Winter Cycling - Do you have any tiips on deciding when the conditions are too dangerous or not

This morning I could barely walk on my driveway and the street outside my house because of the black ice. I really wanted to ride to work, so I did. My bike seemed more stable than my feet were, but I kept thinking that I was taking a BIG chance. BTW, I'm riding with Nokian Hakkapeliitta W106's.
Do you ladies and gents have any tiips on deciding when the conditions are too dangerous or not to ride? Do you have a certain or specific "Litmus Test" for ridable conditions that seems to work for you?
I'm mainly talking about Ice, and Snow.

Common sense! You have winter tires on, and only you know what kind of skills you possess and what the other traffic will be like.

For me it is not so much the conditions, as much as fearing what the other vehicles on the road may end up doing or not seeing me. So, raging snow storms I try to avoid as cars, plows just aren't expecting you to be out on the road. Driving rain is the same. When visibility is poor, being in a car, especially under low light conditions makes it darn near impossible to see the smaller lights of a rider.

For me it's 4 inches or more of unplowed or poorly plowed snow on the streets. I might opt out under other conditions as well but I know from experience that the roads aren't really passable for me for any distance if they have more than a few inches of snow on them.

Sometimes I'll sit out a big snow dump, give the plows a day to do their job. But no, I don't have a magic go/no go number.

Nokian Hakkapeliitta W106s here as well.

I've been car-free for over ten years, so my criteria are a little different, considering my choices are

ride bike,
walk, or
stand in a snowdrift and hope a bus comes along maybe.


In the past three years, I've never not biked to work. Last year there was one day where I really wished there was an easier way to get me and the bike back home. We rode anyway, and it took almost as long as walking would have.

That said, due to my transportation choice, I live on an arterial that's plowed and salted really well. Residential streets are dicey here all winter. I can take similarly plowed arterials to work and back. I sometimes put off errands--bank, grocery store, post office, etc--for nicer days. But for work, I ride in even on days SUV owners call in.

With Nokians your bike *IS* much more stable than walking. I've been riding in Anchorage--ice city--for three winters now without a single slip on the ice. The studs work great for that stuff, and it rides like concrete. Better than concrete actually. You just have to get over your fear.

Deep & wet snow or excessive road berms are the big barriers for my riding. If it gets too thick I'll just walk. The other option is a fatbike, but I haven't had the $$ for one yet.

It depends more on which bike(s) is(are) ready to ride and which bikes are clamped in the workstand that it does on the weather but:

My limit is defined by whether the snow on the shoulders will force me into traffic and how much work people will have to do to scrape their windshields. The only two friends I've had hit in the past few years were hit by people who hadn't scraped their windshields. Hereabouts, 3-5 inches will usually be plowed to the edge of the lane first and then off onto the shoulders on the next pass. If it's foggy, moist, and well below freezing it takes a power scraper to clear the windshields. I will otherwise ride down to 10-15ºF and will be pushing for 5-10ºF as the winter wears on.

The only winter weather that I try to avoid is excess snowfalls, or blizzard conditions. in the two winters that I have been riding, I have only slipped once. I remedied that by purchasing I grips that go on the bottom of your shoes, like these (http://cozywinters.com/shop/yk-walk.html). I have trouble getting my bike through really soft snow. where I am right now, the now is above my knees in most places, so I have to stick to the plowed roads. My Bike is sporting a Schwalbe Ice spiker and a nokian Mount and Ground W. and thus far have only ridden in -30 Celsius, but that didn't seem too bad

I've had some OMG slow rides in to work/home b/c of snow, *fingers crossed* BUT, I've never not gone due to weather.

Traffic here is bad enough that if I can't ride due to snow, I can't drive or bus to work in any usable timeframe.

So the choices are:

1 Push the bike part or all of the way in.
2. Just work from home.

Both options have some merit.

