Forecast is Snow
 

It won't stick but our first forecast of snow has been dumped on us. I'm hoping for one more ride in Denali Park but the next several days look like bad weather. Fingers crossed. Studs going onto my mtn bike and my fat bike will get a check for Stans juiice.... Just the other day was the first day of Fall. Tomorrow...winter.

I'm a winter cyclist.

I'd really like to see photos of Anchorage's extensive bike lanes being used in the deep of winter.

Anchorage has extensive bike lanes? I see folks riding on sidewalks most often in the downtown area. The multiuser paths aren't maintained in the winter as far as I know but I'm from Fairbanks.

Saw the thread title and scared me - not ready for winter just yet - glad to find out you are in Alaska and not near me!:)

Where you are, if you're not into winter cycling, I image your season is pretty short, like mid-May to about now?

We do ride year round but by April we're generally on our road bikes in a serious way and March can even see us on them at times. Fairbanks doesn't get a lot of snow and with recent warming trends (thank you to everyone burning fossil fuel!) it seems our road riding season is extending.

AK has 3 days of Fall? Seems kinda short. Yikes. Not quite ready to break out the studded tires here in MA.

Sometimes we skip Fall entirely. I recall a serious snowstorm in the first week or two of Sept. one year and it never let up after that, but that's unusual. Happily it doesn't get as cold as it used to. We've had -75F at our house but that was way back in the previous century before the thermostat was turned up to high on the planet. I always feel a bit guilty when riding my bike in that I'm not contributing to global warming but I try to my share at other times.

Finding that Orange Seal works better than Stan's in fat bike tires when cold. You having good luck with Stan's? I use it in my MTB tires but OS in the fat bike. Im also getting the fat bike and Cross bike ready...winter will be here in Nov-Dec.

Yes it does have extensive bike lanes. I picked up a bike route map from one of the government parks offices when I was there. And when I took a walk from the Captain Cook Hotel to about 2 miles east to get groceries, there were lots of on-road bike lanes. What I was curious was how they were used in the winter in deep snow.

I just took part in a forum with video feeds between Anchorage and Fairbanks on our new attempts at a statewide Bike/Pedestrian plan and the subject of winter maintenance of sidewalks and bike paths was a topic that got a lot of attention. The complaint was that both sidewalks and near-to-the-road bike paths become nothing more than a dumping ground for snow removal. One of the issues at the bottom of it, as suggested to me later, is the problem with the laws that require that IF you plow/clear a walkway it has to be done to certain specifications. Disabled people in particular have a right to use such paths and clearing paths to that extent is virtually impossible so in most cases the paths and many sidewalks are simply not touched. In Fairbanks our mulituse paths become snow machine trails in the winter which for the most part, is fine with fat tire bikers. Having spent a fair bit of time in Anchorage, I would not say it has extensive bike lanes. The map may look good but if you spend a week riding around town in Anchorage and then spend a week riding around town in Tucson you'll find out what extensive bike lanes means. While it's true that there are some decent multiuser paths that wind around town they are heavily used by families and runners and aren't really appropriate for cyclist rolling at 20mph. It's not a bad place if you like to ride slow and easy but for serious cyclists it's a pretty dismal town IMHO.

Doesn't it get muddy in the spring?

Whenever there is talk of installing new bike lanes inevitability there will be a snicker at cyclists in the winter when those lanes are used to pile snow as the car lanes are cleared.

But Toronto does have snow clearing for bike lanes. You can find a video on YouTube. "City of Toronto - Bike Lane Snow Removal". Surprisingly, I haven't heard or read complaints about the waste of taxpayers money doing this.

yup
 

Particularly in the villages. It's always easy to tell when somebody comes to town from the bush because they are in their mud boots at Fred Meyer when it's not really muddy locally...

Wow nice pics. Cant imagine. 83 today but cooler weather is on the way.