scoatw

I had a day like that once. It took me three hours to get home. We had 15" the first day and another 12" the next day. It was the next day that made it difficult beyond comprehension. At a few points in my commute that day I was walking in snow up to my thighs. I tell myself the next time, I'm driving in.

I've ridden in two other blizzards after that one. I'm good as long as the forecast is under 12". Over that and its not worth the struggle, even if I leave early.

hardboiled718

Just curious how many of you guys ride in shorts during the winter? I've been riding in shorts in the cold for years and never gave it too much thought or had any problems because of it (knock on wood) but have been recently been wondering about the benefits/negatives if any

PaulRivers

I think that you clearly do not live in Minnesota like I do.

Jim from Boston

FYA, see this thread on the Commuting Forum (from October), ”What happened to the 60 degree "rule"?”

Jim from Boston

I see a lot of commuters around Kenmore Square, the Longwood Medical Area and Jamaica Pond Bikepath, and I can’t recall seeing any fat bikes. My commuting roads are pretty well-tended, and the Bikepath is negotiable on studded tires, though often with patches of frozen, deeply rutted snow.

I’ve never been to a show at Great Woods but that’s the name I recall. Just recently I was chatting with a Norton resident, and he mentioned that venue by it’s current name, which I can’t remember, but I did reply with ”Oh, you mean “Great Woods?.”

Back in the 80’s – 90’s, I used to cycle-commute from Kenmore Square to Norwood via Commuter Rail to Mansfield, and then Rte 140 to Rte 1A.

hardboiled718

How cold does it get there? Currently in S. Korea (and NY before that), luckily not too much in the way of precipitation yet this winter, but the average temperature has been around 20-15 degrees Fahrenheit.

Thanks for the insight, just did a search and will check out that thread.

PaulRivers

Average temps for minnesota (according to google) in Jan are high of 24f and low of 8f.

This has been an unusually warm winter for us. 2 years ago it was one of the worst winters I've ever seen here. They said it was caused by a "Polar Vortex" where the mass of air that's normally over the north pole decides to just hang out over Minnesota for a while. People posted videos on facebook of taking a boiling pan of water outside, throwing it into the air, and it would turn into snow or ice before it hit the ground.

Right now it's 34f - which is unusually incredibly warm for this time of year. However on Sunday we're having a more usual week of "cold as crap" with a high of 3f and a low of -5f. In celcius that's -16c to -21c. According to google, a temperature of 0°F and a wind speed of 15 mph (average speed you'd be biking at) creates a wind chill temperature of -19°F. Under these conditions frost bite can occur in just 30 minutes. I've known people who biked to work on the worst days and didn't have some small slice of skin covered, and got a permanent skin damage from frostbite.

So no, I definitely do not bike in shorts here in the winter. But if you're asking the question, I assume that whereever you your "winter" is noteably warmer lol...

tjspiel

I also live in Minneapolis and have seen people run in below zero temps wearing shorts on many occasions.

I jumped into a lake once wearing just board shorts and socks when is was -9 °F. It was a mind altering experience. You wear socks so your skin doesn't freeze to the ice. You don't linger when you get out because having your socks freeze to the ice isn't good either.

I've never seen anybody wear shorts on a bike when it was that cold but I'm sure that it's been done.

Invariably when we get really cold weather you'll have meteorologists warning people that "exposed skin can freeze in seconds" in that kind of weather. I suppose it can, absent any source of heat. Over the years I've gotten some frostbite here and there but it was all pretty minor and took a whole lot more than a few seconds.

noglider 

Running in the winter is warmer than cycling in the winter.

PaulRivers

I know you live in Minneapolis , but I would have to say that I've never seen anyone running here in shorts below 0F. Below 0C (32F)? Maybe. But 0F? Never.

I mean maybe between the house the and the warmed up already running car, sure. Maybe as a polar plunge. From their house to their neighbors house. Etc. But like out for a 30 minute job? No...that would be painful and dangerous.

Biking also adds a 15mph windchill on top of that. If there's someone out biking at 0F, I see quite a few of those, but they're covered from head to toe, usually in technical gear.

tjspiel

I didn't mean to imply that it was common for people to run in shorts at 0°, only that I've seen it many times. A couple of years ago I saw two people running in shorts in different parts of town on the same day. I think instagram, Facebook, and SnapChat promote this kind of behavior.

I also didn't mean to imply that it was smart.

PaulRivers

Lol, well I hadn't assumed you meant all the time - I just have never seen people doing that at 0F. At 30F-34F? Maybe. But not 0F. Like I said, other than just running between the house and the car.