Thank you all for weighing in!
This will be my 3rd winter commuting with the studded tires, and I just can't seem to get a handle on when to ride & when to pass. The small side street I live on never seems to be indicative of the conditions of the streets that I ride on.
Often on days when I decide not to ride because I think the conditions are too bad, I wind up kicking myself because the roads seem "OK" on the drive in, & vice-versa.
I'm hoping to "push it" a little more this winter, as I'm upset that I didn't ride as much as I wanted to last winter. I just feel that deciding which days to ride is still more of a crap shoot than I wish it would be.

today was a day for studds - looks like you had what you needed. if I had studs I would not have turned around. I only got .5 miles into a 13 mile commute before I realized it would be suicidal ...

For me the concern is not what is too dangerous for me, but was is dangerous for the cars I share the road with. If conditions are too dangerous to trust ambient traffic, I just walk.

When you and/or your bike can't handle it.

The small side street I live on never seems to be indicative of the conditions of the streets that I ride on.

Ditto. They don't plow my street until a day or three after a storm.

I guess it's testament to my living here way too long. I watch the weather forecast every morning and have now gotten to where I can always tell what the road conditions will be. Humidity, temperature, and what were they like yesterday. On the other hand, I usually just pick the best two days to ride every week. With rare exceptions, I have to gear to handle the best two days of the worst weeks the weather can dish out here.

Another criterion you might use is how riding effects your spouse (assuming your married). My first treacherous ride this year was pretty hard on my wife (she thought I was going to die). Fortunately, she has gotten more comfortable with me riding in bad conditions.

Paul

Live wires across every road and packs of rabid meth-addicted pitbulls
roaming the suburbs would probably be conditions for taking the truck
instead of the bike.

For me it's 4 inches or more of unplowed or poorly plowed snow on the streets. I might opt out under other conditions as well but I know from experience that the roads aren't really passable for me for any distance if they have more than a few inches of snow on them.

+1 on deep Snow as a dealbreaker. I thought deep snow would be fun, but it's just not too doable above 4 inches, at least not with my Nokian Mount & Grounds. When I had a 6 mile commute, I could do anything, even if I had to push the bike. Now I'm doing 10 miles and that's just too far if you can't really ride it. Even so, I only had to opt out twice last Winter.

Another criterion you might use is how riding effects your spouse (assuming your married). My first treacherous ride this year was pretty hard on my wife (she thought I was going to die). Fortunately, she has gotten more comfortable with me riding in bad conditions.

Paul


LOL! Same here. Now that my wife is accustomed to a couple years of my madness, she expects me to not only arrive home alive, but also pick up 15 pounds of groceries during blizzard conditions.

Another Paul

:lol: so true about the groceries. I'm lucky to live in an urban centre, so if the conditions are indeed horrifically snowbound, I can manage the main streets. There was one year a blizzard shut down the city on Valentine's Day and I had arranged to pick u p the roses on my way to work. Being married there was NO WAY ON EARTH I was going to NOT be there. I was there a little late having ridden in several inches of white stuff the cars simply couldn't handle. The florist, however wasn't there, but he did manage to make a couple hours later... when I went back during my lunch break. His eyes just about popped out of his head when I came stomping in brushing snow off myself. Another time, I rode home at night in 8 inches along Queen street, a main drag here. Completely alone I rode in the tracks of motor vehicles that had passed before. (old messenger trick, it can be handy) I wiped out, laughed and made a snow angel in the road , got up and continued home. In the winter I love bombing tobogaan runs on my bike and still want to hit up a ski hill to see if they'll let me, give it a go.... maybe the boarder/ski cross track. Just dress for it, be aware and have fun with it. When on glare ice, just roll straight , maybe click one foot out ready to drop it, and stay off the front brake.

My routine on bad days is to leave an hour earlier. I can GBH (go back home) and get my
four wheel drive. This method saves on mental anguish trying to make a decision at 5 am.:o

Go play your guitar! But that wasn't your question, I know.

