Winter Transportation Plan
 

As winter approaches, what's your transportation plan? Will you bike in the cold? Can you walk everywhere you need to go? Do you take transit for everything, work/shopping/etc.? What about ride-sharing? If you use ride-sharing and/or catch rides with friends and family who drive, do you try to minimize that or are you just happy you don't have to own/drive the car(s) you ride in?

Have you ever posted on the legitimate Winter Cycling on Bike Forums? Or even know that it exists with a sizable number of posters?

What's winter? I hear tell that it still happens in some other places. Hereabouts, we do cool and wet (not really winter and not really very wet or cool any more), followed by warm and wet, followed by fire season, and then back to cool and wet. Never hot, never cold, always wonderful to ride if the smoke doesn't happen to be where you are during fire season (good luck on that one this year).

"Winter " ended 1.5 months ago.

​​​​​​​But yes there is a winter forum here.

I enjoy cooler temps....Fall and winter is my favourite time of the year to ride. Riding on ice is especially fun.

No, I didn't actually. Thanks for letting me know. I really only pay attention to the LCF subforum because that's what I do, i.e. live car free. I posted a thread about winter so people for whom winter is approaching can discuss their transportation plans. I don't know how many posters here actually live car free, though. I think most are 'car-lite' and I wonder how much transportation biking they will do when the temperatures start going very low. It won't get very cold where I live so not much will change for me, besides being able to pedal a bit harder without sweating. I know some people here use studded tires on icy roads, etc. I know you and Machka live in the southern hemisphere, so your summer is approaching, not winter. Thanks for the tip on the winter forum; I may go check that out to see what kind of threads there are.

All the Forums:

https://www.bikeforums.net/forum.php



The Winter Cycling Forum:

https://www.bikeforums.net/winter-cycling/


The Commuting Forum:

https://www.bikeforums.net/commuting/

I plan to drive, ride, walk and take public transportation. Each decision will be guided by numerous factors. You never know. We may even get a December warm up into the 70s like a few years ago, allowing me to take a three-day bike tour.

"In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable."--D.D. Eisenhower

This. It's really quite simple. As both @Rowan and @Machka point out, the details of coping with winter weather on a bicycle are well-covered in the Winter Cycling and Commuting sub-forums -- if the op is actually interested in those details. Absolutely no need for a thread about it here.

I carry my daughter on the back of my e-bike. It's excellent in all weather Inc snow, but naturally it's not fair that she has to freeze.

For this year i've literally stretched the main frame a foot longer, it'll be safer as a SWB tandem. But even then, there will be more in the way of buses and taxis.

There's also winter attire to consider, for both of us.

I ride a bike, as usual :)

I just ride different bikes with different clothing.

It's just a general thread for people who LCF to talk about seasonal planning/prep. The other subforum is great if you are really looking for special tips and advice, but I just thought I'd post a thread here since winter is coming up and there are presumably at least a few people who LCF who read and post here.

Only in the northern hemisphere is winter coming up. In the southern hemisphere where Machka and I live, we have just lived through winter and are now anticipating summer once spring is almost completed.

My medical challenge put aside a lot of the normal riding opportunities we might have had during peak winter, but we still got one of two in during that period. We also did have to put aside a plan to visit Machka's family in Vancouver, Canada, because of my workplace accident.

Where I currently live, winter is not particularly harsh; where I used to live in the southern end of the Great Divide range in Australia, it used to be more interesting, particularly as I was car free for about half of that time (in a total period of 12 straight years). Rain was the major issue, but the occasional widespread snowfall could be interesting although not prohibitive.

You and Machka have such a broad range of experiences, from extreme cold in both hemispheres to wildfire to this insane accident you survived and went through. Although I have often had disagreements with you two, I am also impressed and interested to read about your experiences. Thanks for being online and sharing these amazing life stories.

Thanks for that post, tandempower. It was thoughtful and worthwhile.

My transportation plan has been the same for the last few years. My weekly transportation routine is pretty much the same all year round.... I bike 3-4 times per week and drive 2-3 times per week...Winter weather doesn't dictate what form of transportation I decide to use, I don't have a problem biking through ice and snow.

I take the bus year round.

I would cycle to work in the summer on occasional days, but there's nowhere to put my bicycle when I get there.

Would you be riding your racing bike or an in-town 'beater?' Surely there must be someplace nearby you could lock an old bike and walk a block or two without worrying about the bike all day.

Yes ... we've been offered bicycle parking nearly 1 km away ... if there's room there.

I'm not that keen on cycling 17-18 km (one way), up and over a large hill, through busy morning traffic ... and then having to leave my bicycle in a public bicycle parking area and walk 1 km to work.

If there's not room there, then there are about 5 spots over at the hospital. We can use those if they aren't taken. Any time I've walked past, and I've walked past a lot in the last few months ... they're taken.

Otherwise, there might be room at a carpark about 1 km or more in another direction.

We're free to keep riding around till we find something ... but try not to be too late to work.


We do have the rubbish cage in my building too ... a few bicycles can go in behind the bins and cleaning supplies. But it is wide open to whoever walks up the alley, and there are only about 10 spots for the 10-storey building. They fill up really early.

We have a terrible bike theft problem locally and I have to say I'm pretty happy I can park my bike in my actual office.

I'm grateful that I work at a university campus with endless rows of bicycle racks. When the weather is nice, I sometimes have to park on the far side of the building. After the first morning below about 40F, usually early to mid October, spots become available by the door. After the snow sticks, I can park anywhere I want.

I'm also grateful that I live in a low-theft environment. Most bike thefts are either crimes of opportunity (unlocked bikes) or professional jobs that target high end bicycles.

This. At my university we (faculty) fortunately have private offices, large enough to accommodate a bike. If I were unable to bring my bike inside I would not ride to work; bike theft is a minor industry here both on-campus and city-wide. We have a few of those enclosed locker-things, but only a very few.

Administration makes noises from time to time about prohibiting bikes' being brought into buildings/offices, but fortunately we are a very large, unionized faculty; many are cyclists. That prohibition will never fly.

Are there bike lanes, or would you be in the same lane with the cars for 16km? I do ride on roads without bike lanes, but it is irritating to have cars swerving around you all the time. I much prefer riding in a striped bike lane or other paved shoulder.

Half and half

This is taken from the top of the big hill I mentioned. It's about 10 km to get there.

And the shoulder disappears about there for a while as well. A screaming descent with no shoulder ... for a while. After a bit, we can descend in the bus lane before we're dumped into the main street traffic of the city.


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a16363657c.jpg