Anyone tried electrically-heated socks? It looks like they'd do about 4 hours on a D cell... hmmm, NiMH, hmmm...

I did try them for skiing, my feet get colder when skiing than riding, but I can ride the bike 6-8 hours (not road riding, MTB in the snow and ice) in 20 + f temps without them. I have used the chemical toe warmers when it is below about 15 or so. I use bike shoes and layers over them. Two pair of booties, large socks, plastic bags. It's lighter than my Sorrel insulated boots, but just as warm. If your only going an hour or so you don't really need heaters, If you have the right insulation. And a wind block in the front. The layers let you adjust for the temp.

hey peregrine - i've been wondering how things went last week. i saw a snowfall warning or something for your area that made me glad i wasn't you. also had me thinking about you off and on all day and hoping it wasn't as extreme as they made it sound.

so tell? how was it?

wow. i'm with you on the sidewalk after today. it's been snowing heavy wet snow all day here, and i took my bike out once we had an inch or two to practice a bit. it's the kind of snow that just packs down into half an inch of clear, solid ice as soon as you put any pressure on it. in a couple of places i got off to walk the bike on a sidewalk or across a street, and it was only then that i realised how insanely slippery everything was. i was using the bike to hold myself up

my neighbourhood has a lot of very short but pretty steep grades. you can't go a two blocks in any direction without finding one that's level or just a slight grade for the first six houses, and then takes a sudden upwards turn for the last three or four at anything up to 25%. lots of traffic all day, steady snow, and temperatures just above freezing, so the roads were very messy by about 4pm. i went out when it was still daylight and rode the worst section of my ride a couple of times looking for trouble, did some errands, came home with about 15 pounds of groceries; unpacked, went out again in heavier show and colder air and played around for a while. then rode up the steeper, less-marked roads; drank some coffee somewhere and kept going with wetter snow. came home in the dark along the same most-troublesome patch with more groceries. i didn't do the whole ride, but i tried to at least duplicate how long i'm usually out on a ride, and cover some of the same kinds of ground plus whatever i could find that looked like the closest cognate to the bridge part.

so fwiw, here's what i found out:

- turning is where i did start to lose it a bit. took me by surprise because in a straight line the bike's been so misleadingly stable. it was just strolling up and down grades that didn't look like they had any traction surface at all. when i looked back on my own tracks in clean snow i could see that i hadn't hit pavement at any point - i was leaving the packed-slush ruts behind me, but you'd never know it from how it felt. same complete lack of trouble on the almost-clear grey ice sections where cars had been. then i'd go to turn a simple corner and come unglued. i'm glad to know that - at first i assumed the up/down would be the worst part, and it set me up with assumptions that turning would be no problem at all. it seems like you can only fight the bike's own momentum so much, and 'so much' is much, MUCH less than it is on dry ground.

- i did get quite a lot of movement in (up to) two inches of snow, but i was surprised by how easy it was NOT to fall off a bike that's squirming and wiggling. it seems like the bike itself has a lot of self-correction to it, so there's a certain amount of loosey-gooseyness i got to feeling i could just roll with. it's a very very neat feeling, actually - feels like surfing, or standing up in a bus. i saw a road bike go by on the sidewalk while i was drinking coffee, and followed their tracks (looked like slicks) uphill afterwards, btw - i didn't see any wiggle or skidmarks there either.

- it seems like my bike self-corrects for those little wiggles, so long as i don't panic myself. ruts in the snow, little clumps of ice - any kind of texture change seemed like it would set one off. by the time i'd fully registered it was doing them, it was okay again. the main thing i'm thinking about personally is reminding myself to not even think about speed. i also found it surprisingly easy to just keep a steady pace all the time. i guess there was more resistance, but it all had a kind of creamy feeling to it. the bike feels all flexible and forgiving.

- this is a time when i'd be very very glad of a rear-view mirror. those skinny little roads with the cars coming up and down them on those stupid steep slopes. . . i found out i had to watch my own road very carefully, so it didn't leave me as much attention for 360 awareness as i'm used to. really, i'd like to just get out of the way when i'm on one of those slopes and a car goes into the same slope behind me - especially since i found out that i'm most likely to go down myself when i try to change direction at even a moderate pace. if theyr'e counting on me to evade them in trouble, we're both in trouble. the drivers out there just don't seem to be aware of their own abilities and they don't seem anywhere near as manoeuvreable as my bike. i got to see a few of those drifty slow-motion rotational skids happening. don't want to be in front of one.

