What to wear??

[Jenerator]

Have you been to Apocalypse Design to see what they could sew up for you for your feet?

[kfergos]

Wow. You truly are in a class all by yourself. I thought that I was pretty hardcore to ride in 10-degree weather last winter in Massachusetts, but after that I really couldn't take it. Kudos for sticking it out -- you are amazing!

Clothing-wise, I never found a good way to keep my feet from freezing, even in the teens. I talked to one guy who says he wears nylon toe-covers (inside his shoes, although these look like what he was talking about) that keep his feet really warm. I ended up wearing lots of pairs of thick socks. My butt always stays warm because I have a Timbuk2 bag that sits right there, so I'm afraid I can't help you there, except to say that lots of layers of pants have never gone amiss for me in the extreme cold.

[helena]

Thanks for the pointers ... have had to add a wind proof layer on my bottom half which works for now, but am still looking for suggestions (I slide around on the seat too much now)

Also - any advice on how to go about getting the snow plough people to scrape the bike paths? "no motorised vehicles" evidently doesn't include snow machines....

Helena

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Helena,

Do you have to do clipless for a 6 mile commute? I'm thinking you should just use regular pedals during the extreme winter. I usually keep pretty warm riding with heavy insulated hiking/snow boots and 2 pair of thick wool socks.

Many towns have small snow removal machines (ride-on, like lawn tractors, with enclosed mini-cabs) that are made for cleaning snow off sidewalks- maybe ask your town if they have those?

[lph]

At -44 I'd lose my will to live.

Seriously, does your bike even work at temperatures that low? Mine starts getting real cranky at about 5 deg F. But I haven't really "winterized" it, like the icebike site suggests. We get more of the slushy-like winters.

[onimity]

Also - any advice on how to go about getting the snow plough people to scrape the bike paths? "no motorised vehicles" evidently doesn't include snow machines....

I have to say first of all that you are really amazing to commute by bike in that kind of weather. Amazing.

As far as getting them to plow the paths, it may be as simple as making someone aware that it is important. City council, county maintenance folks, not sure who could help with that. I'd try to get a local bike advocacy group behind it, personally. Here bike paths technically have first priority for plowing, I think, but the reality is that we're still faced with dangerous conditions when things melt or blow. We have a lot of local cycling advocates, but it turns out that most of them are fair weather cyclists when it comes to getting behind something like plowing. But you might find others in your same boat, too.

Any chances you'd post pictures of your commute/bike setup?

Anne