realityinabox

...barely... but it was worth it. Got to ride the last mile on (mostly) freshly plowed roads as the sun came up.

MI has been getting pounded with snow this week and our plows haven't really been able to keep up. The main roads are mostly clear (some slush), but most of the residential streets haven't been touched. I feel more comfortable riding on the slush than the unevenly packed, car tire rutted residential street, but I got honked at several different times when riding the better plowed streets because I was riding the right tire track and not the random mix of mystery stew closer to the shoulder. Having gone down twice now this winter (once without the right tires, once in a residential area like above, but going quite slow), I'd prefer not having angry drivers on my ass, in case I do slip out again.

How do you handle this situation? I figure eventually the county will get around to plowing the residential streets, so it won't be such a big deal, but the joy of riding (even in this) is too much to turn down.

Also, is it crazy to ride with drop bars in the winter? I feel like I would never get my hands in a place that were both stable and had easy access to my brakes...

corrado33

Ride in the right tire track. Ignore the drivers behind you being a$$holes. You are, by law, allowed to be there.

I'd personally ride with flat bars on unsteady surfaces.

jrickards

I find that because flat bars tend to be wider than drop bars, you get better leverage when the front tire wants to follow a track and you want it out of the track. Strangely, though, while riding my drop-bar Kona Sutra compared with my flat-bar KHS Tempe 29er, I find that the Kona tracks straighter with less effort but that is on dry road conditions, I don't know about soft dirt or snow, I won't ride the Kona in those conditions.

bikemig 

I ride on side streets to avoid the traffic but the road surfaces are clearly worse in the winter on side streets. Still with few to no cars I can take the line I want without worry about cars.

I have 2 commuters set up with winter tires: a drop bar and a flat bar. I like the flat bar bike better when road conditions are poor.

spivonious

I've only ridden in the snow once, but I had much more success riding in powder than in slush. If it's the right tire track or slush, I'd choose the tire track and put up with the honks.

realityinabox

Are bars something that can be swapped out moderately easily? Thinking it through, it'd have to swap the bars, shifters, and brake levers, right? Will bikes ever not be an endless pit of money?

bikemig 

The crossrip is a fine bike but if you commute, there's a lot to be said for a dedicated commuter. Vintage mtbs are pretty inexpensive and make very fine commuters esp. in winter. Just put on some studded tires, fenders, and lights.

tsl

I use nothing but drop bars, and I'm starting my ninth winter. I've even extreme in that regard. I use narrow 38 cm bars with a pretty good drop, not the currently popular shallow drop ones. Finally, I've got a saddle-to-bar drop that's pretty significant.

My first bike was a hybrid with straight bars. The drop bar bikes I use now handle differently in the snow, but it's not due the shape of the aluminum. It's rider position and weight transfer.

Hybrids and MTBs put most of the rider weight on the rear wheel. Roadies and their drop bar brethren move more of it towards the front. It's that extra weight on the front wheel that turns the bikes a bit squirrely in the winter. When this happens, I shift my weight back and use the bar tops instead of the hoods. That fixes things in pretty short order.

As for routing, I have to stay flexible. Sure, it's no picnic riding in the right tire track of a poorly plowed street. But some days, that's the only choice I have. A thick skin is the best defense. When I can get over, I do get over. On occasion, I've pulled over to let traffic clear behind me.

As you've found, side streets get rutted, then the bike follows the ruts, and sometimes seems to threaten to throw you off when it can't decide which rut to be in. This bothers me less with experience. Shift weight rearward helps the front end make a decision too, and helps reduce sideslip.

Keeping in mind that sidewalks are typically more dangerous than streets, in winter, along rutted residential streets, sometimes the sidewalks are the better bet. This is my last resort, BTW.

The biggest thing I've learned in winter cycling is that bike-handling skills matter just as much as equipment. Perhaps even more. Once I shifted my thinking from trying to make the bike handle the same way in the snow as it does in the dry to winter cycling being an exercise in learning new bike-handling skills, it helped a lot. The same skills MTBers use off-road come into play on road in winter, and they work equally well with drop bar bikes.

One last thing: I've found a high cadence helps me keep my balance when the inevitable sideslips occur. That's part of why my commuters have triples and why I use a big "climbing" cassette in the winter.

realityinabox

Great advice, as always tsl, but I think this takes the cake. I definitely need to practice my handling skills, and there's no better time than now!

tsl

I have to practice every season too.

