Originally Posted by
Skipjacks
Snow is where I draw the line. That's just not fun for me. It's more dangerous, less enjoyable.
Too many suddenly unexpected hazards in the road...like finding out that extra lane that's safer to ride in hasn't been plowed, or being all the way right and suddenly seeing a hunk of snow jutting out in the road meaning you either go left into traffic or stop in the road. Or finding that a sidewalk you normally cross over hasn't been shoveled so you suddenly have to lift the bike and climb over a snow bank to get to your street. Snow and biking just are't a good combo fro me.
But that's in Maryland, where we get 2 serious snow storms a year and everyone freaks the eff out like it's the apocalypse. I'm sure in Canada where you get snow all winter the city services do a much better job of maintaining the area to make all the routes passable for cars and bikes, and the world doesn't lose it's collective mind causing everyone in a Prius to suddenly brave horrendous conditions to get bread and milk at the same time.
So the locality has a lot to do with if snow riding is safe I'm sure. It looks pretty!
Right now, last night was the first snowfall (we had some earlier this fall/winter but they've melted away) that is currently on the ground and it has snowed a bit more since 7am this morning when I rode in: both snowfalls are currently soft and fluffy so not so bad. It'll get worse through the season.
The citizens of our city are often lambasting the city for poor plowing so winter conditions aren't really that good. I think motorists think that the city to should make roads in winter as easy to drive on as roads in the summer so that they can drive just as fast. They don't want to adapt their driving habits to winter conditions because that means taking more care, slowing down, paying attention more, in other words, more effort. I think that the plowing is reasonably good (although last year, our short, residential cul-de-sac was plowed 4x after a decent snowfall: the 1st was needed, the 2nd was nice, the remainder were just so that the plowing contractor could pad their pockets IMO). More focus should be on keeping the sidewalks and paths clean because pedestrians are more significantly affected by snow than powerful motorized vehicles that can push through snow more easily than pedestrians can. Yes, improved plowing of sidewalks and paths will help me cycle more but, IMO, who cares, I'd rather pedestrians be looked after better than making it possible for cycling to continue. (You struck a nerve!
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