Welcome to the forum and it is nice to have you.

Schwalbe Marathon Something-somethings. They have carbide studs for ice. They are 700c by 35mm. They look like weapons. I rode them a quarter mile to the bike shop and back as a test. They are freaking loud. I took them off and will probably put them back on tomorrow so I can play in the snow. It hasn't fallen here yet.

I did ride into work, and I faced the strongest cold headwinds I have ever faced, and I've been riding a fair bit for 40 years. I was adequately dressed, so I wasn't cold. The effort required to move was great, and I had to shift way down and go slowly. It took a long time to get to work. I didn't really mind, but I was impressed at how hard it can be. It will get harder if I want to ride in this kind of wind and cold when snow or ice is on the ground.

How lucky for you. So far, our cold days have been clear. I guess that changes tonight.

Welcome, [MENTION=429636]Zenno[/MENTION]! What kinds of temperatures are you seeing this week in Northern Utah? This is normally our coldest month of the year. Here in the northeast near the coast, we tend to get more snow in February than in January.

Thanks, [MENTION=190611]joeyduck[/MENTION]!

Thanks! This month's been mild (but that's not historically the case---last winter was very mild, and while we've had more snow this year, it's still warmer than normal). December got cold (mornings in the teens), but mornings in January have been near freezing (which seems easy now!).

dark. raining sideways. all good.

We had a team building exercise today (always lame) but it was at Nob Hill on Ford Island Hawaii. You can almost reach out and touch the USS Arizona Memorial from here.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...psd8dullhg.jpg

23F, headwind, but nice to be back on the bike after a week off. Complications from December shoulder surgery kept me off all last week - might be the longest string of car commutes I've had in about 5 years. I didn't need the reminder, but I've reaffirmed my commitment to riding to work - driving sucks!

Bike commuting will take a real hit this week for most of us East Coasters. We got mostly sleet in my city, which is slow to melt in areas where roads are shaded and north-facing slopes. I drove to work this morning and the major roads were in good shape, but I waited until temperatures rose above freezing and much of the black ice had time to melt. Neighborhood streets and back roads still have lots of frozen sleet and black ice. Hopefully the sun and temps in the 40s and 50s will melt much of the remaining ice today, and more importantly I hope that temperatures will remain above freezing overnight. If we get another hard freeze tonight, it could be several more days before I am able to ride.

first commute in snow today. used 40mm studded tires (nokian hakkapeliittas) with 50mm honjo fenders. it was awesome! lots were plowed but LOTS were not plowed. i had to ride in the lane where there had been car tracks.

lots of fishtailing. i think i might deflate the tires a bit like what was recommended on this board.

it usually takes me 20-25 min to ride to work and today it took 30. so even tho i had to have one foot on the pedal and use the other foot to kick thru the slush to get going, i made it in without too much of a delay. looking forward to the ride back!

I also got the Schwalbe Marathon Winter 700x35 and used them for the first time this morning, to deal with the melt of snow banks that refreezes overnight and creates black ice. What an improvement over the Schwalbe 700x32 slicks, and the sound of Rice Crispies (or sizzling bacon) is mesmerizing.

After mounting them I saw blood on the sidewall, and then noticed that I cut my hands in three places just mounting them. Weapons indeed!

Today was my first commute on studs too! 700x35 Schwalbe Marathon Winter, 75 psi. They have so much traction on ice and packed snow. I need to keep reminding myself over and over "Go slow around the corners", especially on dry ground, since I've been warned that studs cause a 20% loss of traction.

lovely haha. i guess can't always win. i posted a separate thread with more detail on the commute, but i wanted to know what the wintery conditions were like for everyone, how the ride was, and people were doing... but no one's responded! http://www.bikeforums.net/winter-cyc...nowy-ride.html

i only saw one other cyclist on my ride in which is really unusual. and (s)he was walking his/her bike up the BK bridge, i imagine b/c of regular tires.

Hi 30s, damp but not wet. I wound up leaving later than I could have 'cause I wanted enough sunlight to see the gauge on the tire pump rather than just turning on the garage light and pumping it up there.

Well that was a lot more snow than we expected. They were calling for 12-18" and we got 33".

I have no snow gear for my bike, so I normally drive the day after a big storm to check out the road conditions. My car couldn't make it out of the driveway, so I had to have my wife drive me to work in the Subaru. I'm glad I didn't ride; even major roads only had space for two narrow lanes and lots of snowy spots.

I have a feeling it will be a few days until I can ride again. Lancaster city is still under a snow emergency, and lots of area cities have travel restrictions.

I tried the Priority on my commute today. More in that thread; otherwise normal. I did figure out that going to a meeting off-plant, it was way faster to take the road than the windy hilly MUP.

