Everyone wants to join the discussion on winter cycling. Today, it's Chris, my partner in crime (aka, co-owner of Rapid Transit Cycleshop). He couldn't keep quiet any longer:
Ahem!... he said, If I may weigh in on this?...
And he continued:
The all-time worst winter bike that I have is my Bacchetta Corsa recumbent. Despite this, I use it all the time in the winter because it is so darn comfortable. When I ride my recumbent to work, I'm nearly always asked how I deal with the ice and snow. The simple answer is that I avoid riding over that which might make me fall. This lesson was learned the hard way:
Years ago, I was riding south on the lakefront path. I was riding a skinny tire racing bike. The weather was just under freezing, the wind coming off the lake, with a strong northerly component. The pavement was free of ice and snow, at least as far as I could tell. I was riding towards Hyde Park, and I had to have been going at least 20mph, because the wind was on my back. I felt that exhilaration of completely effortless riding.
The same wind, however, was whipping the lake up and huge breakers were smashing the sea wall along the path. It was after dark. The path itself veered close enough to the sea wall at this particular spot for the waves to spray over the path. Without warning I hit an ice patch where the waves spilled out onto the path. Suddenly the pavement went from bone dry to to crazy slick, with a long run of wet ice freshly coated with water. I don't think I had time to picture myself catapulting at top speed into the chilly waters of Lake Michigan. I barely had time to wrap my head around the abrupt and unfortunate change in riding conditions. At the highest speed that I could imagine pedaling my bike, I was dancing across the ice. The bike went left, right, sideways, and every way you could think of.
I held on for dear life, and, amazingly, did not fall. I was simply immobilized with surprise and fear. Perhaps doing nothing was the reason I stayed upright, and did not break any bones. That and being 20-something, dumb and lucky. Sheer dumb luck.
It was not my fate that night to fall, but after I reconnected with dry pavement, I proceeded with caution for the rest of my journey that night. I have tried, though not always successfully, to use caution and sense on journeys I've undertaken since.
Lesson learned: The key to using any bike in less-than-optimal situations is matching your equipment, your riding attitude and your technique to the actual conditions of that day. When we talk about "winter riding", it's important to remember that the terms encompasses a wide, and possibly changing, range of conditions, and you need to make sure that the solutions you choose are appropriate for those conditions. Although someone riding on rural roads in the northern regions of the US may have extensive snow and cold weather riding experience, this expertise may not translate well into an urban setting, where roads are plowed and dry, salted and slushy, or alternate between one and the other.
A few conditions that one might have to contend with on the streets of Chicago in winter:
Cold
dry ice.
Encountered on cold days without significant snow fall. The trickiest part may be spotting it. Once you do, most
of the time you can cautiously ride over this. The next trick when riding over this
type of ice is to avoid any sudden movements. (Yep. If you allow yourself to be freaked out, as in: "holy crap! I'm on black ice!", you will fall. --Justyna's comment) Strangely, I find
that my street bike outfitted with 2" slicks (yes, completely bald
tires) works just fine, if not better, than some treaded tires.
Slushy, salty wet snow.
The salt and road grime in this stuff is
nasty for your clothes, for most moving parts of your bike, and for your spirit.
Narrow tires with little or no tread, coupled with fenders,
pick up the least amount of slush. Narrower tires tend to cut down to
the pavement and help the rider make headway. Be
ready to clean your bike after you've been through this stuff.
During and right after a significant snow storm.
Before the plows come
out, or on plowed streets without salting, one might see significant
ruts from passing vehicles. For this type of riding, I'd vote for an off-road bike with wide tires with some widely-spaced treads. I find too much tread can pick up
lots of snow, weigh down the wheels, and make it hard to accelerate. Shift your body weight towards
the rear of the bike, and follow the more promising wheel ruts.
When the conditions are like this, I might go out just
for fun, like here, for the sheer pleasure of rolling through the snow. Or get my x-country skis.
Wet ice, or ice with water on it.
You already know what can happen. Unless you have studded tires, watch out!
The use of studded tires should be reserved for very specialized type of riding. Such as plowed or compressed icy roads that have not been salted. Or wet and frozen sand. Or expeditions over iced rivers or lakes. If studded tires give you a sense of security, by all means use them in a urban
environment. But keep in mind they are not optimally suited for riding on pavement. A second set of interchangeable wheels, or a bike
dedicated to severe winter conditions might also be a answer.
