Winter Cycling - SPDs and snow ...

I'm a Kiwi who has made the move to Ottawa, Canada. I'm loving the riding here, especially the cross scene - and am a little reluctant to leave the bike in the garage after the racing season ended today. One of the the things that I'm getting the hang of is riding in the snow - which in general I love! Only hassle I've found - and it really stuffed my race today - is that the cleats on my Xpedo SPD copies don't work because the soles of my shoes just jam up with snow (obviously worse when it's wet than when it's dry). Worse still was to watch a number of other people in the race just clip back in after the barriers when I had to struggle around for half a lap with crap that I couldn't break though ... A friend said that he thought that a number of people coat the soles with something (he mentioned furniture oil???) to stop the snow sticking. Can anyone suggest anything that could help? Also, do any of the other pedal types work any better (I'm no fan of SPD's but got them for free when my partner picked up some Candy's for her MTB, so didn't really complain ....). Thanks, Craig

Hmm, lots of MTBs use SPDs in lots worse (heavy mud) and work ok. Would depend on shoe/pedal combo I'd think. Some are more "open" and forgiving of mud and probably snow. Haven't had snow here yet to try mine out (Specialized Taho shoe and Crank Bros Quattro SL, though the platform might hold more snow than a plain egg beater). With horses we used to put Vaseline on their hooves to prevent snow balls from forming (only a problem if they were shod).

My 2 cents......I love clipless - just not in the winter.
It's a whole different ride. I turn to Fred in the winter and keep it simple - Large platform BMX pedals with light hiking boots. (Surley 1X1 single speed)
Plusses - my feet are always warm and comfortable and I don't have to worry about gunk and sticking.
Minuses - My power transference is not optimal, but hey...didn't you say the racing season is over?

Silicone spray helps with ice up.

Thanks guys. I tried the vaseline option this morning and it made a considerable difference. Like you say Zdad, it is about the pedal shoe combo as the snow packs in between the cleat and the sole in front of the cleat - so I can't get enough bite into the pedal from the front of the cleat. I probably didn't help myself by having studs on the shoes (all for nothing as we ended up not being raced up the toboggan hill - damn!!!). End result was that the snow packed in, hardened and wouldn't break out with a quick bang on the pedal. However, having the vaseline on the sole seemed to make it fall out more easily this morning (did a mini-cross ride through parks on the way to work). Will try the silicone option in a few days and see which works better.

Other option may be some of the rubber soled race shoes that Diadora put out (my current shoes will need replacing soon anyhow) - working on the theory that rubber soled alpine boots are easy to control balling up on. Anyone out there had any experience with these?

I had this problem with my commute, I would often have ice balls form around my cleats when I needed to carry my bike through particularly bad sections of snow. I switched to crank brothers mallet pedals, because they do a good job of shedding loose snow, but also provide a large platform for times when my cleat is completely iced up. The down side to them is that they are quite heavy, this wasn't a problem for my commute, but may be an issue if you are racing.

I had this problem with my commute, I would often have ice balls form around my cleats when I needed to carry my bike through particularly bad sections of snow. I switched to crank brothers mallet pedals, because they do a good job of shedding loose snow, but also provide a large platform for times when my cleat is completely iced up. The down side to them is that they are quite heavy, this wasn't a problem for my commute, but may be an issue if you are racing.

I use cb as well but I have egg beaters so no platform. I had this issue a few times lat winter when we had freezing rain or a mix of rain and snow so that the slush would freeze around the cleats. Fortunately there's not much to crank brothers' cleats or pedals so a few hard stomps would usually dislodge anything in there or if it didn't I was usually still able to make a good enough connection to use the pedals as platforms. This was rare though, maybe once or twice in Halifax which has very messy winters.

Even still, if I've been walking in the snow it's become habit to give my pedals a quick kick with the side of my shoe on or off the bike.