Author Topic: Winter bikers - You are seriously bad-ass.  (Read 14032 times)

BCBiker

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    • Business Casual Biker - Health, Wealth, and Mental Stealth BTYB Bicycle Commuting
Re: Winter bikers - You are seriously bad-ass.
« Reply #50 on: March 13, 2015, 08:54:02 PM »
Another Denver rider here. I take the bike about 4 days a week and usually reach about 80 mi of commuting a week. There is a rest day thrown in for good measure where i take the bus and an odd day where i need the car for some obligation that is not close enough for  biking.

Those that said you can't really get cold aren't telling the complete truth. With proper gear you are perfectly comfortable biking. I find my feet get cold because I still ride with my mountain biking shoes and clip-less pedals. I just double up on socks and throw toe covers on. Actually the toe covers haven't really come off this winter. Depending on the temp i'll add or shed layers. Still where a summer bib, usually this giro one that is meant to be worn underneath things. The pants I wear are tights from pearl izumi and marginally wind and water proof. They usually suffice down to about 25F at which point i'll add another thin layer of synthetic tights. When it's shitting snow or raining and I feel like being a badass I'll wear my arc teryx alpha rain shell upper and lower and it makes me completely impervious to any liquids entering the warm confines of my armor. It even breathes fairly well for what it is.

Also tried riding on road tires. Completely worthless. I will switch back to them when it warms up enough but for now I use continental winter contact tires size 700Cx42. Work great. I ride a Specialized Crux in bright ass highlighter yellow so I can be seen. It's a cross bike so a little burlier and set up as a singlespeed currently.

Another tip, brakes are near useless on ice. Just point the bike in 1 direction and keep it that way while riding over ice. For the deep snow it's fun to stand up and just keep churning; really adds to the workout.

Co-workers all think your crazy when you bike in crazy weather but to me they are crazy for spending just as much if not more time in the car sitting in traffic with the other car clowns; And paying to do it.

gmacmilla: Glad to see another Denver rider out there.  Here is my blog post about the snowy weeks we had at the end of last month. http://www.businesscasualbiker.com/the-pleasure-of-hard-work/  It is hard to believe that  was just a few weeks ago. Now it is basically summer!  I used to take bus every other week but for the last two years I am 100% bike rider every day rain, snow, ice, tornado...  I hope you enjoy my blog. It sounds like it is up your alley.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!