Back when I lived in town, I used to cycle-commute year around. Mostly on an upright. Even my mountain bike had problems when the snow got more than a couple of inches deep. Bents were fair-weather only.

Here in Michigan, we hope the groundhog sees his shadow so there's ONLY 6 more weeks of winter. Ice fishing on inland lakes usually runs until the end of March, and it's hard to define "spring" to be something before ice-out happens.