I've been known to cycle in -30C weather. I'm fully in agreement that wet is much worse than snow for cycling in the cold. I'll generally only set out on dry pavement. If it starts snowing, I'm pretty ok with it but when it rains, I get off the bike as quickly as I reasonably can.
I grew up in Montreal, where they mostly remove the snow from the streets and the rest sublimates off. In Ottawa, they clear down to pavement only downtown and on major roads. On the rest, they plow down to an inch or two thickness. Also, it's only downtown that they remove it (elsewhere it is just pushed to the gutter) so there is almost always some melt-water on the roads. Twelve years after moving, I'm still annoyed.
As I get older, it seems that it takes me longer to get the blood flowing strongly in my extremities. When I used to wear knit gloves with fingerless cycling gloves over, I now wear a pair of thin, wind-breaking gloves, then insulated gloves, and then, sometimes, another pair of overgloves. Then again, I don't usually ride for more than 30 or so minutes at a time in winter, these days (commuting and errands). My inner thighs sometimes feel uncomfortably cold, nowadays, too.
I'm seriously thinking about trying a thinner lube for winter. Regardless, I've got to find a way to remember to lubricate more often.
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momijizukamori
no subject
Date: 2009-10-30 02:09 pm (UTC)I grew up in Montreal, where they mostly remove the snow from the streets and the rest sublimates off. In Ottawa, they clear down to pavement only downtown and on major roads. On the rest, they plow down to an inch or two thickness. Also, it's only downtown that they remove it (elsewhere it is just pushed to the gutter) so there is almost always some melt-water on the roads. Twelve years after moving, I'm still annoyed.
As I get older, it seems that it takes me longer to get the blood flowing strongly in my extremities. When I used to wear knit gloves with fingerless cycling gloves over, I now wear a pair of thin, wind-breaking gloves, then insulated gloves, and then, sometimes, another pair of overgloves. Then again, I don't usually ride for more than 30 or so minutes at a time in winter, these days (commuting and errands). My inner thighs sometimes feel uncomfortably cold, nowadays, too.
I'm seriously thinking about trying a thinner lube for winter. Regardless, I've got to find a way to remember to lubricate more often.