Originally Posted by peregrine
I'm a newbie winter commuter too
Here it usually gets cold when it's dry (so far the lowest has been 31 - 32 F) but mostly it rains so it's not so bad.
I'm anticipating that my biggest problem would be ice on the road because I work up a hill where temperatures are a few degrees lower than where I live and there are some sharp turns on the way too. It's also steep, so it might get dangerous on the way home. I don't think I've ever ridden on ice before, so I guess I'll just wait and see... Maybe I should find a way to practice what to do in case of skidding and falling down...
i think ice is my biggest bogeyman too. yet part of me is kind of looking forward to it, and another part of me is really wrapped up in the puzzle of realising i'd probably prefer to bike than to drive, really. bike seems safer somehow. at the very least a wiped-out bike is easier to leave behind when you hike off to the bus-stop than a wiped-out car.
they're calling snow flurries today, and i have errands to do. i'm taking my bike, so maybe that'll be another first. i'm also thinking of knitting myself one of these suddenly:
http://www.hjsstudio.com/redbala.html
not so much because i need them as because they make me laugh so much i feel i can't pass them up. look at helmet c - it looks like a norman fortified tower out of 'monty python and the holy grail'.