I have two simple rules for deciding when I don't ride in the morning, that I have arrived at over 20+ years of year-round commuting in "full conditions":
1. It is colder than -25C when I get up in the AM. I can ride colder, but it is a pain in the ass, and more and more stuff seems to break below -25C.
2. There is more than 5-10cm of new snow on the ground, or we are in the middle of a storm. It only takes 4 hours or so to clear the arterials that I commute on, but boy, until they do plow it is dangerous, mainly because the lanes narrow down so much that cars try to crowd me too much.

I don't have studded tires, but ice has never seemed to keep me off the roads, although there are some days I have really wished I had studded to make things a little safer. Having said that, I am in the market for studded tires now. My wife is going to be very happy to give them to me as a Xmas present (wiill probably make her happier than me).

Do you ladies and gents have any tiips on deciding when the conditions are too dangerous or not to ride? Do you have a certain or specific "Litmus Test" for ridable conditions that seems to work for you?

If it's referred to in the Old Testament as a "plague" it's too dangerous to ride in.

If you have studs, ice is not a problem...well, depends on where you're riding. Ice can be a problem for the cars, so it can be a problem for you when a car slides through an intersection you're going through. I'm lucky enough to have nothing but low traffic sidestreets and off-street bike paths, so I actually prefer biking when it's super icy out. :-)

I suppose I haven't handled a large, serious amount of snow yet - that's tougher. You kinda need a 2nd bike with more heavy duty tires. It's going to take you way longer to ride, but it's also going to take you way longer to drive with all the traffic jams anyways.

With the proper gear, I also don't have any problem biking in super cold temps, but I am concerned about what would happen if something broke down (tire punctured, chain broke, etc) and I don't do any leisurely rides outside the cities.

Perhaps some of us could offer better advice if you could tell us more about your route - length, road/path, how busy the traffic is, how wide the shoulder / bike path is, etc.

In the city I carry a transit ticket in my wallet in case of horrific breakdown. Just in case.. I can take my bike on the streetcars or subway after rush hour.

I'm riding with Nokian Hakkapeliitta W106's.


Nokian Hakkapeliitta W106s here as well.

Comforting.... After a few too many days in a row of that slippery periodic "dusting of the roads with light snow", I just bought this yesterday through Peter White, so it's great to see success here. Can't wait to throw them on my Smoke and see how it goes.

got mine but haven't put them on yet, well, not on the wheels anyway

I'm the same. Generally, if there's too much buildup, it's just too difficult to stay upright and I start wishing i had more wheels under me.


Sometimes I'll sit out a big snow dump, give the plows a day to do their job. But no, I don't have a magic go/no go number.

The biggest threats rest with road conditions. Solid ice or solid ice/snow pack is no big deal if you are running good studded tires. I have two pair of Nokians, the 294's and a pair of Mt. and ground. Either of those tires will keep you safe on the slick stuff. The dangerous is stuff that moves under your wheel, such as a light layer of semi compacted snow on top of ice.

I check the weather in the morning. I want to know three things:
- What temperature is it - I'll ride in anything... I just need to know what layers I need to put on)
- What are the wind conditions. We had a snow day the other week. We got relatively little snow, so that was not a problem, but the wind was blowing at 40 to 60 MPH... that is NOT cool on a bike.
- What are the lake effect snow bands going to do today. With the lake effect snow I've experienced 12+ inches of snowfall per hour in one spot and could travel 4 miles North and have ZERO snow fall. We get very locallized snow fall with potentially very heavy snow fall for a short period of time. Mostly the snow stays in the Southern end of the Buffalo NY area (that's why they call it "snow country").

Most days I just look outside. If it looks like the plows came by I'll ride. If it looks like the roads are still covered with 6+" of snow then I'll take something a car (with snow tires ofcourse). Most of my Winter ride cancellations are due to excessive wind and now excessive snow. The local crews do a remarkably good job in plowing. Thanks to Nokia W106's ice is not much an issue. Deep snow puts me in the middle of the road... I might have the legal right to ride there, but I prefer to stay out of the way of cars in the roads, with the exception of intersections where I always take the lane.

