Its been 5-15F here in NYC. I rode about four citibikes every day for the past four days for 10-20 minutes each and had a dismal time with them. Clothing wise I was fine, but full coverage was necessary and the wind did blow off a hat somewhere between the 42nd and 34th.

But the bikes, they were all frozen. The seatposts were all stuck. Some would creak as they barely turned, but the others wouldn't even do that. It had rained the night before and it was like 6F. I found one with a workable seat height (another advantage of being [M] 5-10). The gears were frozen stiff and the bike was stuck in high gear.

The next bike was worse, the brakes would drag so it was brutal getting around to find another bike. They were all the same and at least this one had the right seat height, so off I go from 52nd to Rivington with a draggy rear brake and high gear. Going back was the same.

The next day started off poorly with a bike that didn't shift and had the rear brake on and the seat slammed down but I eventually scored with one thawed out in front of the Google building; this one had a seatpost that worked, the new large quick releases, and the brakes were not frozen. The gears even worked, it was a Christmas miracle.

The next day the bikes were all frozen again, nothing worked -- seatpost, brakes, gears. So off I went again grinding my knees into paste. Luckily the brakes on these bikes are so bad that once you get rolling it is not too bad, like climbing the whole time.

Today is going to hit low 30s but mostly stay in the 20s so I'm hoping for more functional bikes.

Beats walking.