haha awesome thread.

i've seen people riding sleds and mattresses down buffalo street in the snow, but i was never brave enough to do it myself.

as for a winter commuting bike: get a crappy mtb or old road bike beater that you don't care much about, put some fenders and knobbies on it and you are good to go. i lived downtown and wasn't tough enough to commute every day, on super cold days I took the bus. my housemate bike commuted every day though.

good luck . . . Ithaca is a great town.