Happy riding,
André

If I walk to the end of the block and slip, it's time to take the bike!
Studded tires are safer than walking on icy sidewalks. The streets here are usually well plowed, salted and sanded, the sidewalks frequently are not - especially at intersections or alongside parks.

To me there is only one relevant question - are you prepared?

Extreme cold and snow are not a problem, if you're prepared.

If you want to know when it's too dangerous, a question to which there is no single answer, you're better off asking if you're prepared.

Are you prepared for a foot of snow or having to spend 2hrs walking a broken bicycle at -30C? Extreme examples, but even less snow or warmer temperatures have proven fatal for the un-prepared.

So my tip is, if you don't think you're prepared - stay home. There is nothing macho about amputated toes and fingers, often for the victim they are a badge of stupidity.

I'm riding with Nokian Hakkapeliitta W106's.


Nokian Hakkapeliitta W106s here as well.


Comforting.... After a few too many days in a row of that slippery periodic "dusting of the roads with light snow", I just bought this yesterday through Peter White, so it's great to see success here. Can't wait to throw them on my Smoke and see how it goes.

Finally got these & put them on. Today was the 'maiden voyage', a full commute (20 miles) in snow/slush/water/etc. Basically, a cold mess of conditions. I used the Smoke (it's all I've got for this type of riding).

http://22.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kvd5a8ygSi1qax7m1o1_500.jpg

Went great! Slipped a little on the icy slush on this one un-plowed yet slight driven-on bit of road, but beyond that, no problem at all! Looking forward to starting the new year with these bad boys on a snowy/icy bike path for a couple hours!

I like using snow banks as take off ramps.

lol!

Only bad part, which was actually pretty funny, right out of a stupid movie.... stopped for a sec at the half way point to take a sip and wiggle the toes a bit, of course a car flies by only moving over enough to run over the pile of slush instead the grove right next to it and SPLASH..... left side of my body coated in dirty slush! I could only laugh!

Does any one use any type of body armor??
Our side streets are all rutted ice. Last Monday I went down hard on my left knee and it is still real tender. I was using the Nokian W240's and went down anyway. A little paranoid right now.
So does anyone use the body armor?

The biggest threats rest with road conditions. Solid ice or solid ice/snow pack is no big deal if you are running good studded tires. I have two pair of Nokians, the 294's and a pair of Mt. and ground. Either of those tires will keep you safe on the slick stuff. The dangerous is stuff that moves under your wheel, such as a light layer of semi compacted snow on top of ice.

How do those two tires compare? I have the M+G's and I've thought of getting Extremes when these wear out.
I have actually found the M+G's to work very well on rutted singletrack. In addition to giving good traction, the treads do not fill up with mud or snow. They perform much better than any knobbie I've tried as far as shedding mud goes.

Our side streets are all rutted ice. Last Monday I went down hard on my left knee and it is still real tender. I was using the Nokian W240's and went down anyway. A little paranoid right now.

Ouch... sorry to hear that. No armor, went down on a rock today that, when covered with ice then snow, looked like a short/steep dirt hill. Landed on my elbow and knee. Smarts like a b*tch. I don't think I'm willing to add even more weight and limit more mobility with armor though. Can you go to even more studded tires? How studded do tires get? Spikes?

W106s here as well. I have no rule of thumb, expect I try to err on the safe side. That was one of the reasons for me to get the Nokians, they come with carbide studs since forever and take the occasional dry pavement patches quite well. Wear and tear on studs is not a factor when trying to decide between summer and winter bike in the morning.

As mentioned already, knowing your local conditions helps. With first snowfalls I know there will be some snow in my yard but not so much on my commute. I also know I live by the sea, so conditions vary hugely from one spot to another. I know the shadowed spot close to work where road is often wet, that place is a mess during first freeze/thaw cycles. Etc.

Where I ride, other vehicles will have winter tyres too, so other people and their ability to drive safely in winter is not THAT big of an additional issue for me. I will be extra careful during winter though.

--J