- front-end braking was a mistake. that did skid me, and losing the front wheel felt different from losing the back one. back wheel, the bike seems to lay down a bit more so you have room to get a foot down without sacking yourself. doesn't seem to be true of the front wheel. i'm probably going to try and use my back brake as much as i can tomorrow

- learned to bounce my bike, front and rear, whenever i got off it, to shake the snow loose from the brakes.

i'm hoping tomorrow will go well if i'm careful, and allow for extra time. sorry for the long post, but i guess i also just partly wanted to yammer about my play-in-the-snow day.

oh. d'oh. the biggest surprise, which i meant to mention and then forgot: it seems like with a bike the whole 'turn into the skid' thing just comes naturally - in fact my bike seemed like it would do it for me before i even thought about it and before i could muster the adrenaline to panic-snatch back against the skid. i think that may be why it felt so forgiving and flexible to things like that.

okay, done now.

ems in nyc has nice cheap gore tex jackets for like 60$
i use them for the heavy down pour days and havent had a problem.
this is also my first time doing a all winter commute,no problems
thus far but iam about to get a new bike that will have a flip flop
ss/fg hub. i have been riding singlespeed the last few years but i live
so close to my job that i cant justify subaway costs.
did ride in a snowstorm last night at 3am and it was a bad idea,no
visabilty at all but iam alive yay!
gonna avoid the snowy days from here on out.

Wish me luck!

My first snow commute in Calgary is tomorrow am. They're calling for 1 cm of snow and a temperature of -12 C (thats cold for you americans who don't live in alaska or minnesota or some such state) :-)

I got a hardtail MTB clunker with studs. I took it out today to see if I could handle the snow/ice on the roads without killing myself. Did ok. We'll see tomorrow.

If you never hear from me again, you'll know what happened.

Seriously though, this ice thing gives me a lot more trouble than cold. I rode in -12-15 weather two weeks ago without much trouble. I just worry about sliding under a cager.

cheers

R

Good luck. I'm in Minnesota, which is balmy, compared to your relm. I much prefer ice to cold. I avoid the major roads, so there isn't a lot of traffic to concearn me, but the possibility that I am not bundled well enough could mean that I loose digits, a nose, or something else, very dear to me!

Hello everyone. I saw this thread and thought I'd post my first-time experiences.

I currently have 700 mi. logged on my Trek 7100 from my 10 mi. commute (one-way). I ride mainly on country roads.

I picked up commuting by bicycle because of the increased gas prices. Since then I've found a new love and I'm continuing due to the high I get during the trip.

In the warmer weather I'd enjoy the beautiful green fields and an occational barking dog. It was a bit of a testing period for me and the car commuters. I found that the more I wobbled the more room cars gave me. lol

In late November my LBS put on the studded tires I picked up at Peter White's site. The bike mechanic told me this was his first studded tire mounting job. He was intriged as to how the bike rides.

We had a few inches the Friday after Thansgiving and snowing heavily. It was perfect bike riding weather. I put on my balaclava, goggles and helmet. Zipped up and velcroed my yellow rain jacket. I was ready.

I walked my bike out to the end of the driveway. "Great!", I thought, the neighborhood kids stopped playing in the snow to watch my two wheel skiing style. I nervously started peddling in first gear. I could hear the snow crunch as I slowly entered the road. I was riding on snow! I shifted into forth and started to move under more confidence. It felt like I was riding on silk! I enjoyed a quick trip to the store (and later to the laundrymat) to build my confidence and get a good feel of the tire's capability on snow.

From my experiences I notice the rear derailleur freezes a little making the bike have six positions instead of seven. The bell I use to say "hello" when passing the cows makes a "tink, tink" sound instead of the "ding, ding" but I'll continue to ride. I'm having too much fun. 8)

hi tokolosh thanks for asking. You needn't worry though bacause it sounds like things are much more extreme where you are. There was snowfall last week but the ground was too warm for any of it to stay around. I hope I didn't make my commute sound too extreme because so far it really isn't. The worst problem that might arise is ice when I'm going down the hill 'cause the grade is very steep but as I've mentioned, it hasn't happened yet.

I can't believe the weather you have to deal with though. All the packed snow, everything slippery... Jeez, be careful out there!

i hope none of the other canadians overheard that. they'd laugh themselves blue even though we keep telling them theirs is [kids in the hall voice]dry snow[/kids in the hall voice]. can't wait to hear how iceratt made out.

it's all gone here now. that's the thing with us - we have a temperate climate so whatever we get doesn't usually last very long. for us the issue isn't so much not being serious about snow as rarely ever getting consistent practice with it, and then when we do it's that sloppy treacherous kind. today we were back up at +4 and 98% humidity and the snow was pretty much gone.

i'm glad yours was okay. i think it was a weather forecast that made it sound so severe, not you. but i also think it's probably more sensible to over-worry anyway, just in case.