I guess we might just have to agree to disagree and on what we've seen here in Minnesota...

I did think it was funny one time, it was like 35 degrees out, I was biking with my dad. We're all decked out in full winter gear - showers pass jacket, pants, etc etc. We're worried about being cold. This guy goes by us at a fast clip just wearing shorts and a shirt (don't remember if t-shirt or long sleeved shirt, but it was no jacket or anything). Minnesota.

Theycallmegio

I live in Chicago and I ride all year. This is my 3rd winter here (I'm from Florida), and I've found winter cycling to be one of my favorite parts of winter. It's a fun challenge. definitely makes me feel like im 'beating winter' as long as I continue to run and bike through the season. Only weather I won't ride in is any kind of rain harder than a light mist. Can't stand getting caught in the rain.

noglider 

It was about 30ºF this morning and fairly windy. I wore my new jacket and my new snowboarding helmet. I was very comfortable. They proved to be wise purchases.

tarwheel 

I've been riding all winter for years, and prefer the cold to the hot, humid weather we get in summer. However, we get very little snow and ice in NC and our lowest temperatures are typically in the teens F. I don't bother riding when it snows, sleets or ices over. Not worth the hassle and risk to me, and we don't get enough snow and ice to justify the expense of studded tires.

Daniel4

Today in Toronto was probably the first real winter condition day we had. Traffic at full capacity as most people are back at work and gone are the above freezing temperatures and dry weather of last week. Motorists were starting to be complacent again last week.

Luckily my studded fat bike tires had arrived so yesterday I drove to the bike shop to pick them up as the weather was turning nasty: snow and ice rain blowing almost horizontally.

I installed them in the evening but didn't take them out for a test run. This morning was the test run at -7C and admittedly I was nervous because the roads and bike path was fully of patches of ice from the rain that had run off and re-froze.

Other than that , were were no other incidences. I'm probably the only person in Toronto looking forward to conditions like this.

no motor?

I rode last year when the temperature got down into the teens and didn't mind it. But it was dry then, and when it's slippery enough to worry about falling I drive.

jdswitters

Parking, it usually sucks int he winter but I dont have to worry too much about using the whole bike rack.

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Hypno Toad

+1!

I posted this picture to Facebook on Sunday (-10F in Minneapolis):



The number of "crazy", "nuts", etc posts I got. Yet the Vikings were playing the Seahawks just a few miles away later that day in the same weather. Somehow biking in the winter is a special kinda "insane". (BTW the squinting eye was the very bright sun without shades, not frozen shut).

footnote - No, it's not a commute, but I've commuted in colder weather.

SloButWide 

I love first track! Much rather ride in untouched snow than through ruts that have refrozen.

Scummer

Yeh.. I've ridden in a snow storm, where the snow was pelting sideways in my face and the wind blew me off the bike path.
I most likely would have worked from home, but the snow storm didn't start until I was halfway to work. So turning around or going to work would have been the same snuff either way. So I continued on my merry way. Co-workers questioned my sanity. But now after 2.5 years year-round commuting they are used to it and wonder if my bike is broken if I take the train or maybe even the car (when I bring in home-made cake or food once or twice a year).

I've crashed twice on black ice last year (once in January and then again in December ) but now I got some Schwalbe Winter spikey tires to prevent that happening in 2016.

fietsbob

It is so much warmer right on the west coast , than even 25 miles Inland or 1000 feet Up .

Jim from Boston

+10, especially when your post is about the area in which you ride. For example, from this Road Cycling thread, "Who do you wave to when you ride?”

I’m slightly more peeved by subscribers who give “cutesy” or obscure locations. Not to pick on @DC, whose posts I routinely read, but as an example:

I must confess though, I have thought about listing my LOCATION as:

D’uh?
Jim from Boston

Dave Cutter

Sorry if I "peeved you off" Jim from Boston. I didn't think my location was actually "cutesy" or obscure (although pretty much hidden from robot interpretation, like your own). The "recliner comment" even implies that I am retired (otherwise I'd be posting from work like so many others here do).

Maybe I should post: D'uh? Where do Cutters live?

Jim from Boston

Thanks for your reply. My post was meant tongue-in-cheek, and perhaps a better word than "peeved" would have been flummoxed. Actually, my image of a recliner is for a Couch Potato (for prolonged TV viewing), myself a loyal member of a Couch Potato Lodge since 1982. (Art imitates Life, but Life imitates TV.)

Uhh…Indiana?