mcours2006

I think some people do that in Ottawa on the Rideau Canal. There's close to 10km of frozen trail. The way the weather is shaping up this year they might be able to do that until June!

modernjess

Riding for hours in the teens and below is a daily occurrence round here in Minnesota. We eat danger for breakfast. We are also considered to be bat sh*t crazy by many of our fellow citizens. Of course they are right.

tarwheel 

I make no apologies for driving in extreme cold, snow, ice, etc. We seldom get snow or ice in NC, or temps lower than the teens, so it makes no sense for me to invest in clothes and gear needed to ride in our current weather conditions. Could I spend $100+ on some studded tires? Sure, but why bother when we have icy roads for about one week on average each year. Could I spend another $100+ on shoes and gloves warm enough for temps down to 0 F? Sure, but why bother when we haven't had temps this cold for about 15 years.

My commute is 31 miles round trip and can take 2:30 hours in winter counting stops for traffic lights. That is a long time to be out in the cold without adequate gear. I respect the doggedness of you Northerners who keep riding all winter, but spare us the bravado. We all make our decisions to ride or not based on our personal evaluations of what is safe, realistic and doable.

AlmostTrick

I'll ride my 12 mile (each way) commute if the temps are in the teens or above and there are no killer winds at 6am when I'm heading out. This means I can sometimes not ride for a week or more in Jan-Feb, and it does make me stir crazy. If my ride was shorter I certainly would do it more often.

Things that I find help:
I can still enjoy shorter rides around the neighborhood, and rides to the store no matter how cold it is.
Fiddling with/cleaning/upgrading my bikes, while enjoying a beverage and tunes is always fun.
And last but not least, reading and posting on BF, of course!

Riding on a trainer is not for me. I practice Taekwondo regularly so I'm good to go.

PatrickGSR94

Yes my commute is the same as tarwheel's, but it's very hilly, and most of it rural. That means that while roads I might drive on might be marginal for using the car, the roads I take by bike would be absolutely treacherous. In conditions like that the boss tells us to stay home, and that's fine by me. I can remote in and work from home if I need to.

I'm just simply not equipped to ride 2.5+ hours in the 20's and below, for the ~week or so out of the year that it happens. It would not be fun, but downright miserable, and just not worth it to me. But for that week when it does happen and I can't ride the whole week, it really sucks.

And I haven't had the money for a trainer yet, either. Today it's in the 50's after a full week of sub-freezing temps. But it's also pouring rain all day.

Next week should be highs in the 40's and lows in the 20's, so by golly I'm riding to work at least 2 days out of the week!

ItsJustMe

Yeah, this year I decided not to ride if the temp is below about -5*F or so. That's when I have to start actually taking care when dressing to not get frostbite. Down to 0 I just ride. But between that rule and a few days when I had things to do that involved driving dozens of miles, I have only ridden about 4 times in the last month. It's kind of starting to get to me.

It looks like it's about over though. And honestly at this point I'm about ready to throw out the rule. I can and have ridden down to -25*F, I just have to be very careful when dressing.

PatrickGSR94

How far do you ride in those temps, though? Very many hills?

The thickness of clothing I would have to wear at those temps, combined with my hilly 16-mile commute each way, makes it just not worth it to me when I can get to work by car in only 20 minutes.

wolfchild

Excellent..Practising a martial art is a zillion times better then riding an indoor trainer...I guess I am not the only cyclist who hates indoor trainers and would never touch one.

tjspiel

Everyone has to decide for themselves what is worth it and what isn't. There are plenty of people who wouldn't do a 16 mile commute even in nice weather. Personally, I wouldn't be concerned so much about the cold as how long it would take me in the winter because it takes more time. So I wouldn't be doing your commute in the winter either. Not because I saw it as dangerous but because it would be too time consuming.

A common mistake a lot of people make about dressing for cold weather is thinking they need to look like the michelin man to stay warm. The key is layers and not necessarily thick ones. I wear a thin base layer, a warmth layer (like a fleece pullover) and a wind proof shell. That will easily keep me warm down to the single digits below 0. If it's colder than that, I may add another layer but it'll be a fairly light one.

auldgeunquers

I was going stir crazy - but then I got studded tires for Christmas.

I have to say though that I like my winter - a lot. OP was in TN as I recall. Winter is a lot easier to deal with if you get enough of it to acclimate and to justify having an array of gear to deal with it - like studded tires. If "real" winter is an aberration, then it is much more a hardship. I am happy to live in a place where below freezing weather comes about the end of November and usually stays until some time in March. I would go a little nuts too if the sub freezing weather came and went all winter long - not least because I would not have the array of gear I have, and would not have the exposure to winter neccesary to acclimate.

One note - the colder it gets, the slower I gets. I am not uncomfortable. I am, in fact often overdressed. It just takes more effort to ride. I think it is in part because of thicker clothing, and in part because the tires get notably stiffer the colder it gets. I did a 15 km round trip commute the other day, and it took about 50 minutes for the 7.5 km uphill leg. Time does get to be a factor.

So - to the OP - I hope you can work out something to keep your sanity - you have it tougher than me in lots of ways.

tjspiel

Modernjess was having a little fun I think. I hope my comments weren't interpreted as bravado. You can die from exposure even with temps in the 40s but most people wouldn't think of those temps as too cold to be out in. You just have to be prepared for it. It's the same with temps in the teens or colder.

