zeroderby

Does anyone else have to carry/push their bikes through deep snow on their commute. I have about 1.5km of this stuff.

electrik

What, edmonton sold all their snowplows??

I'm surprised you subject your fsr to such abuse! I wish you good luck geting the rusted horst-link bearings out

Totaled108

My goodness!!! Nice, that's quite a bit oh the white rain. We had 4 inches for about 2 days. Today was 55F with 15-28mph head winds on the way to work. It would have been the same as riding in 12" of snow. But the ride home was GREAT same winds, but now at my back.

Good luck with the snow riding. Looks like fun.

zeroderby

It would be about 3kms of this if it wasn't for someone taking a personal snowblower to the trail. In the summer it is a nicley paved trail. The city said I am the only person to have called in to about snow removal on it. I try to avoid the salt/sand/slme as much as possible but it is definately getting abused. The problem is that it is so much more enjoyable to ride than my winter beater. I haven't taken my winter beater out of the garage yet this winter. Yesterday I noticed that my front derailluer is stuck in the big ring, I think the cable has gunk in it but I haven't had a chance to take a close look at it yet.

vtjim

Look at those gnarly studded tires!

I've ridden in 4 or 5 inches of fluff. It's not the depth as much as it is the consistency. Right now I'm dealing with only a two or three inches of mashed potato snow but I have to walk it in a few spots.

DogBoy

Worst I've done is 8" for 5 miles. It took me over an hour. It was really bad until I came to a road where a few cars had gone through, then I could ride in their tracks.

ItsJustMe

Since my bike has 700C tires, it does very badly in snow more than a few inches deep. I've ridden in probably 6" snow but I've decided on days like that, I'll just work from home or drive.

My bike doesn't even do all that well in snow cars have driven on; the ruts tend to throw my wheels around.

neil

My commute is 100% plowed. I haven't ridden in fresh snowfall yet, so I've had no problems. The only spot where there's been snow is a 5 metre stretch where there's a median between the one way road and the counterflow bike lane. That went a couple of months without being cleared (and had a windrow at one end for good measure), but it's good now. It was fine to ride through, but I had to stop and walk across the windrow (no dismounting necessary) when it was still there.

rubic

What is this snow that you speak of?

electrik

Yah, the FD is a bottom pull... so more gunk can get slide down into the cable. Oh well, glad you are enjoying it and be sure to get a good shop to swap out your bearings in the spring... gonna be a tough job!

bugly64

We haven't had snow for at least 2 weeks. I am not missing it at all, but the Kona Blast has studs for it's reappearance.

MulliganAl

It was 60 degrees today, no snow around these parts.

Arcanum

Depending on the day, location along the commute, and whether some places have been plowed since the last snow, anywhere from nonexistent to 4ish inches.

shouldberiding

It's usually under 3". Most of the time it's a thin crust of hard pack snow so it's easy going.

But I work Saturdays and the plowing is lacking on the weekends. I've done up to a foot of snow in short bursts, but that is a really rare occurrence.

Tundra_Man 

I rode home in 5" of fresh white powder once. Took me over an hour on a normal 25 minute trip. I averaged less than 6 mph and had to keep stopping to let my heart rate come down from the stratosphere. I was generating tons of body heat and almost no air movement, so my goggles froze over after a couple of miles, forcing me to remove them to see.

I've since decided that if there's more than 2" unplowed on the ground, then I'll put off riding for a day or two until they get everything cleared. Like someone else mentioned above, riding on the hard pack isn't too bad. The fresh stuff makes you work, though.

Closed Office

I have a really nice snowplow just 2 inches wide. Go anywhere

What for? And why a shop?

City folk!

Just kidding around, don't mind me, but I have commuted by bicycle for a lot of winters and never had any bearing problems from it.

thdave

It really depends on the snow. I went through ~5 inches two weeks ago, but it was light and fluffy and I only stayed in the unplowed stuff for a couple of miles. But if we get just 3 or 4 inches of the wet stuff, with a freeze/thaw cycle thrown in, the work you have to do to get through it can be overwhelming.

Pig_Chaser

I have had to carry/push the bike. But it's the exception rather than the norm. Back when we had that huge dump, there was a about 200m where it was just plain suicidal to ride, so I'd shoulder the bike and huff it. All the roads are clear now and I'm enjoying some of the best winter commuting conditions of the season. I've upped the pressure in the studs .

Where are you riding? You must be cutting across fields or something.

ghettocruiser

Nice fork.

Great to see your mountain bike being ridden, not hidden, in the winter.

frymaster

if your mups aren't being plowed in edmonton, you need to get on the horn to your alderman and raise a ruckus!

in calgary it didn't take much pressure to get two of the alderman onside with mup-plowing and now most of the paths get a scraping after every big snowfall. if it can be done in cowtown, certainly it can be done in the city that gave us tooker gomberg!

LesMcLuffAlot

Anymore than 10cms of it for this guy the fun starts to fade.

mstuedel

This morning when I went to work the streets were all clear, and this was still the case at around 4 pm; then it started snowing heavily and at the time I left we had about 3 cm of snow on the ground. Not much, but I was not really prepared this time... ;-)

hshearer

Well, you've certainly got Saskatoon beat... we have lots of bare pavement on the MUPs and roads, and even the trails just have thin layer of packed down snow... I'm addicted enough that I'm still riding most of them. Nices tires! I have the same ones.

tjspiel

I can handle that much snow for only a short distance. The bigger problem if there's that much fresh snow, is that a lot of it on the roads will have been partially plowed and been pushed around by cars which makes it really dangerous for me to ride on. If it's still snowing and the storm has already produced 3 or 4 inches, I'll leave the bike wherever it is and find another way to wherever I'm going.

zeroderby

The trail starts in Cameron heights and goes down to the Anthony Henday bridge. But I then have to cut across a a field/forrest to get back up to south side of Henday and to a road. The trail on the other side of the river isn't plowed either. In the summer I have the option of staying on the paved trail once I cross the river if it is wet or taking the trails when it is dry. The city said no one needs that trail to get to transit or schools so it is treated as recreational. I have a couple of seperate sections that are unridable. I wouldn't be riding if I had to walk/push/carry any more than I am now.