Still Pedaling

When fall comes around to our neck of the woods, we celebrate the cooler weather. For those of us who love riding our bikes, I often wonder about those who live where the white stuff flies. From fall all the way to late spring it is absolutely awesome here for riding. Summer, on the other hand, is brutal unless you go out just as the sun makes an early hello.

What do you guys do when the snow flies? I have seen pictures of brave individuals riding around in it, but the cold brrrrr! Now that its September, the time we all look forward to here -- except we DON'T look forward to the snow birds though. I don't mind really, as I think its nice that these people have an escape from the cold and snow. My only concern is with so many of them that are up in years and display less than desirable driving skills, which keeps riders on their toes.

fietsbob

I just Get out The Rain gear .. traffic is reduced with the Tourists back in harness , at work,

and some of the residents even move down there, those that have the dosh for a second AZ home.

My loss/gain is your gain/loss ..

badmother

Ride up to approx minus 20-25 celsius (we can get down to minus 30 to 35 celsius a week or two sometimes). After that I hibernate, just move around enough to feed the woodburning stove and use my car. Have decided to get rollers or something similar this winter to ride indoors.

jmm

I keep riding the folders until they start salting the roads, then break out this and head off road for the rest of the winter:

BassNotBass

I really don't like the summer months where I live and honestly look forward to winter riding. IMHO temps in the 40s and 50s are ideal but I will keep riding when the temps get into the single digits (fahrenheit) which is the coldest it gets around here.

tim24k

I have two winter bikes setup a recumbent bike and a Globe Disc.

The folders only come out on sunny days in the winter. The chemical they put on the roads for the ice around there is just to nasty on the folding joints.

howeeee

I live in Michigan in the winter I increase my riding (-: ,,it is fun, makes me feel empowered, makes me feel tough(key word being "feel'" lol I turned 60 last month and I cant wait to ride this winter,,even crazzier I ride somtimes at midnight lol

samosaurus

"Winter".. Nah, never heard of it..

wahoonc

I ride year round, just switch to a different bike or pack my bikes and head to a job site somewhere a bit warmer. I actually live in the Sandhills/Coastal Plain of NC so year round riding is usually pretty feasible. When the company sends me to upstate NY I borrow an MTB with studs from one of the guys up there.

Aaron

olds cool

I dust off my bike and start riding again.

Im in west central Florida. lol

Still Pedaling

I do the same as you. Dust is plentiful here in AZ. We get huge dust storms that look like giant tsunamis sweeping across the valley. We just recently had one a week or so ago. That reminds me, I have a thick layer of the stuff on my bike at present. Time for the duster. In many parts of the country you see people washing their cars in the driveway with a hose and a bucket of soapy water. Here you see them out with just a large duster .

olds cool

Unfortunately the dust on my bike is from non use. Our humidity during the summer months is too much for my candy arse.

Still Pedaling

That's the time of year when you see those white fluffy things floating down from the sky. You don't know what you're missing . Actually I do. I moved to the desert of AZ about 23 years ago, and before I left I told my friends and family that the only ice I want to see from now on is in a glass. I remember my first year here. I was on the phone with my brother up north. It was in the middle of January. I was sitting in my back yard with a nice cold beer, sun shinning with a warm 70+ degrees outside, birds singing away. My brother, on the other hand, was stuck in the house -- wind and snow blowing with below zero temperatures. The following year he came down to visit and never went back -- smart guy my brother .

Still Pedaling

Both my daughters live in Florida. No offense to the friends here that live in Florida, but my two girls are always asking me to move out there, but I tell them that because of two things you have in plenty -- bugs and humidity, I prefer to stay where I am. But, there is a price to pay -- summer heat. When my youngest daughter came to visit for the first time shortly after I moved here, she was asked by her older sister when she went back home how hot it was. She said, "crank up the oven and stick your head inside. That's how hot it was". Not too far from the truth. The summer she visited -- worse time of the year to visit, by the way -- I took her up to Lake Havasu to see the London Bridge. Bad mistake. It was 127 degrees, which, at the time, set a record. About all you could do was get out of your car -- "there's the London Bridge" -- and get right back in. So the end of the story is; they won't move here, and I won't move there. But, I will/do visit them during the winter months where the weather there is awesome, even better than here in AZ.

AB9NZ

Around last Thanksgiving I started a new job, and a ten mile a day bike-train ride-bike commute on my Dahon "Speed Uno". I never miss a day. Riding through our Chicago winter has been a blast. I installed Scwalbe Winter Marathon studded tires. After an evening of freezing rain I could barely walk, but with the Schwalbe spikes I jumped on the Dahon and went for a spin, pretty darn cool. The road salt was a bit hard on the bike. The Dahons plastic chain cover went in the garbage, it just held salt and grit against the rapidly rusting chain. A little tighter maintenance interval prevented any reliability problems. After 2000 miles I can recomend the Speed Uno as a great bargain, and an excellent commuter bike.
Pedaling through the winter keeps you in pretty good shape. I'm in the autumn of my life (52), in the spring it was fun leaving much younger fair weather riders in leotards wondering how an old fart on a clown bike could leave them in the dust.
Looking forward to the upcoming winter, Tom Bruzan, Mount Prospect, Illinois

darukhan

I'm planning on building a winter bike this year with the many parts I have in my basement just waiting to used for something.

werks

When the white stuff arrives at my place ( 9,000ft elevation), I Nordic ski, ski, and ski some more... Plus several days of snowshoeing.
Weather permitting, I drive down to the Denver area ( 5,500ft) most weeks for a day of riding. A change in altitude is like a
change in latitude

Frisco Nordic Center (9,200ft)


Snowshoeing Hoosier Pass ( 11,500ft)


Winter ride in the lowlands ( 6,000ft)


The road to my house ... February

Elvis Shumaker

From a cycling point of view at least, I'm looking forward to winter. I had such a blast last time around in the snow and ice! The winter folder is equipped with Schwalbe Marathon Winter tyres and toasty pogies and my clothing is ready to go.

Most of my fair weather cycling seems to be utility riding, in the winter - when heavy loads are too much - I seemed to get far more fun rides in.

Last winter I was riding down to -12c, this year I feel more than confident down to -20c, about as cold as it ever gets here.

Barely another soul around on the back roads, even less bikes, animal tracks in the snow, the challenge of trickier stretches - can't come soon enough.