at how well they did; most of the time they felt no worse than riding on leaves. The only time I felt like I didn't have much control was riding on a rails-to-trails path that had been heavily walked on, refroze, and then got covered by more snow.

We've got on the order of 8" of snow on the ground now, so in some places it's well over the bottom of my pedal stroke. I loved plowing through snow deep enough to get kicked back up by the back of the rim and tire rising back up though the surface.

I wore a fleece-lined nylon hat under my helmet; that was too much, and my head got all nasty and hot. On top, I wore a long-sleeved polypropylene top, a fleece vest, and a cheap nylon shell; that was pretty good. South of the gut, I wore bike shorts, polypro long johns, fleece sweats, and nylon pants that, sadly, matched the nylon shell. I think I could have done without the fleece sweats. I wore some thinsulate-lined deerskin work gloves (nice), and two pairs of regular-old bike socks under my regular-old clip-in shoes (with BeBop pedals, which worked great); my toes were a little cold and quite wet by the time I got home. I think it was in the mid- to upper 20's when I rode.

Now my bike is of course caked with snow; the rear der. is barely functional, not that it really mattered. What sort of maintenance would you do? It's in my unheated, detached garage, and it's not going to get above freezing for, well, until March, as far as I can tell, so it's not going to melt. Should I just leave it as it is, or try to knock the snow off, or what? And what sort of lubes do you use for sub-freezing riding on snowmobile trails?

Thanks,

did

First snow ride !!!

My first winter ride was the Turkey Burner. No snow on the ground to speak of. I used Nokian 294s and was left in the dust by folks with un-studded tires.

Today I went out in 4 inches of snow (technical singletrack). I put in a good 10 miles and it felt GREAT. I did have to take off a couple shirts and stow them in the Camelbak.

The Nokians were good in the snow, though the studs were only occasionaly useful (a few ice patches and over logs). Though I'm certain that half of those occasions would have put me on my ass without the studs.

The lug pattern in the Nokians worked great. It's a general winter tire, not just something for ice. I probably could have done nearly as well with a mud tire. But "nearly" is probably the difference between a crash free day and some serious wipeouts.

I just had my first snow ride as well. I got two feet out of the driveway on my 1974 Schwinn Le Tour, turned to head toward the bike trail and the next thing I know I'm on the ground. Wasn't hurt and neither was the bike. I laughed pretty hard though. This was less than an inch of snow in 15 degree weather. The next morning, there was more snow and the trail was really bumpy from the old footprints that had frozen over. I was using a Trek Navigator this time (comfort bike). My arms dern near vibrated right out of their sockets. It was alot of fun though.

As far as maintenance goes, I would bring your bike in at least once or twice a week to melt the snow, clean off the salt and road debris, and then relube the chain, cogs, etc. I guess this depends on how often you plan on riding. I recently gave my car to my sister, so if I am going somewhere, it is on one of my bikes. So, I plan on cleaning the salt off after every ride or so and then lubing the chains, etc once a week.