I’m sharing a couple of links this week about winter cycling conditions and how to ride in them. The first is from Medium titled “This is the one thing you should be frightened of while riding your bike in winter” by Tom Babin. https://medium.com/shifter/this-is-the-one-thing-you-should-be-frightened-of-while-riding-your-bike-in-winter-4142ffc5c270. In it he explains that the cold is not a barrier, once you have learned to dress properly for cold weather cycling. You are your own heater and it’s very easy to overdress (with the possible exception of hands and feet which may take more fine tuning in my experience.) Icy streets can be managed with studded tires, even just one in front may do the trick (but not 100% of the time, and know that not all studded tires are created equal.) The studs need to be able to gain purchase by connecting with ice. If they’re floating in Snirt they can’t grab. Snow is just an invitation to those with fat tires, but be sure to lower the inflation. You might find 5 psi to be about right. What is difficult to predict is Snirt, that snow/dirt mix that forms after cars have been on the streets. It doesn’t clump and sends you slipping if the streets haven’t been plowed.
Here is a fun short film about an Edmonton bike messenger in the winter, thanks Ryan.