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.

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!

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!

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.

I'm not sure if anyone else is feeling this, but there is also the psychological/mental challenges of commuting in this weather. This morning I woke up and saw the dusting of about 3 cm of snow on the ground. Light stuff, nothing serious, and I could have totally ridden. But I didn't. I couldn't get over the psychological barrier. I thought about having to go through the rigmarole of gearing up, riding under potentially dicey roads, then gearing down, and then doing it all over again in the afternoon, and it filled me with anxiety and dread.

We have another big snow storm/freezing rain storm coming tomorrow and Wednesday.

Here's hoping for an early spring.

Definitely. My daily mileage is likely about half of yours right now, so my barriers are lower. But yes, I have seen friends passing by in cars when cycling into strong headwind and thinking to myself how much my body is in 'stress mode', rather than having warm relaxation when being wheeled around in a heated steel box. Most people around me right now call me crazy on a daily basis (or show admiration), both of which is an added source of motivation to keep going.

Tomorrow is not looking good. I don't have a car and have no backup for a Wednesday commute, yet - I hope things will be clear enough to go.

Yesterday wasn't too bad. My bike was flinging snowy slush everywhere but it was fine. Wind in the evening was really bad though. Enough so that as soon as I saw it blowing today I decided it was a work from home day for sure. I am only about 10 KM from work in the Toronto area (Burlington) and so far, I have still commuted most days. Usually one day a week I will work from home and that has been pretty much based on weather this winter. I have been running 26 x 2.1 Schwalbe Ice Spiker mostly. I do have 700 x 35 for another bike but I kept having problems with them giving me flats. The 26's are fine that way but a skinnier tire does seem cut through to meet pavement a bit better.