I do it all the time. Clack ice is a bitch and can catch you off guard... really no way around it. Avoid sudden accelerations and ice usually forms near intersections, bridges, and shadows. Run your tires at 80 psi instead of 120 and run a 700x25 or 28 if possible.

Wife and I have old beater hybrids hat serve as our winter bikes. W'll only take them out on sunny "warm" and dry winter days. Otherwise we spin on the trainers (yawn).

We know a guy who rides a bike to work every single day of the year regardless of weather conditions. He's nuts.

Good question. Glad you asked.

Up here in the great white north, the LBS's sell specail knobby tires. The knobs act much like spikes so as kepp a firm grip on the road even if we are riding over black ice. Yeah it f's up the road pretty bad, but the roads up here are crap anyway so no one really notices or cares.

More extravagant cyclists usually purchase speacial "tire heaters". What these do is keep the tires at a very high temperature all throguhout the ride. The tires then automatically melt any section of ice or slush we happen to be riding over. The really neat thing about this is that its self powered by pedaling. No batteries or recharging required. Neat. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention.

The above advice was written for my amusement and my amusement alone. Everyone knows there is no such thing as black ice.

This year I am trying to ride outdoors once a weekend - as long as the roads and weather are somewhat passible. This is my first year really trying this and I found it more "do-able" than I probably expected in terms of bike traction. I haven't changed my bike set-up at all from the Summer and have Michelin Pro Race (slick) tires. I have had no real problems. The black ice is certainly the biggest worry and I have been able to avoid it by looking around carefully. It is bit of a surprise how clear the roads actually get, even with snow on the ground around them. The sand is also a worry, especially if it is a nasty day and there is some rain since it chews up the drive train. I have gotten caught out in a snow storm and even with slicks been able to make it up some pretty steep hills. Given my experience level with winter riding, I always assume the worst, but in general it has been better than I expected and I have been able to do quality miles every weekend.

The biggest problem (other than freezing water bottles) is finding the right windproof riding gear that still feels like work out clothes and not survival gear. I can't believe that someone doesn't make a nice windproof top with a breathable back - in day-glow yellow (dark colors are even more dangerous on drab winter mornings). Some of the stuff they try to sell as winter jackets are like wearing cardboard.

apart from the occasional january thaw novelty-ride, going out bicycle riding in the cold wind when there is still excellent xc skiing to be had in the woods is nuts - should be illegal, in fact.

"should be illegal, in fact"

As should Xcountry skiing. ;)

At West 122 degrees 35', 47 degrees 10' north it will be 55-60 degrees F clear and sunny, no problems getting out and riding... ;)

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Jay

only when its over 40F and sunny.

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I've said it before; I'll say it again. "When acid rain freezes, you get acid snow"

Or, in SJ, you get acid slush with rocks and sand and gravel and shoes and needles and underwear and all sorts of other sh!t in it. When it dries out, the slush is gone, but all that other crap is still out there, usually migrating onto the part of the road I'm using.

I don't ride my skinny tire bike on the road till March-April; and since I fractured my Kona's skull, I'm not riding that outside this winter either.

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

The snowiest ride I did was last year before X-mas. 6" of fresh snow and I rode to work that morning. This is when some people couldn't even dig out their cars (In the interest of full disclosure, areas south of my mystery location got up to 2'...I can't blame them for not getting to work)

How does one navigate? Have good treads or spikes, relax, don't make any sudden movements, err on the side of slowing down, and relax. Did I forget to say 'Relax'?

And another rule I live by: When you lose traction on your rear tire, relax and shift your weight. If you lose traction on your front wheel, think of happier times.

Where I live( southern Ontario) we have to have just the right conditions to get out for a good outdoor ride from Dec through until early March. I say a "good" ride, because, I see no point really in heading out at this time of the year if you can't ride for more than 1 hour. If not that then, you can likely get in a "better" ride on the indoor trainer.

