Voodoo76

There is no cycling equivalent to skating 40K on cold snow, with the wrong wax.

Cypress

See! Stay in Montana long enough and the rest of the country becomes a blur!

Voodoo76

I thought maby you were facing south when you posted that. Or yer map was upside down.

2manybikes

Get a fat tire bike with studded tires and ride outside, no big deal. It will make you a better road rider.

I don't understand why every road rider does not do this.

It's very different and not boring and you learn a lot.

Cypress

Snowblind.

Voodoo76

I'll give that a try this weekend. Wonder if the local shop has any studded tires? Or will i have to order them?

Cypress

Tried it. The only trails packed down enough to ride on (all 1 of them) are covered in dog shiite and cross country skiers. Any trail that doesn't have hundreds of people on it daily is thigh deep snow right now.

2manybikes

Do you mean a white out, where you can't see 100 feet? No big deal. If you have ski gear you already have most of the clothing.

2manybikes

Snow over a foot deep is a legit reason to not ride. But are there not enough places, often enough where you could do it off and on during the winter?

Cypress

Just one place that can only be ridden after a 3 inch snowfall (fills in the ice holes). Everywhere else is ruled by snowmobiles or XC skiers. The XC ski trails are rubbish for biking. The snow pack is too soft, and if the skiers catch a cyclist "messing up their trail", you get quite the ass chewing.

Savagewolf

So where / when are you moving to Oregon?

Cypress

Possibly next summer. Corvallis or Eugene would be the places, we're just waiting to hear back from the universities.

2manybikes

That's too bad. I guess I take for granted sometimes the fact that I always have a place to ride a bike if the conditions are at all rideable. I also have a couple of lakes to ride on if it's cold enough. I bought a good suspension seat post so I could ride over the snommm mmmm mmmm mmmm oblie trak k k ks and the frozen foot prints, other wise 20 miles is out of the questio n n n n n n n .....

patentcad

I believe this.

patentcad

You can't ride a bicycle down my hill when it's icy, studs or not. The grades are 15%. When it gets like that you can't friggin stand on this hill. Beyond that, the regular knobbies are fine for snowy road conditions here. In colder places however where the snowpack doesn't melt off the road, studded knobbies would be great.

2manybikes

Actually you can with practice, the studs make the traction on ice about like riding on pavement. I can ride in plenty of places, hills, bumpy, or even flat, I can't even stand or walk on, unless I had studs on my feet. The ice is much better traction than the snow. With the right fat tire and the right pressure...with skinny tires and high pressure the studs won't grab, true. And with the wrong studs, worn out. etc.
low low tire pressure helps on steep hills, the tire conforms to the surface better. 22-25 psi for me (175 lb)with a 30 lb bike with loaded panniers (around 40 lb more). The heavier bike helps too. I'm sure there are some conditions where you can't ride that hill, like rutted ice with 4" of powder on top, this can keep the studs from digging in far enough, in some temperatures. But with typical bumpy, rock hard ice, it's easy. The harder and colder the ice, the better the studs grab the ice. On the ice rink, or the lake, I can slam on the brakes, bank into a corner, and do wheelies. On the hard pack frozen snow ice on the road , it's about the same. And yes, there is less traction on a steep hill, but it's Ok with the exact right equipment. It took me a whole season of changing tire pressures, etc, to get it right.

I think this is the reason lots of people don't try studs and ride in the winter. I really did not believe it was possible until I had ridden on ice for a while. Even when I first started I had a hard time understanding it was possible. Your first reaction is that you will fall, but you don't. I took me a couple of days to really get it. It's actually very easy.

It's embarassing the first time you realize you can ride out of an area, but can't walk out. Or when you stop, put your foot down and then fall. It's funny when a rider without studs sees you, does not know you have studs, and tries to follow you. Ouch!

NoRacer

You forgot the mandatory link to here:

https://www.icebike.com/

Savagewolf

Ahhh...both are pretty good places for cycling. Corvallis has the advantage in better cycling in the actual city and closer to most of the races, Eugene has the advantage of variety of terrain to ride and in my opinion the better college.

I'm sure you've already seen it, but here is Oregons racing website. It has a calender, teams, ect that might help influence your decision. https://www.obra.org/

If I had to choose between the two, I'd choose U of O (Eugene) for the college but Corvallis (OSU) for coming a close second and having the better riding.

patentcad

Dude, if you can't stand on it, you can't ride on it, particularly if it's a steep grade. But you are welcome to come here and demonstrate after a Chester ice storm. Make sure your health insurance is current. My plow guy has a hard time getting up the road when it's like that to put down salt. He actually has to walk up the steeper grades (on the side of the road off the pavement) and throw salt down by hand first.

waterrockets 

I hear you guys. I had to wear arm AND leg warmers yesterday. Sucks.

SS_MB-7

So far, since Dec 1, I've logged 1683kms in 51:30:00 on my indoor trainer. Yes, it's a torture device sometimes, but I'm saddistic, so we get along well.

After a nearly 3-yr sabbatical from racing and training, I decided that 08 was my come-back year and now is the time to get my arse back in shape for Spring. So, this is my winter cycling torture: trainer + bike + PT SL. With my busy schedule, life, Kidz, etc, hopping-on the trainer for 1.5-2 hrs is convenient and easy. I've got mine set-up in my family room, in front of the TV, with huge fan, MP3s, etc., so it's always calling for me.

But, when I'm not on the trainer, I'll be outside either XC skiing (skate or classic), snowshoeing, or riding (when weather permits...we've been getting hammered with snow, so it's not been a great winter for riding)...anything but loafing on the couch! Spring comes early and it's time to pay the piper now if you wanna be ready for the season.

2manybikes

My point is that I ride on ice I can't even stand/walk on all the time, every winter. I ride up hills I could never walk up. Unless I had studded shoes. Even then the studded tires are different than shoes. The harder it is to stand and the harder the ice, the better the traction with studs.

Even in the summer I ride throught mud that I almost can't walk through. (different thing it's flotation)
I can ride up ice a snow plow could never go up. When the ice is hard the studs dig in and work like the cog railway on Mt. Washington. When the ice is too soft or it is snow, then they don't grab very well. Then it would be easier to stand up.

Nickel

It's going to be a high of -2F this weekend. I guess I will have to HTFU and suffer for all of your sins.

fuzzthebee

I am not ashamed to say that I haven't ridden outside since October 13th. I've put in 95:28:01 on the trainer, and done 97850 kJ of work in just over three months. Just my own form of winter torture.

Cypress

We'll be at -17f on MLKD. There goes any hope I have of riding using natural light as a way of seeing.

Oh, and we just got 8ish inches of new snow in town (with no end in sight). That means that for every mile outside of town you go, add another 3 inches and subtract another 1 degree.

Trainer time.