I rode today, some sections of my commute were very hard to ride through because snow wasn't cleared very well. In the afternoon the temp was minus -18 celsius with 42km/h wind.

Kudos!:thumb:

I got about 3 km before I decided that the road conditions weren't good enough to ride in. Plus the prospect of strong headwinds on the ride home with -18*C just was not appealing. If my commute was substantially shorter than the 19 km that it is I might have braved it. Ten km I would have done it regardless.

Finally, an end is close. It looks like next week could still end in a melt/freeze/snow mess, but at least the temperatures will go up!

I rode in today. Took a lot longer due to parts where I had to dismount and walk the bike. Not long walks, but perhaps 20-50 m, as well as some snow banks that are waist high that I had to traverse. Those were the two biggest challenges today.

Temperature wise it was still -19*C but the wind had died down considerably from the previous two days, and road conditions have also improved with the fairer weather.

Stay safe
 

wow, good on you! cue waist high drifts from storm "Juno" 1-20-15. I think this was the first of several blizzards but this one was so surprising going from bare ground to 30+ inches of fresh snow. there would be no cycling that day

good for your guys who are still riding. that sounds like an adventure [MENTION=381746]mcours2006[/MENTION]. [MENTION=112025]wolfchild[/MENTION] Be safe and stay warm!

That was the "Snowpocalypse" in 2015. These photos are from the President's Day weekend, after a second hit of snow.

The drifts on the side walk are just a backdrop, not passable. I did ride down well-tended Tremont St, with hardpack snow, a perfect condition for studded tires.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e40539d943.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...cd11ffb43d.jpg

Boston is internationally known for its intrepid Winter cyclists.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e95cc17943.jpg

intrepid football fans too, hehe & we had a Patriots parade that year too ... but that parade was postponed 24 hrs for yet another storm!

nice pic of my son's freshman dorm at Emerson. his room overlooked Boylston. as a journalism major, he had to cover the parade & interviewed ppl on snow drifts lining Boylston St. now he's working a Lexington beat. wish they had sent him in today to cover this year's parade. temps in the 60s & ppl are shirtless!

Sleet, freezing rain and snow in the forecast for tomorrow. I will definitely be riding my studded tire bike.

3rd https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...48&oe=5CE9FA47

That's beautiful Bob! While I've been to Cannon beach many times, I've never seen it in the snow.

Did your ride look something like this:

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4e2bedeb90.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1cb76f016c.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d0714116d7.jpg

The challenge today was that most roads were not plowed. Two-lane roads like the one above is not bad for me to stay on the street, but I didn't want to be on four-lane roads with traffic buzzing by at much faster than they should under these road conditions, so I rode on the sidewalk, which also wasn't plowed, but it was a heck of a lot harder with 2" of ice pellets covered with a layer of freezing rain--similar to the first pic. Joy.

Yeah that's exactly what it looked like. My commute today was on roads, sidewalks and MUPS, I was using 700x32mm Schwalbe Winter tires.

Unless it was completely untouched ice pellets, I had huge troubles going in a straight line. The 2 in wie SMWs run slightly below minimum pressure give me very good traction on bare ice. But this ice pellets stuff was much harder to manage than 5-10cm of snow regarding being pushed around on the streets.
How was it on the much narrower tires you guys are riding?

Fun fact: riding with a heavily loaded single-wheel trailer seems to help staying upright, so far.

I'll bet narrower tires would do better getting down to that pavement. wider is better "sometimes"

[MENTION=381746]mcours2006[/MENTION], that's rough. Sorry for asking, but why do you keep doing it? By some measures, I'm tough, but I have my limits.

A fair question, Tom. Despite the challenges, and they are quite numerous, I still prefer it to driving. It's probably part of my mental/emotional make-up or personality that I do what I do. Part of it is pushing the limits of what is comfortable/sustainable/tolerable physically, but to some degree, mentally/psychologically. Simply put, it toughens you. Part of it is getting exercise at the same time. Two birds... I'd be doing something else early in the morning before driving to work if I weren't riding anyway. This way seems more efficient.

Yesterday's round trip took 2.50 hours. Today's will likely be the same if not more. Seems like a lot of time to devote to commuting, but I just treat it as bike rides that I would have done anyway if it was any other season. And besides, winter is temporary. It's not always going to be this way.

I do have my limits. If at any point I didn't feel safe riding I'd stop. Extreme cold (like below -25*C), high winds, and poor road conditions would be the main factors. Despite looking pretty bad, road conditions were actually quite manageable yesterday, and I'm not above walking sections if it is necessary to do so.

Winter is temporary. Long ago, my father said to his mother, "Mom, I see you need to buy some summer clothes for yourself." She replied, "What for? June, July, August, the summer is over."

I was riding on 700x32mm Schwalbe Winter. They are great for ice, soft slush and fresh snow but they were a struggle riding through deep heavy build-up of ice pellets. Even worse were the sections which were driven over by cars. The skinny tires just wouldn't cut all the way down to the pavement but they only cut about half way through and were sliding all over the place. It was very hard to control the bike. I wonder how a fat bike would of done under those conditions.

fat bikes have limitations too. but you should ask in that subforum. would be interesting to hear their take

My 35 mm Schwalbe studs were good in similar conditions as [MENTION=112025]wolfchild[/MENTION] mentioned, but same liability as well. I do have 45 mm Nokian's which I did not use on today's commute. Not sure if they would have been better. On one section this morning I had no choice but to walk the bike for about 200 m as both the road and sidewalk were unrideable having not been plowed from the ice pellets that fell yesterday and overnight. Lucky it was only 200 m, and lucky I had on SPD shoes with recessed cleats.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...bcd72582e3.jpg

I'm hoping my roads look like some of those pics tomorrow!

The main roads barely got scraped down today, and the side streets did not - so there's no place to be on the main roads, and literally piles 6-12" high at the intersection of every side street. It was tough enough to walk through all that :(

nature's ball bearings! :eek:

This has been a week full of challenges, from freezing rain and ice pellets to crazy strong gusty winds today. March can't come soon enough.

It's like an ice skating rink out there. Everything has frozen hard as a rock. Great ride today except for the wind. The areas I was struggling to ride through with my skinny studded tires few days ago was an easy ride today, no more sinking into soft slush and snow, just rode over ice and kept going no problem.

March doesn't guarantee anything. Remember last years huge ice storm around mid April ??

Same here. I found riding over the ice actually felt easier than over bare pavement; felt like less resistance. But the wind was a HUGE downer!:mad:

No guarantees, but the odds are in our favour. More challenges behind us than ahead.

We've had a couple of cold snaps, much colder than normal, but we haven't had any snow in New York City this winter. We have a home 90 miles north up the Hudson River, and there has been about six or eight inches of snow. It's normal for it to snow more there, but this difference isn't normal.