I realized halfway to work that I'd left the headlight on another bike! Doofus. SWMBO may bring it.

That felt good; the rides were good, work was good, this amber lager, it's all good. It put me in mind of the discussion going on, Are you spending a lot of money on bicycle commuting? Even if I was, you couldn't really buy this.

My ride to work this morning was uneventful, however my ride home sucked. I forgot to bring my goggles and it was snowing.

Ride to work this morning was really nice. Around 33F and light winds. Connected with another bike commuter I sometimes meet as I cross the Missouri River. He comes from the NW side of town and I'm from the NE side, but we both cross the river at the same point and our commute-schedules are fairly similar.

The ride home had about the same temperature, but the winds REALLY increased. Luckily it was more of a cross-wind than a direct head-wind.

Back on the bike after a week off. Really though, I only missed riding on three days last week. Monday was MLK day and the office closed on Friday due to the snow and ice storm that went through.

I drove yesterday and checked the bike route on the way home. There were a couple of spots I knew would refreeze overnight, but I rode anyway. The overnight low was only about 34, but the melting shady areas froze. There were about 5 sections - none of which were more than 50 yards long - that I had to slow down and pedal easy. On a couple of them I unclipped one foot just in case. No falls happened.

We don't get enough of this kind of weather to justify snow tires. So I was crossing the ice on my 25mm skinny tires. There is a chance of rain late tonight with the low in the mid 40s, so that may even help clear off the icy spots for tomorrow.

I did not go to work yesterday. Instead, I borrowed my wife's car and drove over to the train station with a snow shovel to see what my bike locker looked like. Here's what I found.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-t...2008.27.07.jpg

For the people who rent the lockers at the right, this is not good. Fortunately my locker is the one at the far left. A half hour with my shovel, and my locker was clear.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--...2008.56.13.jpg

So today I rode. No problems. Kinda cold, but I was expecting that.

Glad so many are enjoying their studly tires - I'm enjoying not riding my studded tire bike! Remember, studs don't do anything for snow so don't get lulled into false sense of security! 34F and wicked crosswind this morning - the kind I have to lean into to stay upright

the commute was good, much like yesterday. lots plowed and getting plowed, lots not plowed. they were working on clearing the rest of the brooklyn bridge so yay for that! so glad to be able to dial in to 311. however they've been so swarmed their form isn't always working. i've started using their app instead.

Pineapple express definitely coming in, so fingerless gloves an shortsleeve t-shirt under the raincoat this morning. Got passed on the right and cutoff to reach a red light by a schoolbus.

Got another inch of snow yesterday, but the north wind blew things into big drifts on east-west routes. I got up early and blew the drifts out of my driveway with the snowblower, then hopped on the bike for an uneventful ride to work. Had to blast through a few drifts, but nothing too crazy.

Friday is supposed to warm up to above freezing, so that means my ride home on that day will probably be a slushy mess as all the hardpack starts to defrost. Then when the temps drop back below freezing that evening we'll have nice rutted ice all over the place. :)

Boston dodged the big storm. After last winter we deserved a break. Got some snow but not much and today much of it melted away. Even the bike path was easily passable.A nice ride in and a nice ride home.

Description of my AM commute: dark & raining sideways when i started. Not when I finished.
Description of my PM commute: dark & raining sideways when i started. Not when I finished.

I have to drive tomorrow and Thursday. :(

It's melting pretty fast. Here's how it looked on Tuesday afternoon:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-k...2016.06.07.jpg

Well that was a rough one and I don't think I can make it back tonight. First ride in since the big storm.
What is usually a 50-minute ride at 11 miles turned out to be 11.7 miles, 1 hour 50 minutes, with a good three miles of pushing the bike though some heavy slushy snow. My legs are sore, back is sore, wife is mad at me....

The good news for VA/DC commuters is that the 14th Street ped crossing is totally clear :)

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1672/...1ecc7df9_b.jpg

My first outdoor ride today since the big winter storm. Temperatures finally warmed up enough where ice was not a problem, despite a few lingering patches of slush on the roads. The forecast had called for rain this morning and radar showed a line of showers approaching when I got up, but the rain was very light and basically over by the time I left for work. I might actually salvage 3 commutes this week if the rain holds off tomorrow. I racked up so many miles in the first two weeks of January that I should easily top 600 total miles for the month, despite missing a week of riding from the snow.

18 F and very humid, which made the cold go straight through me. Pretty stiff head wind. I somewhat under dressed and my thighs were a bit cold when I arrived. Had to work from the company office today so it's 8 miles each way. Some of the back streets I ride were pretty drifted over due to the wind blowing the snow across the fields, but yesterday afternoon they re-plowed the MUP to remove drifts so that portion of the ride was icy but clear. Took me about 50 minutes total.

I've had tougher rides but I've had easier too.