Originally Posted by
Roody
For me winter cycling is a matter of necessity, not being badass. I can easily take a bus or walk to work. But I finish my shift at 11:30 PM, an hour after the last bus runs. My choices are taxi ($10 a trip), walk (seems risky, takes too long when I just want to get home) or bum a ride (co-workers and friends would get tired of that!). Riding is just more practical in my situation.
The important thing is to have the right gear and bike. With that in place, winter riding is very practical. In a city, there are only a few days a season that riding is more difficult than usual. Cold isn't an issue because your activity keeps you warm. Snow is a problem mainly when it's falling and for a few hours after it stops--just like for driving and even buses. Ice lingers on low-traffic roads for weeks, but the main roads are always ice free.
Ice/snow is pretty much the only thing that will keep me off the bike at this point. Like several others on this forum, I laugh at the cold, wind and driving rain, and I really don't even notice rude or inattentive drivers any more (after a while, you can tell when they're about to do something that might hurt you even before they do it). Ice, however, is a scary deal-breaker. It's all that thinking about sliding around and falling down that makes me whip out the bus pass. Fortunately for me, I live in an area that's pretty mild compared to say, Chicago or St. Paul, and also happens to have a kick-ass bus system.