I'm not riding through winter. Got a nice bike and don't want the salt & crud to get at it. Can't wait until March, that's when I can start getting out. In the meantime I do allot of walking and use the trainer in the basement, I've also started using the Wii fit thingy and I find it really does help, kills time and it's got some great yoga workouts that stretch me out..

Last week it got up to the low 40's and i'm thinking yeah, spring creeping up sooner. This week mid 20's, grey, and snow off and on. I keep checking the forecast but it seems to be the same for the next week. Oh well, i'll keep riding anyway, such is the life of a commuter.

I'm with you. I rode until late December, when the snow arrived here, and they started salting the roads. I've been looking for a winter beater, but there doesn't seem to be much here on Kijiji or CL. Not going to wreck my only decent bike for the sake of a couple months of cold, windy, dark commutes...

Speaking of salt - we took our bikes on an impromptu vacation down to Florida last February. (Reduced work week due to economy - decided to re-arrange the unpaid time off, an bundle it with 'Family Day', and make a 10 day escape! Threw all our ultralight camping gear in the back of the Civic and we were GONE!) We only rode our bikes maybe 100 km while we were down there, but they were completely rusted out when we got back, as a result of the salt being put on the highways in Ohio, Michigan and Ontario on the drive back up. (There was a blizzard coming through Michigan - we lost count of the number of pickup trucks and SUV's in the ditch! No bad accidents though - just a bunch of test pilots that forgot to SLOW DOWN).

Sorry for getting off track... Main point was that without a winter beater, I'm a pedestrian/bus commuter until spring. Took up running for the winter season, as I can get the salt off my shoes easier than my bike. :-)

So for those of you with winter bikes and the cajones to handle the weather - good for you! Hang in there! For the rest of us, COME ON SPRING!!!

Brawny

I've been unable (or unwilling) to ride all week due to a snow/sleet storm we had in NC last weekend. It finally warmed up some yesterday with lots of sunshine, but there is still a lot of melting snow and ice on the road edges. Thought I might ride this morning, but when I got up at 5:30 am the temperature was hovering at 32 F, and it always drops a few degrees during my commute from 6:30-7:15 am. So I decided not to risk the hazard of hitting black ice, and drove. As much as I wanted to ride, it was a good call. There were a lot of icy patches in spots during my drive to work, and according to the radio reports some bad accidents due to people skidding on black ice.

Anyway, that will probably be our only snow this winter, so I can wait it out. We rarely get more than one snowstorm in a winter, and sometimes go years with none at all.

The temp right now is 14 F. I'm hoping it warms up to at least 20 by the time I need to leave, in 1.5 hours but I really doubt it will. Oh well. On the plus side, turns out the Jeep that got pulled over yesterday was for something serious. When my gf drove past it last night, about a half hour later, two cop cars were sitting there and no one was in the Jeep. I think I might have held up the cop and Jeep just long enough for the cops to run the plates.

and here I thought it was just me. yes, Atlanta is not the snowy wonderland that many of you enjoy but it's dark, grey, rainy, messy and those hills have grown this winter, I swear. Definitely this last week for some reason. Must be the winter depression settling in. come on spring!

there should be closed bike carriers like they have for skis.


on a separate but related note

I washed the salt off my bike on a day that was almost 50 degrees and then when I rode it on a day in the teens the rear der cable was frozen to the rear der cable housing. I had to do a nightime roadside field repair in the snow. it took a good 15 minutes to free it up and get it adjusted right. not amused.

We have around 60-70cm snow, and it came down too quickly. Road maintenance has got a lot of catching up to do, they're running out of men, equipment and places to dump the snow they remove from roads, sidewalks and MUPs. Also, sidewalks and MUPs are not high on their priority at this point. I have not commuted by bike for a couple of days now. It's great fun and good exercise to work my way through the semi-loose stuff, but a couple of days ago my commute took nearly 3 hours (31 km round trip). I cannot spend that kind of time on the road every day, not right now. The streets have been cleared since then, so maybe I'll give it a go tomorrow.

--J

For me, the solution was to stop riding for 2 weeks back in December. It sucked so bad that now I only drive if I really need to for some reason.

That's one of the reasons I don't put water on my bike in the winter, regardless of how dirty it gets. Every time I've done that in the past, I have cables freeze up.

When it happens, I don't bother trying to repair. I can make my commute in 3rd gear or whatever gear it's in in less extra time than it would take me to stop and try to fix it.

Nothing like watching a cager get a ticket to make your day !