Do you work in the weather you commute in?
 

I'm wondering how many have to work outdoors and still commute in the winter? I live in the Illinois and work outdoors fighting the elements everyday. My commuting temp cutoff is anything under 20 degrees I drive. Anyone else have a set temp that stops their commuting?

No temperature cut off for me, I'll ride in any weather. I work in a large machine shop/warehouse, we have heat, but during cold winters the inside of the building is still a little on a cool side, no AC during summer.

I commuted in single digits last winter for the first time, and it wasn't as big a deal as I thought it would be. My winter cycling cutoff is road conditions. If the pavement is mostly dry (icy patches are ok with studded tires, but I don't like deep snow) and the roads haven't become severely narrowed due to the buildup of snow banks, then it's ok to bike.

I have to be in the field about one day per week for work, but I can often pick the day and it's usually not for the whole work day. Pretty cushy really - nothing compared to being out all day every day.

For you, is it that the total time spent in the cold just gets excessive when you add the biking time?

As long as it's 70 degress and no wind or precipitation. Then yes.

I'm inside, which is great this time of year, but not much fun when the weather is nice.

For the last few years there's been a fair amount of construction near or along my commute. It serves as a reminder that as cold as I might feel on any given morning, it's only for about 45 minutes or so. There a lots of people outside all the time. My hats off to them and to you. I'm not sure I'd want to ride a bike in the clothes that I'd have to wear to stay warm all day.

I don't have a temperature cutoff though. I've ridden into the -20s. Like Spid if the snow gets too deep I won't bike. When it's easier to walk than it is to ride, it doesn't make much sense to me.

My work is trees so yes.

I've worked outside most of my life, the few times I tried indoor work it felt like a living death to me, no weather's that bad.

No. Office job. At least I have my own office, so that's much better. Temp cutoff about the same as OP. I might make the high teens but that's about it. Have ridden down to 11F. You really need additional/different clothing at that point.

I work in a machine shop, so I'm indoors. But there's no cutoff for bike commuting, and I can enjoy myself outside all day when I'm not working.

That might not be the same though -- any outside job that involves a lot of standing around would really suck.

Office job here, and my cutoff is about 20°F. I want to say the lowest temp I saw on my bike computer display last winter was 19. But my commute takes me anywhere from 65-90 minutes each way. Riding a bike for 1.5 hours in 20 degrees isn't always fun, at least not at 6 AM.

Outdoors all day , all year round. No cutoff temp, so far lowest was last years 5 degrees f. Usually I feel warmer riding than working, so I look forward to the ride home, for more than just being the end of the day. But when I do get home in front of the fire during the winter, wild horses couldnt drag me back out.

I'm primarily outside, yes.

- Andy

I work mostly indoors. Unfortunately or fortunately I work in 2 different buildings about 1/4 mi apart. Usually walk 1-2 mi 'tween the buildings daily. Then again Phoenix weather is easy to handle outside.

It's not the cold weather that gets me to stop; it's the ice on the roads. There comes a time when the roads where I live become a solid sheet of ice and that is when I pack it in and start to drive.

i my self work both indoors and outdoors.i am ahead custodian at a school. as for commuting i will commute until roads are not safe.Usually because of snow banks as i ride on some narrow suburban streets.once there is room or sidewalks are passable back to riding.as for temp i think the lowest i have rode in is the teens.i have a 5 mile commute each way. Which isn't bad takes anywhere from 20 -30 minutes depending on traffic lights etc..in the a.m am out of house about 5:15 so car traffic is not that bad and i ride basiclly the same route everyday.

I work indoors. In my 30s I regularly rode in snow and ice down to 15°F with some experiments down to 0°F. Cable lines seized, snow and ice clogged the gears and chain; finger and toes froze. Fun but not practical. Since my mid 40s I settled on 23°F as my cut-off temp. And no more snow and ice riding. Last winter at 52 years old, after a frustrating three weeks of cold, icy weather I decided to ride to work in sunny but 15°F snow-packed streets, weather be damned. I got a quarter mile from home, slipped, fell and slid down a slight hill; and while I wasn't hurt, I realized I didn't have the right winter tires (okay, they weren't winter tires at all, but smooth 1.75" road tires). And in the 10 minutes it took to walk home my toes and fingers started to really feel it. The winters in Colorado Springs are much milder and drier than in Chicago or Iowa, so there are more biking days for me. And with plenty of memories of the fun of snow-riding, and fresher memories of my injury five years ago, I've decided to play it safe.