You in Van tokolosh? If you that is very funny.

As you can see I survived. Not a big problem, as the bike trail was clear. Bowness road was a problem though. It;s a two lane road, but the right lane was full of loose granular stuff (not snow and not slush) that tended to redirect my front tire, kind of like sand or loose gravel. Not sure how to solve this problem.

I'm gonna wimp tomorrow as the wind chill is set to hit -35. In american thats &*(^@! cold. I'm gonna try to commute at least three days a week.

I'll keep you all posted

Call your street department and ask them to plow it, or see if they have an email address for that type of stuff.

-35 C?!

Never been in Toronto. Is that typical for the beginning of December?

Yesterday, I drove, because I woke up late, and had to get to an appointment. I only took a short pleasant jaunt, on the bike, to the hardware store. Tonight I'll be riding home from work, when it's forcast to be -3, which will be a record for this "autumn". It's a pleasue to ride along the lake and creek, here. SO, I'll try to avoid thinking about my suffering, and enjoy the view.

Tokolosh:

Judging by your posts you live in Canada? I live in the Vancouver area and have been looking for a local store or a Canadian based web site that sells reflective tape without any luck so far.

Do you mind sharing where you bought the reflective tape.

Thanks,
TD.

main street, around 17th avenue i think, north-west corner. if you start at 16th and keep going up on the west side of main, and you get to king ed without seeing it, retrace your steps. called the 'outdoor fabric store' or something in hand-painted letters on poster paper. that place ROCKS. it's got stuff you want to buy just so you can go home and think of something useful to make out of it.

Thanks, I know exactly which store this is. Ironically I used to live a few blocks from it...but never thought of going in the store. I will make a trip over there tomorrow.

Did my first sub freezing commute today WoHoo!! Had been dabbling in snow and cold on shorter rides after work to get a feel of things. Finally took the plunge this morning. 17F w/a 6F winchill supposedly. Checked the wind direction as NNW. Don't ask me how it was in my face on a 16M trip due South. Had 2 light poly layers, a fleece vest and Fleece Windstopper? light jacket. Perfectly warm on core. Just a baseballcap under my helmet. Actually wet with sweat when done. Cold weather gloves, but fingers got a little cold last 5 M or so. Definately going to shop for some mittens. Toes a little cold with insulated hiking boots... might just suck that up for the most part , or try toe warmers. IPOD was not charged so it felt like a long ride. Beautiful clear sky and a shooting star Not as cold as I feared it might be, not as warm as i hoped it might be- if that makes any sense. Nice ride overall. Christmas is coming... I can't wait to put on my studs, and hope to be able to use them

commuted 3.5 miles to work this morning in the 3 inches of snow we got yesterday here in Wichita, KS. The temp this morning was -1F with the wind chill being -19F. Took me ONLY 22 minutes(Slow) but I stayed warm the whole way. This is the first time the temp has dropped below 0 in Wichita since 1996.

ride on(e)

hmmm it seems this winter will be cold! I still can't believe the below 32F temps in Dallas, TX. I wonder how the bike commuters over there are doing.

Anyway, I still haven't had the pleasure of riding in snow (not just snowing, but snow accumulated on the ground). Sounds fun!

whoa nelly. i just cleaned my chain and derailleur cogs for the first time since our 'cold' snap. i didn't think there was actually that much sand or salt out there, compared with regular weather, but i've just changed my mind. talk about filth! no wonder everything felt so slow and sticky last week. now i'm hoping that cleaning the drivetrain will fix the sticking and chattering, and let me off from having to try and adjust the shifting. don't really want to go back to the bike kitchen that 'showed' me how to replace my brake pads a few weeks ago.

it hasn't rained here for something like two weeks. there's actual sunlight out there! this is very very disturbing. what if i've lost all my rain-riding chops, and the first really cold, hard-raining day that we get i just curl up and whimper like a salted snail? the trouble with being cold and wet all the time for five months of the year is that sure, it builds character - so long as it never lets up. you just get kind of resigned to it. but the moment it stops . . .

So....

i go away for a month and miss all the commuting in snow in Vancouver !

Florida was terrible this time of year, there was no snow, no freezing rain, no hills, and i needed 2 water bottles because of the mid 80's temps......

Must be nice, it is 35F (2C) in Burnaby/Vancouver tonight. My one bottle of water almost turned to slush on the way home from work tonight....

Tomorrow's forecast high is 43F (6C)

whooo. break out the . . . um . . . what is it people break out when the weather turns warm again?