Home is northeast Ohio, so we actually do get winter weather, not just a line on the calendar saying 'first day of winter'...

I ride as much as I can during the winter. Limiting factor is usually when the snow gets too deep to get through. That means it's Basement Bike time (stationary bike, that is).

Had a mountain bike ride and a rail trail ride over the Thanksgiving holiday - both in the snow and ice. And a good time was had by all.

Steve Z

Here in Southern Ontario in the lee of the lakes, our winters are pretty mild generally speaking. We might get a few days of -18c (0f).but it's very rare that it gets any colder than that.
After witnessing cyclists braving the weather in the Northwest Territories during the winter I worked there, I don't grumble about our winters.

I ride all winter. The ride length and frequency go down.

- Ed

I live in michigan, I ride all year 5 to 6 times a week. Yesterday was 30 degrees and beautiful.
I feel empowered and strong riding in the winter, it actually is my favorite time to ride.

I just got home from work and I will go ride my fixie lol I usually ride a vintage Schwinn Spitfire 5. Usually ride 20 miles at a time.

I am 60 years old

I used to commute year-round in Michigan. My commute was short -- just shy of 2 miles -- and the time spent outside in the elements was roughly similar to what I'd have spent walking in from the employee parking lot. In addition to the commute, I rode when I could on weekends.

Then I moved. Wife insisted, dragged me kicking and screaming. Now the commute is 11 by car or 14 by bike. The "by bike" route includes three unavoidable choke points which would be extremely dangerous on a bike, and the morning commute would be in dark for 2/3 of the year. So I no longer bicycle-commute. And although there are a couple of low-traffic routes I could do in the winter, the bike's put up and I really have a problem getting motivated.

So, since I moved, not much mileage in the winter. Instead, I enrolled in a lap swim class at the local CC. Unfortunately for me, the college recently decided that its primary mission isn't to provide classes to the community; it's to make money. Swim classes don't make money. So the pool has now been filled in so they can have another food court. Don't know yet what I'll do for this winter.

I've posted this photo before. So, yes. I ride all winter in wind, rain, sleet, snow, ice, dark and sunshine.

I try to, weather permitting. I have a comfort limit for road bikes of about 25F. Colder than that, if I ride, it's on a cruiser, in ski pants, on a local MUP. I've ridden down to 15F.

I also won't ride, especially after dark, when the conditions are right for black ice forming.

I ride less in the winter, but I ride year round. Lately I'm down to one or two quality rides a week. Once I adjust to the shorter days, cooler temps and fewer others wanting to ride, I'll pick it up a bit, though not as much as during warmer weather. I usually do more mountain biking and less road riding during the winter.

Like tsl I'm a year round bike commuter (but not otherwise car free) and have been since September 2007. I'm lucky that we have more temperate winters in the DC area. The first winter I balked at riding a couple of mornings after having to deal with unforecasted sheets of ice on a commute home in early December. Since then I have not missed a bike commute for weather related reasons.

Weekends I will also get out and do some longer rides, some events, some group, but mostly solo. I do find I'm less motivated to get up early on a Saturday morning on cold wet days for a solo ride, and those are the days I'm more likely skip.

Of course.........I live in SoCal - San Diego. Nov and Dec are base mile rides with HIT (High Intensity Training) starting in Jan for the 2014 race season. Our road racing starts in late Jan / early Feb then velodrome racing in April til late Sept.

You boys who get out there and ride in the snow: badass.

I was riding in the snow last weekend. Though slightly above freezing there was plenty of ice, snow, slush and a mixture of same with mud (whatever that's called) on a mountain bike ride above Big Bear Lake. It was pretty bad, plus I was getting colder by the minute.

Then it started to rain. I was expecting snow, but this was definitely rain. By the time I got back to our cabin I was very cold, very wet and very mud splattered (as was my bike). Still . . . a pretty ride in a cold and snow kind of way.



Thankfully there were sections of dry trail (see photo above). And, when I got home (Whittier) and went riding on Sunday it was a beautiful dry and sunny day.

https://www.strava.com/activities/98181194

So yes, I ride though the winter. Sometimes at altitude, sometimes at (prettty much) sea level.

Rick / OCRR

Yes, I have been riding to school or to work all winter since I started riding bikes seriously, back in 1971. The commute nowadays is about 19 km in to work and anywhere from 21 km and up on the way back, depending on how much time I've got and how I feel. Of course, if it's snowing, I try to minimize time on the road. In the summers, I can do the 20 km to work in 50 to 52 minutes, but in the winter snow and ice, it could take over an hour. Ever since I've lived in Vancouver, BC, I have used a fixie for winter riding. It's easier to control the bike on ice, especially on descents. I don't use any special equipment, just the same 23mm tires I use in the summer. This winter, though, I'll be using a front disk brake in order to save wear on the rims. I think they're making rim walls thinner these days; rims don't seem to last as long as they used to. They'll develop longitudinal cracks, or they will weaken to the point that the innertube will pop out after the sidewall gives and the tire explodes! So the front disk will give me one less thing to worry about.

