Winter Cycling - Newbie: my 1st attempt at Winter Biking

Up here in the Adirondacks, winter comes early and stays late. After browsing the web, I came across the Forum and the Winter Biking section. It got me thinking....Hmmmmmm, winter biking....might be fun . I got the old bike out of the basement and decided to give this "icebiking" a try. I figured that with 10 inches of fresh snow last night at least I'll have something to cushion my fall;). Anyway, I went out on some of the local streets and back roads and had a great time!:) The temperature was +8 degrees F and there was some hazy sunshine. Rode for about an hour and a half and managed to stay upright. Traction was surprizingly good too. Icebiking is cool, in more ways than one!:thumb: Here's a couple of pics

Excellent. Another convert.

Looks like a nice ride...

Did you use studded tires?

I decided last week that the weather was warm enough and the ground conditions snow free so I headed off with my alternate winter bike. Everything was going great until I discovered a great downhill in a shaded area. Sure enough, the bottom of the hill was ideal for skating. Of course, I went down, clipped into my Power grip pedals... so fast I didn't even have time to stick my hand out (like I did last year falling on mud and twisting my wrist...). Luckily I never even got a bruise.

But I think I'll stick with the studded tires until the spring.

I have noticed a couple of newspaper articles this winter in my local paper about people riding to work, or utilitarian riding. I think it is great and I see more and more of us riding this winter.

Congrats!

You need to rotate your bar ends forward by 120 degrees though.

Thanks for the pictures. I have decided that riding an old mountain bike is better than waiting for the snow to melt off the road. There has not been enough asphalt around here for over two weeks.
Tomorrow I will ride an old mountain bike. No matter how slow or how far, the ride will be a least one hour long.
I wonder if this will count as base miles.
-14°C here right now. My face will need some sort of covering. No frostbite scars for me.

Thanks for the encouragement.

Did you use studded tires?



Didn't have studded tires, but with the fresh snow and cold temp (it was +8 F), the traction was excellent. Only time I had a bit of a slip - rear went sideways - was on a street that had a bit of traffic and the snow was mixed with salt/sand to make what I call "mashed Potato" snow - very slick! Otherwise tho, the ride was great. More snow coming today:)

I did go for that ride today. 17Kg of bicycle and 5 - 10cm of snow sure makes it heavy going.
No trouble peging my heart rate at the top. Climbing the hills still needs practice. Not much traction when you get out of the seat.
Tomorrow I will be trying some clip less pedals. I found the flat pedals waste a lot of energy.
Average speed of 17 Kph is not too bad when slogging through that stuff.
More fun than intervals too.
Thanks for the new sport. (New for me)
I am almost positive that this will entertain me until I can get back on the asphalt.

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/on/cobourg/758357648941

Well I have found the joy of winter riding. Thank you Big Bird.
The mountain bike wouldn't accept my pedals. I also crashed twice in about 100 meters on ice.
The only studded tires I could find in my area were 700-35. OK now I need another bike.
Can't use either of my roadies... too expensive to run in the salt.
Bought a dept. store roadie. Put the tires on, changed the seat to the same as my roadies and the pedals work. (Mountain bike pedals set very loose)
The winter riding is great. Snow on the road equals a very intense work out.
Salted roads with ice equals a fun speedy ride. Not fast but speedy enough.
This is a rural area with lots of back roads and lots of woods.
If the sun doesn't spend any time on the road you get ice.
Up in the Great White North life is good.

Big bird. You gave me the kick in the butt that I needed (Inspiration). I am now out getting base miles all winter and will be months ahead in April when I can get the road bikes out again.
I hope you decide to keep riding.

Once again Thanks.
James

Well I have found the joy of winter riding. Thank you Big Bird.
The mountain bike wouldn't accept my pedals. I also crashed twice in about 100 meters on ice.
The only studded tires I could find in my area were 700-35. OK now I need another bike.
Can't use either of my roadies... too expensive to run in the salt.
Bought a dept. store roadie. Put the tires on, changed the seat to the same as my roadies and the pedals work. (Mountain bike pedals set very loose)
The winter riding is great. Snow on the road equals a very intense work out.
Salted roads with ice equals a fun speedy ride. Not fast but speedy enough.
This is a rural area with lots of back roads and lots of woods.
If the sun doesn't spend any time on the road you get ice.
Up in the Great White North life is good.

Big bird. You gave me the kick in the butt that I needed (Inspiration). I am now out getting base miles all winter and will be months ahead in April when I can get the road bikes out again.
I hope you decide to keep riding.

Once again Thanks.
James


I'm not sure what to make of that post, but you can order studded tires online and have them shipped to your house. On oft-referenced site is the Peter White site.

I was just thanking to the original poster for influencing me enough to give winter cycling a try.
I have some decent road bikes. I am not willing to ride them through the salt on the wet roads. There is no way these bikes would be any good in the snow/ice either.
Tried a mountain bike. Didn't like it.
Bought a road bike that I was willing to sacrifice to the winter elements.
Through dumb luck and trial an error I have created a bike and parts that give me a bike that feels comfortable both on the road and on the ice/snow.
It is strange riding so slow but the snow is a lot of resistance. I find myself looking for ice. It is faster.
The way I see it is that I will have a ton of base miles in before the snow is gone in April.

Wow! I guess I may have sparked a few riders to try "rollin' thru the snow"! If so, great. I've been doing some mods on my bike lately - different bars and stem, toe clips, new cables etc - so it' "under construction" for a few days. But I expect to be out riding again by the weekend. Cheers :)