- Air temp at or just above 0C as a minimum

- Not too windy

- Sunshine is nice

- Dry roads. Melting spring snow can turn the roads into a mess, so this is a huge variable even on a given day. ie dry in the morning when everythiong still frozen, but very wet in the afternoon as the snow melts.

Black ice can be a problem. I have slipped and fallen twice and it's not fun.

Fleck

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

"As should Xcountry skiing. ;) "

Just got back from my x-country ski. Booked two hours over the lunch. The conditions today were awesome. Sure beats running at this time of the year up here.

I just get nightmares thinking about when I was a youngin and my dad use to drag the whole family xcountry skiing in the frigid cold and never use to wait for us little ones that didn't know how to ski. Either stay with him or you got lost. Man those days sucked! ;) At least we got hot chocolate out of it after though.
I would rather run. :)

I slogged out a century in January surrouned by snow. Funny is when you are on the road and snomobiles are riding next to you. Odd one just happened to my friends, this snomobile dude was swerving to shower them with snow/ice chunks and stopped ahead and verbily assaluted them for being so dumb and fags. They called the Sherriff and this guy was still irate for who knows what reason. Sherriff didn't do a thing and everyone went on their way. That dude must be messed up and they should have hauled him in for a drug or mental screening. Like a bad dog that wont go away.

The sheriff was probably his brother.....Jeb Jim Bob Jones. ;)

When your family tree is a wreath ...

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

I don't worry about rear traction either .When the front goes kiss your ass good by cause it's going by. We ice bike in the winter. The trick is lots of screws in the tires. A friend fell through the ice this year the bike sunk. He ran 3 miles home.Good thing he uses MT bike shoes. He went through in deep water so he had to use a ladder and line with a hook to fish the bike out . What a great sport this is.


Dirt

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Slowtwitch bitchist place on planet earth

I have had run-ins with snowmobilers and ATV users a number of times over the years. I have come to the conclusion that their could not be two groups more diometrically opposesed than people who are into human powered recreation( runners, hikers, cyclists and so on) and the machine powered recreation types( Snowmobiles, ATV's dirt-bikes etc . .). I am sure that there are reasonable, rational, clear-thinking, honest and concerned snowmobile and ATV users out there. Problem is, me or anyone else NEVER encounter that type of motorized recreational vehicle user. All I see is the irrational, unstable, screw-the-rules-and-everyone-else jerks. They do a very poor job of representing their cause and constituency.

Fleck

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

The cross Canada trail goes right thru our village. I x-country ski and run on it but have to share with motorized recreation vehicles. I only x-c ski on week days because there are too many snowmobiles on weekends. The locals aren't a problem. No offense but it's the idiots up from the city (Toronto) that are the trouble. On weekends I go to a nature reserve park about 20 minutes away.

It was great when i lived in Haliburton area. The x-country and snowmobile trails were completely seperate from each other.

We are starting to have some real problems with the ATV's around our cottage. They are starting to run roughshod over the snowmobile trails in the area. These trails are clearly posted that the ONLY motorized vehicles on the trails are snowmobiles, yet the ATV's are all over them. If you stop them and ask them what they are doing they play completely dumb or they tell you to &*%$off or both! You will also see them riding on the county road, with no licence and no helmet( and I guess no brain either!)

I am no fan of snowmobiles either, but the ATV's are threatening the trail access and insurance of the the legit snowmobile clubs and trail-users. It's interesting because, I am sure there is a great deal of cross-over from one to the other.

Fleck

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

We're also having trouble with ATV's. The snowmobile guys really hate them because the ATV's gouge big ruts in the trail, especially in the spring when the ground is soft. At least the snowmobiles flatten the surface for a good skate/ski trail.

I went x-country skiing at the nature park a month ago. Absolutely no motorized vehicles allowed but some *sshole on an ATV had been out and gouged up the x-country ski trail. Fortunately that's the only time, but still extremely annoying.