I think dramiscram wins the badass award for this thread, though jrickards might be in second place.

It was 9°F yesterday morning and about 13°F this morning. We don't get temperatures like this often, but it's been amazingly pleasant. It's windy, but humidity is low, low, low, and I'm sure the air pressure is high, which is the most important factor to my overall mood. Unfortunately, I haven't been riding my bike. I'm psyching myself up to become as badass as you folks and commute more often. I don't average once a week yet, but I'm making slow progress.

If you can make bike commuting a habit, there's no reason I can't. It's 13 miles each way for me, and I recently found a better route home that skips the dark country road. My new route is a little more urban, which makes me feel safer.

I was super badass this morning, without planning to be! My car broke down, so I rode my bike to the train station and got off at the wrong stop. If I had gotten off at the right place, it would have been two miles. But instead, it was 6.7 miles to work. I learned I could definitely do the whole 13 miles with no more difficulty.

Usually if it's below 20F I'll drive. Since I do have a car I don't see any reason to freeze to death. Plus my wife get's pretty dang mad when I bike in freezing weather, she says I'll get sick.

I hear this kind of things pretty often usually from people who have never ridden in cold weather.
The thing is that i have never been so warm since i started riding in winter why? Because riding made me learn how to dress depending on the weather. Thing i would have barely known just walking

So your saying I'm a wuss, and your tough? Not very nice. I'm pretty sure most people know how to put on many layers of clothes, but if I prefer not to and opt not to ride on the extreme cold days does that make me somehow uncool?
Most people never ride.

My coldest ever was my 7 mile commute from school to home when it was 3F (-16C). I fondly remember it because when I went down on the ice at one point I was going fast enough to slide partway up the exit ramp from the bike path to the street. Good times. That was in 1996. Nowadays I usually drive if it's below 20F (-7C) but a few years ago I did do my current 21 miles to work when it was around 15F.

I personally don't get judgmental about people choosing not to ride in the winter. In fact I would never try to talk anybody into it, - more because of the difficulty of riding a 2 wheeled vehicle on snowy and icy roads in the dark rather than the cold.

I find it interesting how our minds work though. The same people who are convinced that riding in cold weather is somehow bad for me wouldn't think twice about somebody spending two hours skiing, playing outdoor hockey, or ice fishing in the same temperature. Or spending all day at an outdoor construction site for that matter.

For the vast majority of people cycling is simply a warm weather activity and some can't get past that.

There is nothing to do with the fact of being tough or not. You do what you want to do if you don't want to ride that's your choice what bother me is when i hear
riding in cold weather = freezing to death
But i believe that things can be cold if you haven't found the proper system yet for instance.
I'm just fed up of hearing people telling me oh you've got some courage riding in this kind of weather! Aren't you cold? etc.. making assumption that because it's cold outside so i must be cold because with that come the bad drivers pushing me aside on the road telling me that i shouldn't be riding in winter etc..

I have never heard of a commuter cyclist "freezing to death".

My coldest commute was probably in the low 20's, without wind chill. I'm not a wuss, it just doesn't get much colder than that in Central Texas!

Summers, that's a different story.

+1

In fact, I'll take it a step further -- I don't try to talk anyone into commuting by bicycle in any weather.

I rode from home to the supermarket on Monday night to get something for dinner. My wife said I was nuts but didn't try to stop me. We had just gotten freezing rain, so there was a fresh coat of ice on the roads all over. I figured I could figure out a way to get there safely. And I did. I had to descend a steep hill, and as soon as I felt my rear brake skid, I slowed way down. I kept slowing and slowing and kept hearing my tires crushing the soft coating of ice. I think I might have felt my front wheel skid! But it didn't fall out from under me. I moved over to the sidewalk, going very slowly, sliding my right foot on the ground. I made it fine. The steep downhill is about 1/4 mile long, with a round trip of 2 miles.

The rest of my ride was much easier.

