Couldn’t think of an appropriate title, but this is went I went with. Not 100% solved but huge progress recently.

The Bike
I added studded tires. I have a Salsa Fargo and a lbs has Schwable Ice Spiker Pro 29x2.25 in stock. Mounted them yesterday and bedded the studs in on a 40k road ride. My local gravel trails are great when no freeze-thaw or deep snow. A 15 minute drive from home there are lots of gravel roads and they are perfect. Just enough cars to tamp down the snow. Been on them last two days and this is perfect, virtually no traffic, quiet country scenery, and the tires (and bike) are so good on these roads. Change of scenery from my warm weather rides when I don’t often ride these roads. I also added flat pedals (more on that below).

The Clothes
Ditching the SPD means I can wear warmer boots that allow for two socks and chemical toe warmers. Was -11C this morning and my feet were warm the whole time. On my hands I added thin blue nitril gloves under a thin glove, under warm lobster mitts. Hands were warm the hole time. Rest of my clothes were same as coldest rides I did before and that was all good.

So now I can ride more, which was always my problem during winter.