naisme

I pulling a wait and see. In town relatives have said if it's bad don't come for X-Mas. But I live in MN, so what's bad? I just think they're afraid if it's real bad they might have to put people up for the night. Got the studs on the fixie, now it's just waiting for this to blow up, blow over, or whatever.

CastIron

WCCO is calling it "Snowmageddon". It's getting bit thick.

cgm55082

I noticed a couple of fellow Minnesota snow riders posting in this thread. I'm in Stillwater awaiting "the worst snowstorm in state history." I'm happy to have snuck in a good ride earlier today. I love riding in snowstorms, but if we indeed get upwards of a foot of snow, it may take a couple of days before I can get through it all (my Nokians unfortunately have their limits). Any fellow posters in this area of Minnesota? I saw a couple of riders when I was out today and always wonder if they might be people who also post on this site.

PaulRivers

Have you ever noticed how sensationalistic the news is?

Take that much, and double it, and that's what you get from the weather report. If there's the slightest chance of a real storm, they will talk it up like it's the 2nd coming of...the last really huge blizzard, no matter what.

A couple of summers ago I remember watching the news and this supposed big thunderstorm was rolling in. Boy, were those news people excited! "Stay inside!!!" "Go to your basement!" I'm not kidding here - their advice was actually to go to the basement, then get under a table or sturdy object (in case your house collapsed?). It was very, very, very dangerous they said.

...and then they cut to their reporter doing a live, realtime report on the storm - outside.

ianjk

Last night was my last ride without studs up here in Duluth... Looks like we are going to get hit pretty hard. Hopefully I get my new Nokians sometime soon!

gerv 

We've been blessed with a forecast of rain until late today, then a mixture of freezing rain and snow, 6+ inches. However, more northerly Iowa towns, particularly to the west could get up to 15 inches. Your Nokians wouldn't be of much help in that kind of snow.

tjspiel

I saw that on their website and it gave me a chuckle. I got the impression that whoever wrote that was taking their own poke at the hype.

We've gotten a fair amount of snow so far. Even if we get everything that's being predicted, it will have been spread out over a few days so it's manageable. I took some time off for work over the holidays so I won't be commuting for another week but I'll try and get out some to work on technique.

swwhite

I tried to go to work by bike this morning (December 24, 2009) through about six inches of snow on unplowed streets, and couldn't do it. I just can't push through that much snow, especially after it has been driven on and turned to greasy mush.

Later in the morning, I drove my kid to work and then went on to work myself. We noticed that as soon as we got out of Minneapolis into the suburbs, the streets were plowed nicely. I live about a mile and a half from the border between Minneapolis and suburb, so if I had toughed it out a bit on the bike, I might have been able to get to work once I got out of town. But, like Clint Eastwood said, "A man's got to know his limitations."

Arvadaman

I doubt it will "Snowmageddon." We had 6 inches here west of Denver. I took a short ride this morning after shoveling the walk in front of the house. The snow was light and the temperature was not all that cold.

Was nice and I got to be the first bike on the MUP this morning. I rode around on the streets for awhile and did short portion of the local MUP. A nice morning to ride and watch everyone shovel out. I was ready to take off the face mask by the time I got home. It was getting pretty hot.

rumrunn6

so ... how was the storm? what did you guys get?

PaulRivers

Over a foot, judging by my driveway.

On the one hand, it didn't come all at once (it came in waves) so it didn't seem as bad as it sounded. On the other hand, the back streets are still covered in snow - there was a lot of snow.

rumrunn6

well, that's pretty much unrideable, right?

PaulRivers

I suspect that anything short of a Pugsley:
https://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:M...y-pugsley1.jpg

Would find it very difficult to get through a foot of snow. Not even sure about that, to be honest I don't own a studded tire wider than 35c yet.

But I can say that while Christmas was on Friday the 25th, I was out biking on Sunday the 27th and the major bike trails here were already plowed at that point. There was one stretch where they weren't plowed that well, but it was still good enough that I made it through on my 35c Schwalbe Marathon winter's, which are pretty terrible in more than an inch or two of snow. I biked 90% of the way out to the suburbs to visit my dad before running into where they stopped plowing and I had to call and get picked up.

rumrunn6

been out briefly today to get the mail and pay bills. it's horrible out 16 degrees F w/ 30 mph wind and 50 mph gusts! no one in their right mind would be on a bike now, but on my way to the post office I was eying the road shoulders and the dirt rd up to the water tower ... I need to test some things ...

buzzman

Thank you for letting me know I am not "in my right mind". I must be in what's left of my mind. But I had a nice ride in that weather.

rumrunn6

buzzman - you inglorious bastard! I never got out today - dismantling the train table and going through the extra bikes for sale (8) took all day - oh and I got the studs going the right way ... hahaha Tomorrow is another day! Happy commuting - I'm off all week.

tjspiel

I'd say about a foot near me as well. Wouldn't have been so bad if there hadn't been some rain mixed in for awhile. Side streets are an icy, rutted mess and will probably be that way for the near future.

I've been up in Duluth for the last couple of days where supposedly they had 24 inches but it doesn't look like that much to me. Duluth is a strange place weatherwise though so maybe parts of the city got it worse than others.