In my early thirties I would commute down to 15F with occasional rides down to 0F just to try it. With knobbies I'd commute up to 4 inches of snow. It was before I was on the web (in fact there was no real WWW inthe early 90s) I was totally ignorant of smart cold weather cycling and it's a wonder I didn't loose fingers and toes to frostbite. I over-dressed and sweated a lot while wearing cotton. Plus I stuffed my shoes and gloves tight. But my commute back then was only 6 miles.

Up until age 52 my cold weather threshold continued to rise to 21F. My commute extended to 9 miles, and as I learned more about commuting I switched to road tires which put the kibosh on snow and ice riding. I also acquired an old road bike which I kept fenderless.

On days that were too cold or too icy I'd jog on the treadmill in the basement. But two years ago it was unusually snowy and icy and so in order to reclaim more days biking I lowered my cold weather threshhold back down to 12F, and being older and wiser thanks to bikeforums I was more comfortable and safer than when I was in my 30s.

Then last year I bought a new commuter and bought studded snow tires for the old commuter. That first icy day I took the studded bike to a steep downhill that was completely ice covered. I repeatedly braked to a stop until I was confident. I also symbolically lowered my cold weather threshold to 10F. I had a freakin' blast riding last winter! And this year has been even better! I find loose snow over 3-inches slows me down enough that commuting is no longer practical, but ice filled side streets are no longer a barrier. Riding up icy hills that un-studded cars and trucks have trouble with is very good for the ego.

I have been thinking I may try to push down to 5F, but I'm not sure if I'm ready yet.

I guess the attitude was fighting getting old. And after being off the bike for a year due to a non-bike related slipped disk at 48 years old, I have been more aggressive about staying fit and more aggressive about pushing myself endurance wise.