Just understand, it's a little strange to hear weather I wouldn't think twice about sending my kids outside in described as dangerous. Typical early morning temps in January are single digits. Frostbite is a concern but there are different degrees. Getting a little frostnip is like a mild case of very localized sunburn without the long term health risks. Severe frostbite can lead to loss of limbs. Fortunately it's pretty easy to avoid frostbite even in very cold weather.

Much more worrisome than winter temps are road conditions in my mind. I don't second guess anyone not wanting to ride in deep snow. I consider anything without skis or tracks to be a marginal form of winter transportation.

D1andonlyDman

What's wrong with the weather?

AlmostTrick

Beats me. Everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it.

Sullalto

Not to mention having to find 'real' winter clothing in places with generally mild winters.

Daniel4

The temperature doesn't bother me. It's the amount of snow that determines if I have to hike or continue to bike. I'm glad to know that I can adapt to the daily challenges on my first winter season bike commuting.

TxSpeedster

Agree. Although I find the whining about cold weather from cyclists here in Texas to be amusing, I would not advocate anyone riding outside of their level of experience and/or preparedness. Studded tires in Dallas? Yeah, I'll get right on that. I don't ride ice.

My cold weather gear consists of a Wally World wind-suit with arm-warmers and layers of Rothco ECWCS clothing underneath. It has worked fine down to zero so far. $20 Rothco gloves have proven better than any cycling gloves I tried. Neoprene shoe covers are nice to look at, but a royal pain to put on over mountain style cycling shoes. Very cold weather bring a switch from SPDs to platform pedals and regular winter footwear for the commute.

I have yet to get my rain gear properly sorted. The few days I have missed riding to work this year have been due to very cold AM rains. Getting caught in on the ride home is one thing, but soaked from the front stoop all the way into work with no way to dry gear out before the return ride? Nope. (I have been chatting with Lou at Foxwear and may have my rain solution soon)

no motor?

I rode when the temperature had dropped to the teens when the roads were clear. We got a lot of snow, ice, salt and colder temperatures after that and I've been driving ever since.

AlmostTrick

I just checked the forecast for my area. Single digits or below zero every morning this week. Unless this changes, I'm not likely to bike to work this week either, just like last.

Thankfully, I did a 14 mile ride to the bike shop yesterday!

Daniel4

In Toronto we had another big snowfall yesterday. This morning the accumulation didn't look too bad. The neighbourhood streets were messy with slush. So I took the bike out to test for the commute tomorrow and to further practice my skills in riding through the snow and fishtailing.

Tried to ride through the park but couldn't even roll downhill. The sidewalk on the commute were already plowed. Go it looks as if biking tomorrow is a go if I take the alternate route.

noglider 

At least I got a little riding in this weekend. I rode about 3 miles round trip both days of the weekend, each time to do food shopping. Better than nothing.

I'm considering riding to work tomorrow, even though they predict the morning temperature to be 4ºF. That's adventurous for me, and I haven't decided yet.

PatrickGSR94

Yeah I dress in thin layers also. My body usually isn't a problem, it's the extremities more than anything. I have a few more tricks up my sleeve I'm going to try, though.

I'm just outside of Memphis in northwest MS actually. The weather here is ridiculous. We had a solid week of sub-freezing temps last week, then it got above freezing Friday afternoon, rain, temps continued to rise up near 60 by Saturday morning, then took a nosedive again down into the 30's by Saturday night and into Sunday. Last night it started sleeting again, and we again have closures around the area because of ice. Another round is on its way right now. From Friday to Saturday we had nearly 36 hours of nonstop precipitation. And wind, crazy@$$ wind. So even with the nice break in temperatures Saturday I still couldn't even ride the bike/trailer to the store because of the heavy rain - I'm talking flash flooding rain.

Forecast highs in the 30's all the week, lows in the teens to 20's, and then up around 60 degrees with rain again this coming Sunday.

To that I say... GO HOME WEATHER, YOU'RE DRUNK!!

ItsJustMe

12 miles one way. A little hilly at one end of the route. The hills are a help, they get my blood flowing. If it weren't for the hills I'd probably get colder.

Below about -5*, I add a 3rd layer. Above that I only wear a compression top, a long sleeve poly T and a vented rain jacket. below zero much and I add in a poly sweatshirt between the Ts and the jacket.

I also switch to tall hunting boots and put on some long underwear over the running tights. Still not very bulky.

rumrunn6

tied a bow saw to my roof rake pole to cut channels in the ice dams, so yeah, I'm starting to lose it a little lol

AlmostTrick

I missed two full weeks of bicycle commuting due to the weather. The forecast for this morning was 8 degrees, a bit cooler than I prefer, but with a mild tail wind. Yay! I'm back!

Hypno Toad

My thoughts exactly, if winter is only a couple weeks long, don't bother with all the winter-specific bike gear. But here in Minneapolis, when temps can stay below 0F for days and snow cover starts in November and can easily run through April... then you can justify studded tires, fatbikes, extra warm gear, etc.

I LOVE biking through the winter, I have two bikes set up specifically for winter riding: an old MTB with studded tires for icy days and a Pugsley for the snow days (today).

I hope the ice melts soon for the folks in the Southeast.