Dave Poehlman

Icebiking

Okay.. so, I stepped outside early one morning a few weeks ago to a still, quiet, winter morning and thought to myself "I could go for a bike ride". It was 31 degrees with a light layer of snow. The roads were mainly clear and I took to a local bike trail which had a little more snow/ice coverage in the shady areas.

I had only planned to ride until I felt cold.. I didn't expect to put in a full 20 miles, but I was actually having fun negotiating the patches of snow and ice. I actually stayed pretty comfortable with a long sleved tee and a hoodie and a pair of nylon jogging pants. I had a pair of gloves that were actually work gloves, but provided just enough protection from the wind. My toes started to feel a little chilled towards the end.. so some better socks might be in order.

I got back home, hopped on the computer and, sure enough... if you can think of it, there's a website devoted to it: Icebike Home Page

So, I think I'm going to look into biking to work this winter. I'm looking into picking up some of the UnderArmour "Cold Gear" stuff to see how that works.

Are there any other winter bikers out there on the HTF?

Jay H

Re: Icebiking

I've known about icebike.com for awhile, a very good site for all things winter cycling. I think I stumbled on it while looking at a way to make homemade DIY studded bike tires using roofing nails, old MTB tires and lots of tape...

You can kind of bike in snow up to a couple inchs and so long as it's below the BB (bottom bracket)... And studded bike tires makes good of hardpacked ice and snow, not much at all for fresh powder...

Jay

You are the crispy noodle in the vegetarian salad of life

Dave Poehlman

Re: Icebiking

Yeah.. I have hybrid tires that are pretty smooth treadwise and don't offer much in the way of traction in snow. There were a few instances I had to hoof it through the deeper stuff.

I'm planning on sticking to roads mainly and probably not going out in any heavy slop.. at least not until I get a feel for what to wear and all that. Then I might get a little more adventurous and invest in some knobbies.

My biggest concern is visibility. By the time I leave work.. it's getting dark. And I work and live in the city, so rush hour can get a little dicey.

I'm hoping to bike it twice a week or so.

I'm sure all of my coworkers will think I'm damaged in my head. lol.

Dheiner

Re: Icebiking

Smart-ass comment removed.

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Jay H

Re: Icebiking

Even knobbied tires will eventually fill up with snow, so don't expect full knobs to be much better in the fresh powder from a recent snowfall. Fresh powder biking is hard no matter what kind of normal bike tire. A reallly wide bike tire (like say 4" or so wide) might help but unless you have a custom bike and welding skills, the best you can really hope for when there is fresh snow is that somebody comes with an ATV and packs it down. Once the snow is hardpack, then the studded tires help.

I've seen downhill bikes where they replaced the wheels with skis.... I'm sure you can probably google a picture of one...

Doesn't help you get up a hill though!

Jay

You are the crispy noodle in the vegetarian salad of life