Winter Sucks - Weekend Snow ruined my Weekend 150-mile Bike Ride Plan
 

I woke up early, shaved, showered, packed my food in a container for the day, and I'm raring to go on a 75-mile ride today (and another 75-mile ride tomorrow). Now, as I look outside my window, it's snowing. It is going to snow in the evening. It is going to snow tomorrow, as well. The roads are going to be wet and slippery. I trust my bike riding skills, but I do not trust the crazy car drivers in this country.

This puts my weekend bike-riding plan on hold. I am going to stay home and stay warm. I will work on fixing my bikes, do some online shopping, clean-up my home, do my laundry, and catch-up on some work deadlines I have for the next week.

Nothing stops me from bike riding, except for the snow. As long as the roads are dry, I am always up for bike-riding. I hate snow. I hate winters. Thanks for listening to my snow-induced tirade, which concludes now.

I'm going riding, but just 15 miles or so. No cars.

Pic from Thursday:
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b0346d7882.jpg


Today will probably look more like this unfortunately:
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e003819ad5.jpg

Thursday was a dry day for me. In fact, today is the first snowy day of this winter season for me. I will have to ride approximately 11 miles on city roads, amidst cars, to reach a trail-like location similar to the one depicted in your pictures, where there is no vehicular traffic.

I am too chicken to ride in the snow, due to safety reasons. I wish you have a good day of bike riding and enjoy yourself.

Winter doesn't suck it's your location that sucks.....Here where I live I can avoid high traffic roads and use secondary streets with less traffic and I also have off road paths and trails that I can ride on. Winter riding can be fun depending on the location of where you live.

Why did this all come as a surprise?

Different strokes. I really miss snow since I moved to Tallahassee. I love the winters here because most of the time they are like Fall up north. If I get out at dawn I still get to ride in the 30s F quite a bit and even the 20s F a little, but no snow. These days I stick to mostly mountain biking for my daily riding fix.

A little snow is great for mountain biking, hiking, or trail running. With more snow snowshoeing or XC skiing are another option. Maybe look at it as an opportunity to do something you can't do all the time.

Weather Underground keeps it real...

Snow and slick roads do suck.
I suggest you look at a weather forecast multiple times in the week leading up to your next big riding weekend.

Love the Snow
 

I am your complete opposite. I love Winter! It's where I live so might as well embrace it. When I wake up to a fresh snow or see 3 to 5" expected I get giddy. My favorite thing is riding in a blizzard - I mean within reason. There comes a point where it gets too deep. Of course I am talking about trail riding vs road.

I'm stuck on shaving and showering before heading off to ride 75 miles.

Zwift.

You’d have to have been living under a rock not to know about the storm hitting the NE this weekend. Started snowing in Philadelphia about 30 min. ago. It’s going to change to heavy rain later, but the Poconos could get up to 12” in places. And another Nor’Easter is on tap for Thursday, with 3” of rain possible and strong winds.

Move, move to a warmer climate that does not interfere with your lifestyle. I stayed here in the frozen tundra at a pivotal moment in my 20's because I thoroughly enjoyed X-C skiing. I still enjoy it, but my knees tell me otherwise, and ya gotta listen to da knees!
Now I hate winter because I am limited in what I can do outside. Hopefully my wife come around to my suggestion above, and agrees to move to a warmer climate that does not interfere with our lifestyle.

I can't. As a self-employed, you make a commitment to your business. It will be a hard decision to move since it takes years and years to build business at a particular place. It is not a decision I can make like employed people, who can quit one job at a place/state on Friday and quickly move to another place/state to start the next job the following Monday. Moving means potentially losing some customers and income. Personally, I prefer to remain where I am as I have no desire to work for someone else. If I were to move, it would be a one-time event in my life as a business owner, accepting the loss of existing customers in the current location and working towards building a new customer base in a new location.

I am located in the Midwestern US, where we haven't been affected by the snowstorm as severely as the Northeastern US. To all those in the Northeast, I wish you safe driving if you are on the streets. Stay safe.

When I relied on cycling for most of my exercise, our winters were frustrating, at times, especially when our trails are snow and ice covered. I like to ride outside in daylight, with a temp of at least 40F and reasonably reliable traction even if it’s wet or muddy. Combine that with my most demanding workload of the year and it isn’t very practical in winter.

For the last year I’ve organized my exercise around running three times a week plus cross training and a lot of strength training. I fit cycling in when the stars align in winter plus a lot more cycling during warm weather. It’s a lot more practical and sustainable for me. YMMV.

Otto

Not if you're using studded tires and plan your route carefully.

thank you for sharing.

True!

I have been enjoying it for decades.

First week of January almost over and I haven't even put the plow on the truck yet. XC skiing? Ice fishing? Not a chance after our warmest December on record.

the snow came after todays icy cold ride. i doubt it'll clear up any time soon. ugh

Another perfect day for snowriding here. Unfortunately they're predicting 6-8", which will make it too deep for fun times. If that's accurate, gonna have to start looking into groomed trails for a while. Not sure if 3" tires are gonna work on those or if I'll have to get some 4" fatties.

https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net...-1152x2048.jpg

In other news, it snows in the winter.

And either you have roads with few cars or roads with competent drivers or you have access to trails, etc. I've ridden/walked home here in Portland where I've crossed tire tracks on the sidewalk. (Like 3 or 4 sets in a mile.) Pulled up at intersections, lifted my bike onto the sidewalk and let the following cars slide on through.

Enjoyed a fair amount of single track mtb riding when the snow is just right. Like the three bears, not too soft, not frozen, not too deep, but just right. Have to dress for it and keeping toes war was a challenge since I didn’t have winter mtb shoes.

I didn't let the snow get in the way of riding today. I could've really used a fat bike, but this builds character. On another positive note, I get all the benefits of a climby 50 mile road ride in less than half the distance with this sorta weather.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b8d8ac3e7c.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d7cb3843f4.jpg