prairiepedaler

No, no no no no!

Winnipeg just received an early taste of winter over the last few days with temperatures about 10 degrees lower than normal. The jet stream brought in arctic air and then snow given the moisture in the atmosphere. The streets are icy at the moment as will be the bike paths. This snow will eventually mostly melt or evaporate I estimate but riding right now on anything but studs may prove tricky. The Schwalbe Marathon 365 is usually the go to interim tire this time of year. Early snowfall always makes the winters seem much longer. On the bright side, November is forecast to be quite nice. Moral of the story, enjoy the rideable roads when you can!

mercator

Yup. Same here in 'berta. I haven't hung up the skinny tires yet, but the studs are on the winter bike and I've had to dig out the winter clothes.

gecho

We got 10 cm in Regina back on Monday. It was wet stuff that resulted in a lot of ice when it got cold that night. I finally got over the winter denial and put my studded tires on today. It is rare for the first snow to stick around, but the temperatures dropped and stayed below freezing. I did some winter clothing repair this week and will go out tomorrow.

MinnMan

The possibility of snow this weekend was in the forecast here in the Twin Cities. It is cold enough, but it stayed dry.

That's fortunate because the roads and especially the trails are still covered with leaves. Leaves and icy stuff make for a lousy riding surface.

UWSPBiker

It’s quite relaxing to take a ride, pre sunrise, of the (winter) season with the studded wheel set. No one out, nice powder and gorgeous sunrise.

rumrunn6

might get some flakes mixed w/ rain in 2 days, "MetroWest" Boston

Bikewolf

Yes, the weather often surprises and no two years are exactly the same. For you it is ice and snow, for me rain and especially heavy winds (storm).
Those first pinpricks, sometimes strike me with fear, to be honest. I remember an evening last year when quite unexpectedly a slippery, very dangerous layer of ice formed. A slight panic caught me, me silly me. I had to leave early the next morning by bike, you know. But luckily the ice was already gone by then.

Studs sure are helpful. But there are times when you do have to get off your bike for safety reasons.​​​​​​​

MNBikeCommuter

We got a couple of inches of that white stuff overnight and the roads are slick. I'm hoping/assuming the roads will clear off in time for my afternoon ride, as the winter bike has summer slicks on it. And I'm optimistic I won't need the studs after today for at least a while.

32 years ago, we were supposed to get 6" of snow on Halloween, a Thursday. We had that by the time I got home from work. It kept coming, through the night and all day Friday. The Twin Cities was shut down, with over two feet of snow, and temps dropping to 0F. My wife's water broke Fri evening. We made it to the hospital the next morning thanks to the help of another apartment building resident with a four wheel drive pickup, with just over an hour to spare before our daughter was born.

The two inches out there right now is a yawner in comparison.

prairiepedaler

Bit the bullet today and installed a partial studded on the back and full on the front. Sigh.

I was hoping to be able to get away with the partial on the front and the 365 all-season on the back for at least a few weeks.

MinnMan

That Halloween storm predates our arrival in Minnesota by a few years, but it looms large in the memories of pretty much all who lived through it. I've heard many people recount the experience when the topic of autumn snow comes up. But your account is probably the most memorable, in both a good and bad way.

gecho

We are currently stuck in a wet every day pattern as it gets warm enough to melt a little bit of the snow every day but not warm enough to clear the roads. +7C and rain on Sunday so that might at least clear the roads until colder temperatures arrive. I went down a gravel road today and it was muddy since water pools on them instead of draining.

gecho

I looked at my front studded tire and its in pretty rough shape. Once the rubber wears down the studs start snapping off. The center row of studs on my Ice Spiker are all gone, the two inners rows are also mostly gone just leaving the outer rows. Not sure how effective that will be on ice. Once we get another snow I'll switch to the fat bike, but I should keep an eye out for another tire.

Alan K

When my winter tires seem at their mid-life point, I buy a set of Schwalbe studded tires at the end of winter season when some online vendors discount them. This helps me with the cost as well as keeps me riding worry free.

MNBikeCommuter

My winter bike now has studs on, probably the latest in many years, new on front and old front on rear. And given the 10 day forecast, that's at least 10 days earlier than needed. I haven't ridden the winter bike since a wet-roads ride in Oct when I wanted its fenders. It's usually called up for winter duty in Nov, and some years even Oct.

I don't enjoy working with the Schwalbes. My front Sun CR18 rim does not like them, and I have pinched more tubes taking that tire on and off... The rear has a Mavic A719 and that's a good combo.

gecho

Our 4th significant snow fall of the season has just about finished melting. Rain later today, then maybe a decent dump of snow tonight. Hoping we get snow that sticks at some point as the seasonal transition has been far too long and sloppy this year.

gecho

We didn't get that last snow. Its looking like a high chance of a brown Christmas here. Mostly bare pavement but plenty of ice on side streets, anything in all day shade isn't melting. Unusually warm with many days above freezing, but the warmth just converts more of the remaining packed snow to ice.

rumrunn6

ditto
weatherman this morning, says our chance for a white Christmas, is now a definitive ZERO. oh - well, gotta look forward to January & February, for some silly, winter, cycling fun

rumrunn6

yeah I hear ya. must easier putting them on my MTB than my hybrid

sweeks

15 years ago, I'd mount the studded tires over the Thanksgiving weekend and if we hadn't had snow already, we would by the next week. The last couple of years, I haven't needed them until January. Here we are at the end of December (in Chicago) and there's no snow imminent; it rained on Christmas Day.

campfire

22 degrees this morning, but the ground is still dry. I have studs ready to go, but haven't needed to install them yet.