Winter cycling- bracing cold

[shootingstar]

You realize that no one here inTeamEstrogen, will be cycling as far north as Edmonton. You'll beat me as the most Northern forum member unless we have someone in Alaska... If I were you, and not having cycled in any snow/ice for a long time, especially under very cold temp., make short trips....under 15 km., especially if very cold. You'll find it's enough of a spin and you'll be happy. Wear wind pants over leggings. I'm not the type of cyclist that cycles in boots. Too clunky for me. But might work for you.

Am in Calgary.

[NbyNW]

When I lived in Edmonton I really didn't like cycling there. It's too auto-centric, and even when you get out of the city there isn't much of a shoulder to ride on, but there are flat straight roads that someone could plow over you on. There are some very brave souls who do it, year-round, but I was not one of them. The multi-use trails are a nice option to the roads, but ultimately it was challenging to find anything that connected to anything. The trails in the river valley that are closer to downtown do get maintained but you still need to watch out for ice. You can get mtb ice tires with studs. But depending on where you are the roads can be a real mess. It can be hard to ride a bike when you are dealing with really deep snow/ice ruts on the road.

[Melalvai]

I put vaseline on my face when it gets below 20F.

[jordanpattern]

Thanks, ladies!

I used to ride when I lived in Edmonton, but I do remember it being pretty hairy out on the roads. I'm going to be staying within a couple blocks of the river valley trails system, so I'm hoping to get some relatively short rides in on those. I'd love to commute to where I'm going to be training for the few weeks I'm there, but it's out towards the suburbs in the southeast part of the city, and I can't imagine a route out there that won't get me killed.