If you can find safe places to ride in the snow, I think it will greatly improve your bike-handling skills. Around Vancouver, it will snow maybe twice in a winter, with the snow staying around from 3 days to a couple of weeks. The first day of snow is usually quite ridable. By the second day, though, the cars have packed the snow down, so it gets tricky to ride over the bumps, some of which can be icy. Or if it thaws and then refreezes, you get hard icy bumps underneath the top layer of snow.

The snow on the coast tends to be quite wet, so it's easier for it to get hard and icy. The snow in the interior is much drier. It's easier to drive a car thru dry snow, but there's usually too much of it to be able to navigate a bicycle over it. Because of the wet snow, though, drivers in Vancouver tend to be more careful and to drive slower. I think most of the car-car collisions in Vancouver are caused by drivers from the Canadian prairie who think they know how to drive in snow, much better than these slow Vancouver drivers. they don't realize that the Vanc drivers are slow for a good reason.

But having said that, I am NOT looking forward to riding in the snow. I kind of hope global warming will stop snow from falling in the Pac NW, if only at sea level.

Luis

yes, I ride thru the winter. I want to point out it is not uncommon for the temperature at the start of club rides in Phoenix, December thru early March, to be in the 30's at the start. It can warm up to the 50's by the end of the ride around noon.

I ride all winter long, unless there is ice on the roads. I’m retired and I ride to the Air Force base gym three or four times each week to work out for a couple hours, then go to the grocery if necessary. Rides are usually 10 to 15 miles. And I usually get in a weekend ride of 15 to 20 miles. Local county and city roads department keep the streets/roads pretty clean, very few days I can't ride.

Dick

Well, I drove home this afternoon. Glad I took the car today. As expected they are driving like total muppets out there today. A few more days and it will be safe to get the bike out again.

I get in some rides through the winter here in WI. I prefer to hike and snowshoe in the winter, but do ride when the roads are clear and the sun shines on my days off, with temps all the way down to the teens.

I'm intrigued by the high vis garment in this picture. What is it and where can I get one?

Your experience is 180º away from mine in Vancouver. Drivers in Vancouver, in my experience are the worst I have ever seen in the snow. They have no idea how to drive in it, they do not have proper winter tires and like all seasons, they follow too damn close on over crowded roads, and have no traction.

I used to sit in my living room in Vancouver and count the idiots sailing backwards down the hill by my house because they were going to fast in the corner on summer tires.

Summer or winter, I have yet to see drivers in Vancouver drive slow for any reason.

Since I have both a fluid trainer and and an elliptical at home, and a light rail option that runs pretty much door to door, I don't have a good reason to ride the 16.5 mile minimum each way if snow and ice are going to push the time up and the workout quality down. Did enough of that on my upper midwestern paper route some 45 years ago. On the other hand, I'll run in any weather.

I'm not sure if this qualifies as winter riding but good for you!

It rains here 8 months of the year , and the Beer is not delivered [ have yet to set up the home Brewery.]
[3 micros in town , so the bother is harder to justify]

You kinda work your way into it! Here in western Michigan we get 8' during the year. Studded tires, although slow, are more fun than an indoor trainer. MUP's after a few inches of rutted ice and snow are more fun than single trackin' in the dirt. Always invoke Rule #9.

Marc

I ride all winter when I can get out safely. Last Sunday I was part of a group fixie ride that followed an abandoned rail line by riding on the rough stone ballast next to the old rails and ties. It was about 27 - 35 degrees during the 3.5 hr ride over 4" of foot traffic crusted, ATV packed and virgin snow. We went from Kent OH to Windham OH and back. Tomorrow is a group night ride out on country roads near my home. We should get in around 33 miles and it will be warmer at 37 degrees at the 6:30 ride time. One of the best things with the night rides is we start and end at a brew pub that in the summer is frequented with motorcyclist. We are Velominati rule #9 followers.

I ride all winter-never miss a day.
Of course-I live in metro NOLA.

Alas, I am merely a fair-weather winter rider. I wait for the snow to melt from my riding spots. I rode in snow exactly once, and, after learning how well my bike stops with snow on the brake pads (not well at all!) I decided that snow riding is just not for me...