dramiscram

Hello every one

I live in St-Césaire, Québec and I commute everyday to St-Hyacinthe (55 kms round trip). I'm seriously thinking about commuting for the first time in winter but as I never done it I'm looking for someone who walk the walk and could give me advices (equipment, physical prep, etc.)

Thanks

Bonjour à tous! Je suppose que si vous êtes sur bikeforum je n'ai pas à traduire mes propos!

Merci

Boudicca

Check out the winter commuting forum for tips. Me, I stop when the snow comes, or perhaps before that.

dramiscram

I already did and got good hints but mostly from americans that usualy get less snow and cold then we do up north.
Thanks

DJ Shaun

I commute year round in Ottawa-Gatineau. We get similar weather as Montreal here. I currently do 25km round trip and I know some folks here who do 40km rt in winter. For me a 55km round trip would be quite a trek in winter. Looking at the Google maps it looks like your commute is mostly rural. First consideration is how well plowed are the roads you typically ride? Where I ride the plowing is inconsistent. Some roads are plowed right away while some aren't plowed at all. The tractors come by a day or two later and simply flatten and smooth the snow out. On the best days that accounted for only a couple km's of snow packed rutted side roads. If your roads are plowed early on during a snow storm it is certainly doable on a regular basis. If it's further down the city's snow plow priority list then it'll be a chore (and a serious workout) to ride in deep snow for that long. I never rode the bike to work when the weather was really bad (ie. snow storm or freezing rain) but I got caught 3 times coming home in a snow storm. Suddenly my commute became a 90 minute slog in 10-15cm of snow. This year I'll pay better attention to the forecast since riding in those conditions, while certainly a fun challenge, just takes way to long.

LarDasse74

I can see the Pontiac region of Quebec during my commute - unless it is snowing too hard.

I agree - check out the Winter Cycling subforum... Some people use the forum to discuss rainy Seattle winters, but there are more who actually ride in a proper winter - Winnipeg, Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa... are all cities I have seen represented.

dramiscram

Thank you all, big help. I'll do it once or twice on the first snowy weekend and see how it goes.