Yesterday I had an early meeting for work at a library in an eastern suburb. Afterwards I could have chosen a 12-mile direct route via nice clear blacktop back to mine, or the meandering, unplowed Erie Canalway MUP. It was a nice, sunny day and I had time to kill, so why not?

Unplowed doesn't mean unused. Nearly every winter condition was represented somewhere along that ride--even refrozen car and truck ruts from canal maintenance vehicles. It was great fun on a nice day too. I averaged only 11 MPH on that 16 miles too. Typically through there my look-down-at-the-cyclometer speed is 19-22.

I was noticeably sharper and more confident in the greasy stuff coming home last night.

If you have a nice unplowed MUP near you, it might be worthwhile to go out and get some practice in this weekend.

realityinabox

I was definitely surprised by the vast variety of snow/road conditions I encountered this morning; far more than I ever would have noticed while driving.

I am hoping to get some practice this weekend, for sure. The forecast looks like it is going to warm up a bit (low 40's, rain), so it'll probably be more of melting practice than anything.

Hypno Toad

tsl said it earlier, there's nothing 'crazy' about drop bars for winter biking. I know tons of riders in MPLS that ride drop bars all winter. My winter bike is the 'cheap old MTB' (Marin Nail Trail); mostly because I don't want to expose my summer commuter to all the road salt. With that said, I have used my Kona Dew Drop on the snow and been just fine, only major issue is that I don't have winter tires for it. I would like to buy some 700c studded tires for the Kona to have an alternative bike during the long winter.

footnote: my 'cheap old MTB' gets a lot of money thrown at it, so it's not that 'cheap'. But it is a 'beater', I take care of it mechanically, but not too worried about the looks.

And to your main question, take the lane. The slushy right side of the road is very dangerous conditions, easy to lose your grip and go down.

fotooutdoors

Re drop bars: If you want something a bit wider without putting in tons of money, I really like riding dirt drops, especially on the snow and ice. I have a bike each with an On-One Midge and a Salsa Woodchipper. I have both set up with the drops as the primary riding position because that is where dirt drops are designed to be ridden. Neither is great for riding on the hoods, but the midge is especially poor. That said, I prefer the midge for on-street riding because the drops point more squarely back (the Woodchipper's drops flare outward), but I may prefer the woodchipper if I adjusted their height a bit lower.

Daniel4

That's an impressive speed. Are your tires studded? How are studded tires on clean asphalt?

I've been riding my son's mountain bike the last two days. The first half of my 4 km morning commute is on the sidewalk and the park trail. That's the most harrowing. Then the 2nd half of the morning commute and the entire return home is on the road. Studded tires would definitely help in the morning commute but what would they do when I'm in traffic?

BobbyG

I no longer ride in the snow. An icy hill is difficult to climb, and a disaster to descend. I wait for the roads to clear somewhat, and dismount and walk if and when I happen upon a full street width ice or snow patch. This week I had to dismount 5 times on Wednesday, but only twice on Friday. This added only 7 minutes to my commute. I think about getting a set of studded winter tires, which I've never owned or used before, but I've got a treadmill for the days I don't ride.

TransitBiker

If it's harder packed/icy, i try to follow the tire tracks, if it's softer & my tire sinks in it, i'll try to go to the part with no tire tracks, as the handling there tends to be a bit more predictable. That was with tires that had directional but not at all aggressive tread, no siping either. The tires that i have on my uptown have a very aggressive all weather commuter tread pattern that i feel will probably make those trips a lot easier, regardless of road condition.


Rear....


Front...


- Andy

realityinabox

I got a set of 45NRTH Gravdals, so I'm not wanting for tread or studs. My main issues came in when my tires couldn't make it down to something solid (either asphalt or packed snow). We had a warm-up over the weekend, so the roads are mostly clear (or certainly will be by morning). I'm sure we'll get dumped on again soon enough, but it looks like smooth sailing for Monday, at least.

corrado33

Studded tires are perfectly fine on clean asphalt. I would say they give you greater than 90% of the grip you have with normal rubber tires. They are a LIFESAVER on any type of ice. I have nokian W240s on the front and nokian mount and grounds on the back. Good combo. Not cheap, but good.