miss wearing my really nice winter gear i bought last season

riding out in the snow before anyone else has.

Less dopey cyclists on the road who show no respect to other road users.

When spring comes in a month or so (hopefully) I will miss the challenge of riding in difficult conditions.
I will also miss the element of surprise, wondering how the conditions will be on the way home or the next day.
I will miss watching the snowplows with my 2 yo daughter on our way to the daycare in the mornings (she really likes the heavy machinery).
But most of all I will miss riding my beloved Nokians and listening to the sweet sound of carbide studs tearing into an iced road.

I will not miss the horrible noise when riding the studded tyres on dry asphalt.
I will not miss it when the ski goggles (or other vital piece of equipment) are at home but I'm at work and I would really, really need them.

In many ways, winter is my favorite season for bike commuting but we have pretty mild ones in NC. Things I like:
- Arriving at work nearly sweat free after riding for 45 minutes.
- Water stays cold in bottles (altho I don't like it when they freeze).
- Easy to dress for the weather when it stays cold all day and I can wear same clothes morning and afternoon.
- You can put on more clothes when it gets colder, but you can only take off so much when it gets really hot.
- Sense of accomplishment from riding to work in subfreezing temps.
- Racking up the miles when most cyclists have quit riding.
- Beating my cycling buds up the hills on weekend rides because I've been riding more.
- Maybe it's my Minnesota blood, but I just like the cold -- way more than the high heat and humidity we get most of the summer.

The Cold Weather. My friends think I'm crazy, but 10 degrees weather is much more preferred than 90 degrees. Especially because it gets so humid in Philadelphia in the summer. Being in the heat really wears me out and makes it really difficult for me to breathe (I have asthma), whereas the cold is circumvented by layers of clothing and proper gear and my lungs generally feel better (if I wear a mask).

I really miss the snow already. I miss going down side streets and having to exercise great balance and patience or I will fall. I don't miss the snowballs and iceballs tossed at me by silly kids though.

Don't forget frozen pawls and derailleurs that won't move.

I miss the empty-ish trail, free of oblivious joggers/walkers with headphones, strollers, unruly dogs, etc, etc.... a couple friends at work (who have short 2-3mi commutes) were commenting last week that it was almost time to start riding, and then they realized I was sitting there--22 mi roundtrip commute at least a couple days a week all winter :)

I won't miss the rutted ice though. At all.

Not sure if I can say it's due to the weather, but I got honked at twice last week, my first honks since fall.

Ah Winter. Seems like only yesterday I was enjoying the sweet melody of snowflakes driven into my helmet by a gentle Northwest breeze with gusts up to 25 mph.

Oh wait, that was this morning.

Seriously, there are some nice things about winter commuting, but I just got on my road bike for the first time last week. Winter is not distant enough for me to feel at all nostalgic about it.

Our bodies must be made differently. I sweat when it is 0 degrees F outside.

:lol::lol:

- not being hot
- not needing to carry a water bottle for a 10mi trip

That's about it. So glad to not have to deal with shoe covers, layers, jackets, balaclava, gloves. We only had a few weeks of "real" winter here, but that was enough. I'm not complaining though - only 1 week of anything frozen on the ground and I was able to ride all winter long without resorting to snow tires or any of that. I think the most annoying time of year is when you need gloves and jackets and such in the morning, but its 85 on the way home and you have to haul all the bulky junk home.

I miss the relative calm around the monuments and other tourist destinations; I miss the expressions of amazement that I would ride in 'such cold weather'

But really? I'm happy its spring.

I think winter drivers give us more space and don't honk because, hey, we're riding a bicycle in the winter. Clearly we're either crazy or have nothing left worth living for; leaving us alone is just a sensible self-defense mechanism.

Man, you're whiny.

How about no skunks...

Bostonians are a bit tougher than Rhode Islanders, we seem to complain about anything under 65.

I miss the frozen rutted footpaths, I miss the frozen toes, gatorade and eyelashes. I miss the slush, sand and slop, NOT.

Me too. I love that instant cooldown, even if I look weird stripping off most of my layers before I go inside.

Yep, but I'll take a 60 degree day over both of them.

2 things I miss about winter commuting

1. absolutely
2. nothing

Oh me too, all 3 of them we get a year.

So I was wondering where all the S's went in your post that would have made your words plural when intended to be plural (driverS, cyclistS, etc)... and then I found them in Squirrelli's post.

On topic, I miss the snow, the cold feeling on the face, even the way my eyelids begin to "stick" shut at about 10-14 below zero. I really like winter commuting...

Thanks.

making fresh tracks on the MUP on the way to work. Or wondering who was there before me.

not dodging 15 gaggles of women out walking dogs on retractable leashes on the way home.

I'm reading about the clothes everyone doesn't like. How long does it take for the car to warm up and scape the windshield?

taking the bike lanes over the MUP this summer, but will miss the scenery of riding by the golf course and park on the power line trail.