Our Winters are nearly the same seeing that Buffalo and Rochester are only 75 Miles appart. The main difference is that Buffalo tends to get a bit more lake effect snow, and somehow we also end up with more sunny days (I haven't figured out why that is the case). I keep my pants at work so there is no putting on refrigirated clothing.

I live in the Suburbs of Buffalo and that makes quite a bit of difference. They plow amazingly well around here. We might have received a foot or more of snow, but within 12 hours the roads are so well plowed that I was frequently able to use the should 70% to 80% of the ride. It keeps me out of the way of the cars and busses. I can deal with riding in traffic, but if I don't have to hold anyone up it makes my ride easier and for everyone around me.

- Tires make a huge difference. Depending on where you are located either a set of knobby tires are sifficient. For those of us in the snow/rust belt Studded tires are not a luxury. I know that the studds were critical on a few rides home from work.

- Slush is easy to ride through as long as it is not too thick. I don't mind an 1" or so of fresh snow. What is a real problem is 6+ inches of thick snow that is all choppy. That causes the front end of the bike to more all over as it meets different resistance as it moves along. I don't like that at all.

- Riding on the road is a must. Besides it generally being no legal to ride on sidewalks (notice the word WALK is part of the name), the roads are at least plowed... good luck finding some reasonably clean ridewalks after a snow storm.

-Since the roads are well plowed and the drivers around here are pretty experienced in snow you tend to get minor fender benders during bad snow falls. I usually see the SUVs off the road (no joke... you see far fewer cars off the road than 4wd). Since I ride on mostly residential steets the speed limit is no higher tha 35 MPH so everyone can get along OK and everyone tends to be able to steer and stop OK. The exposed highways are where most people end up putting their car into a ditch. It is easy to over estimate the grip your car has untill it is too late. At 35 MPH you may have enough grip the keep the car on the road at 65 MPH you have MUCH more potential energy.

- Clothing is an important consideration. Most cyclists start with way too much clothing on. I wear the following:
Head: beanie cap under helmet. It the temps drop into the mid to low teens I'll add a face mask. At 2F (with heavy wind bring the wind chil down to -25F) I also had to put on ski goggles to cover every last piece of exposed skin to prevent frost bite

Body: T-shirt (a wicking sports shirt), Foxwear E-Vap coat, when the temps dropped into the single digits I also added thing wind breaker.

Hands: Old pair of Gotex gloves (1985 vintage), these don't shed extra moisture too well, but I had them. Next winter I'll look for something that breaths better.

Legs: Illuminite tights for 30F and above. For temps below freezing I added J&W rain pants as a wind blocker.

Feet: Winter boots and toe clips on the bike.

Getting through a Winter is not that hard. You do want to start in the Fall and slowly get used to the colder weather. Every so often Mother Nature will dump more bad weather than you may comfortably want to handle on two wheels. That is when I will take my car. Super high winds and 4+" of fresh snow in the roads (I don't care if we got 12" of snow... just how much is on the road in the morning) will get me to take the car. I found that there were only a hand full of days that I considered unridable during the morning commute, and I only needed to be picked up once when a snow storm care earlier than expected.

I am REALY enjoying the nice weather. After some late Winter storms, I was ready for some sunshine.

Happy riding,
André