Originally Posted by
CACycling
+1 When I started commuting in spring '08, I waited till I had daylight for both directions (my workbound commute starts at 6:30am and homeward ends at 6:30pm). When it started getting dark earlier in the fall, I got better lighting and clear safety glasses and kept commuting. Winter came and I got a jacket, warmer gloves, headband to cover my ears and track pants and kept commuting.
This is the progression that I took as well. Turned out that I only missed the month of December because of the constant snow that fell. I'm not planning on riding with snow covered roads. The cold temps and the darkness can easily be overcome with proper gear. Layers will be your friend.