I feel like the more skill I acquire doing stuff like this, the better I feel about myself.

I eat danger for breakfast! How about you?

Two winters ago -30C supposedly set some kind of record - so of course I had to go out in it!! About 30 to 40 kms round trip - there was a blizzard and itvwas actuall kinda fun.

This last week or two we've had a cold snap with temperatures as low as -40C once the wind chill is thrown in. Told myself I should stay home but the roads were clear and ended up making the 15km hike downtown just about every day. With Sorel boots, ski goggles, a neoprene balaclava and studded tires - fingers were the only issue and mittens worked better than gloves. No issues but shifting was unreliable because the cable grese thickened up. Not much to do - without a light grease, condensation in cables will freeze up and then you have no gears - I'll take the slow-mo effect instead.

Braking was affected - I'm guessing cold rubber pads on cold metal rims just isn't a great combo, but plan ahead and brake in advance and no issues. What particularly surprised me was that the AAA and Lipo batteries I was using for front and rear lighting still worked like a charm.

But that was last week. Today its +8 and raining. I think terrorists have taken control of the weather!

Winter Commute
 

You guys and gals are all hard core to me. I've realy enjoyed reading about your cold weather commutes. I plan to do some commuting myself soon. I've commuted a few times during the summer, but never considered winter. I've always been more a a runner than cyclist. I've run in single digits and was actually comfortable as long as the wind wasn't bad. I dread wind during the winter. My commute is 13 miles by highway or 15-20 miles if I use back roads. I've been getting my bike prepared. Bought some lights last week. Also training for a marathon right now so my riding has been minimal. I'll let you know how it goes.

I have done the most commuting I ever have in the past 12 months. So far my verified record is 12 degrees with no wind and near zero with wind chill factor. I'm not sure what my bottom line would be, at least not yet.

My friend makes me look like a piker... I do drive when the weather gets brutally cold as my f'd up back has gotten increasingly hypersensitive to cold and it triggers excruciating bouts of pain through my back, legs and feet and then I can't do anything.

She rides every day in any kind of weather and was out yesterday when the wind chill had taken things down to -43C.

Am looking forward to it warming up on the weekend to above freezing temperatures.

Ha! Ya, that's true freezing to death was an exaggeration.

The last couple days we've had a couple inches of fresh snow. I guess in part because of being inspired by this forum I decided to commute by bike in spite of my usual reservation to biking in such conditions. I rode my mountain bike and every thing was fine. The biggest problem I found is that it really bothers other people. Right off the bat yesterday some drivers were giving me angry head shakes, like I was a total jerk or something for not being inside a car. Then a minute later my cousins husband saw me riding and tried to talk me into letting him give me a ride, which was a nice offer, but I kindly refused as I pointed out that I do own a car had I wanted drive. Apparently he was very worried because he proceeded to follow me the next mile and a half until I reached the bottom of the descent I was on. I guess he wanted to protect me from other cars on the downhill. Most of my 10 mile commute is on a bike path, so other than about 2 miles at the beginning of the ride and 1 mile at the end I am safe from cars. As I was on my last one mile stretch my wife's friend happened to see me and proceeded to call my wife and tell her how crazy and unsafe it was that I was biking in the snow. My wife of course agrees with her. Funny, most days I don't see anybody I know on my commute.

The cold snap we are having here has been brutal for those people who live on the street... the shelters are at capacity and there are many charitable efforts to supply warmer winter clothing and blankets.

People do die in this kind of cold or end up losing bits to frostbite.

+1

I'm not a bike commute evangelical however anyone who asks me for help or advice I am of course more than happy to oblige. Bike commuting has to be their decision first and foremost.

New personal best today: -13F. There was very little wind, and it was actually a very comfortable, pleasant ride.

Today was a record for me, 8F with wind chill well below 0F. I only rode 2 miles to the train station, but my thumbs were screaming. Can't seem to solve that with mittens, lobsters, glove liners, etc.