Snow Biking @ Team Estrogen!

[Susan Otcenas]

A lovely day here in Portland, Oregon. Despite several inches of snow (unusual for us) we made it in, safe and sound, on our bikes. Anyone else out riding in the snow today?

Susan

[IFjane]

Great picture, Susan! Makes me chilly just looking at it. Now, who is everyone?

[Susan Otcenas]

Now, who is everyone?

From left: Abra, me, Molly, Gayle.

The snow has stopped for the moment, but they say it should continue for most of the day.

The last time we had 6 inches of snow, they closed the schools for a week....

[suzieqtwa]

This is how i got around today...hope picture shows up.

[mimitabby]

Well, there was my DH:




Great to see you guys all on your bikes!

[chickwhorips]

looks like everyone is having fun in the snow. its raining here and our snow is going away.

mimi i love the snowpeople!

[mimitabby]

I made the snowpeople in a school yard, there is a teacher and 7 students.

[Pax]

Looks like you had a ball Susan! When we get snow here it's typically followed by a few days of sunny but arctic cold weather (single digit or below zero temps).

[spokewench]

Snow is okay - but solid ice is what we have had since Friday. It's just been too dangerous to ride the roads around here for me. Way too cold too. Got down to 14 below on Friday night (i think it was) and today althought the ice is starting to melt cause of sunshine, the temperature is in the 20s somewhere but with an 8 degree windchill at 1:20 in the afternoon. I'm just not going out to ride in this kind of weather!

I'll stay again on my trainer for the third day in a row, probably tomorrow also with a little tennis again tomorrow afternoon.

[Geonz]

Yes, it was so cold that the weather channel lady said "Let me go check that one!" (I could have called her and said "I saw it on the TE board, it's for real!"

That's an awesome pict ure

I feel like a total wimp now 'cause I went out in the snow this morning. More snow than *I* have ever ridden in - I though it was just flurries but they were clumping up and there was an intersection where I hit the pedals and the wheel moved in its little circle but the bike didn't. I just coasted through the rest of that intersection (making a right turn) so perhaps the drivers thought I was being a scofflaw - or perhaps they saw me skidding.

I suppose I shouldn't feel too wimpy because there weren't any road treatments to speak of. Probably would have been easier if we'd *had* an inch or two. At 18 degrees it was a nice powder except for those little clots of ice.

[Offthegrid]

Makes me cold just looking at it. No snow here yet, but we're due.

[Pax]

Yes, it was so cold that the weather channel lady said "Let me go check that one!" (I could have called her and said "I saw it on the TE board, it's for real!"

That's an awesome pict ure

I feel like a total wimp now 'cause I went out in the snow this morning. More snow than *I* have ever ridden in - I though it was just flurries but they were clumping up and there was an intersection where I hit the pedals and the wheel moved in its little circle but the bike didn't. I just coasted through the rest of that intersection (making a right turn) so perhaps the drivers thought I was being a scofflaw - or perhaps they saw me skidding.

I suppose I shouldn't feel too wimpy because there weren't any road treatments to speak of. Probably would have been easier if we'd *had* an inch or two. At 18 degrees it was a nice powder except for those little clots of ice.

I can't believe you rode today! It was so slick coming in to work this morning, I can't imagine it on a bike (not to mention it was beastly cold out). You're hard-core for sure Sue!!

[Duck on Wheels]

Some folks bike here with "studded" tires on their bikes, but I don't trust that. On a car, the studs don't help in slushy snow, they only really help on certain kinds of ice. And doesn't it take a good bit of weight for the studs to "bite" into the ice? Still, the few cyclists I've seen out there in the snow seem to be doing all right. My doctor that I had an appointment with this morning said he'd biked to work (I came running in 10 minutes late with yak trax on my boots). He said you just need those tires, and the studs have to be not only in the centre tread but also up the sides a bit.

[lph]

Duck, you have been missing out - studded tires are the only way to go!

I've been riding on studded tires since our first and very brief encounter with snow and sub-freezing temperatures in late November, and feeling like a right idiot most of the time. They add friction, bad handling and certainly add weight to my poor bike, and we've scarcely seen snow for weeks. But I've finally got used to the idea that everything just goes more slowly and now I can ride with impunity over ice that have pedestrians crawling. In fact, if you're riding up a steep icy hill you have to be pretty darn sure you can make it up, because it's a LOT harder to stay upright on your feet if you have to stop and get off.

I have several hundred studs, along the middle and liberally along the sides. They don't help much in thick snow, though, once it packs up in the tires you're skidding along like everyone else.

[mimitabby]

Yes, it was so cold that the weather channel lady said "Let me go check that one!" (I could have called her and said "I saw it on the TE board, it's for real!"

I feel like a total wimp now 'cause I went out in the snow this morning. More snow than *I* have ever ridden in - I though it was just flurries but they were clumping up and there was an intersection where I hit the pedals and the wheel moved in its little circle but the bike didn't. I just coasted through the rest of that intersection (making a right turn) so perhaps the drivers thought I was being a scofflaw - or perhaps they saw me skidding.

You rode and YOU feel like a wimp! You're fantastic because you rode!
the wimps here did not venture out today.
(I was the only one in my lab that didn't make it into work)