It's about 20F outside and we had over 6 inches of snow that tapered off yesterday afternoon. Most of the streets along my five mile route were cleared of snow, but the streets in my neighborhood were still covered in deep rutted snow as of this morning. I learned years ago that it took me less time to get to work through deep snow with my bicycle than it does for me to clear a path from my driveway to a plowed street for a car. If I can't ride through it, I can pick up my bike and carry it to a better surface.
Dealing with the snow is easy compared to dealing with drivers seemingly deliberately trying to hit me with their vehicles. In my 8 years of commuting to work by bicycle as an adult, I have rarely encountered any dangerous situations until I had two close calls last Thursday when drivers pulled out into my immediate path. I'm really inclined to say they were both simply terribly bad at driving as no words were exchanged in either instance, but they both had ample time to pull out without any drama and both seemed to alter their course closer to me after I made evasive maneuvers. Both instances occurred on streets for which I have no suitable alternate route, one on Watertown Plank Rd and the other on the street I live on.