So you are hardcore enough to brave the elements this winter and ride to work.  Good for you!  It’s so much more difficult to motivate yourself to ride in the morning when you know that Mother Nature is not going to gently embrace you with a thousand warm kisses of the sunrise.  No instead, during these commutes you will be slapped repeatedly across the face and made to feel as if someone is throwing fistfuls of razorblades at you with deadly, ninja-like accuracy.  So if you are powering through, good for you, be proud, you are truly awesome.

Here is the deal though… you need to say thank you to your most loyal of friends, your trusty metal steed for braving the weather with you.  In fact, you may not realize it, but your bicycle is taking almost as much punishment (if not more depending on how well you are at crossing ice patches) as you are.

3 tips for getting your bike through the winter commuting season: 

1.  Cleanliness

I’m from the Midwestern United States, and around these parts we use a nasty combination of sand and salt and even an ice melting solution on the roads pretty much all winter.  This stuff wreaks havoc on all sorts of parts of a bicycle.  The chain, the brake pads, the wheels, the frame…left unattended, I’m confident that my bike would slowly melt into a puddle of shiny goo a la Terminator 2 (only without reforming into an evil robot from the future).

Every day you should wipe down your bike after you are done commuting.  If you don’t have a solution to use (I prefer Simple Green) just go with warm water and a little soap.  Wash your rims; wipe down the underside of your frame (if not the entire frame, at least get the parts where there is clear splash back.  It’s pretty much a given that at the end of a long winter you will need to at least invest in a new chain and brake pads (not a guaranty, but a might as well assume so just so you aren’t surprised).  Even though I expect to have to replace it I still give my chain a clean by holding a rag around it and gently spinning it through.  I only apply new lube every other ride…it’s up to you really, because after you clean your chain it could probably use lube every day.  But I’m stingy and my commuter is a beater.

2.  Be Prepared

In the summer I carry a small pump, patch kit, tire wrenches, and a multi-tool.  During winter I carry a lot more.

During winter riding, you can quickly find yourself in situations that could present more problems than just having to walk your bike a bit…you don’t want to be broken down in freezing temperatures with no way to fix something.

Make sure you know how to repair your chain, brake lines and pads, and change flats.  If your chain allows for it, carry a master-link or two for quick repairs. Also consider carrying extra brake pads.  The stuff they put on roads gets all over your rims and then of course your brake pads…the can corrode fast.  For winter, I recommend a self sticking patch kit, as opposed to the standard vulcanized patches I use during warmer months.  I am never confident they will save a tube indefinitely, but they will at least allow me to re-inflate and get to my destination and out of the elements faster than waiting on glue to dry.  I also highly recommend fenders.  When it’s warm, I don’t mind getting wet from rain…in fact I kind of like watching the water spin off my tires, but winter is a different story.  Fenders also help save your frame and components.

3.  Ice is Slick

It’s a common misnomer among drivers as well, fatter tires don’t mean much on ice.  You might be inclined to think a mountain bike is better for a winter commute, and while that may be true sometimes, I feel that most of the time it isn’t.  With less contact surface area on the road, I feel like my road bike slips more than my mountain bike.  My skinny tires can carve through snow and slush like a knife, while my 29er Monster Bike tends to slide from side to side all the time.

However, keep in mind that snow and slush are very different from ice.  It’s darker in the morning during winter, the road is dark, and ice can appear to be just a bit of wetness on the road until…whoops…I fell over.  If it’s below freezing, assume there will be ice on your commute.  Like Wiggo or the Missile, try to hold your line and ride straight as much as possible.  Find a place in the lane where you are comfortable and stay in that spot.  Don’t jerk or swerve or even change lanes if you don’t have to.  It takes a little more self-control in the winter to hold the lane, but it’s more critical than ever, in my opinion.

When you make your turns don’t try to ride like you are racing a kit…leaning into it will typically not go well if you hit even a small patch of ice.  However if you stay upright and turn with your handlebars, you should have a much better chance at staying upright.

Like I said, if you are powering through the nasty cold weather, good for you! It is a little bit of a different ball game to commute in the winter months, but if you can follow these few suggestions you should come out a stronger cyclist in the spring.  Be careful, take care of yourself and your bicycle, and you will be just fine.

Aaron

December is definitely here and I don’t know about the rest of you, but it’s bloomin’ cold over her in the good old U of K. When I checked out LovingTheBike.com yesterday morning (as I do every day, like a good ‘employee’) I was filled with a sense of wonder tinged with a massive amount of jealousy!

I’m sure you have noticed that Darryl has made the family move of a lifetime and set up camp on the wonderful island of Grenada, and posted this about an idyllic morning ride.  Well ‘D Dawg’ you might have the glorious beaches and crystal blue waters, but I have wet roads and bitter winds…the making of a strong spring rider.

Winter is a hard time to get on the bike and get the legs rolling. You may have chosen to have a little time off the bike as I did and have to get back into the routine, but winter is a great time to ride.  You’ll feel super strong in the spring after putting in the hard miles and those fresh, sunny roads in a few months time seem to just roll so much smoother than those presently.

Winter also gives you the added enjoyment of getting all of that expensive, lovely winter kit out of the cupboard and strutting your stuff.  I have a real thing for kits, as many of you do too I’m sure, and there is nothing finer than showing off your style with a matching winter kit right from the cap down to the pedals.  The cold weather just means there is more lovely kit to wear!  In the summer we can select the Euro-cool white kits but for now, it’s understated and hard working clothing which takes centre stage.

There is also a real sense of camaraderie built up through the winter within the various chain gangs.  It can be a hard time to ride through harsh weather and sometimes the only thing that gets you through is wanting to not lose face in front of your riding pals. But when those sunny months come around and you look around the bunch you’ll know the faces that struggled through the winter with you and seek those wheels over others.

Those are the riders you follow because the trust has been built up through the wet months and there is an unspoken pact between you. The ones that have put in the effort and dedication to mean that when the weather is fine and you can sit outside the mid ride cafe, you can be proud you put in the tough miles and enjoy smashing all of your lazy friends for the whole summer!

Get out there and ride this winter. Don’t let weather stop you, there is kit, tyres and equipment to make it all possible.  Make December the month to change, and don’t wait for those useless New Year’s resolutions.  Do it now.  Get wet and wild!

Stevie

What do you do when you’re a bike commuter who lives in a city with no bicycle culture?  Well, if you’re Steve Shepard you take things into your own hands and start building up that culture.

Steve Shepard is a family man and daily commuter in Erie, PA…located in northeast Pennsylvania on the shores of Lake Erie.  His love for cycling digs deep and he enjoys getting out on his bike, even during the conditions found in the harsh winter months.  Steve is happily willing to deal with the elements, but the one thing he is avid about is making Erie a more commuter friendly city.

Lack of bike lanes

Lack of Bike Racks

When asked about his motivation to get more of his community on bikes, Steve says: “Well, let me say this city is perfect for cycling to and from work.  It would be better for everyone if more of us rode bikes. We have a bike route that leads directly downtown and a Seaway trail that passes along the shore of Lake Erie and right by the 3 largest employers we have.  Also located on the Seaway Trail is the Erie Intermodal Hub, perfect for commuters.”

A Bicycle Parking Lot and Bike Station Would Be Great

The hub that Steve mentions currently being used as office space and bus stops.  His idea is to make it into a bike parking area equipped with all the accommodations needed for commuters.  Having things like a Bike Repair Station set up would be a great idea to go along with the parking area.

Steve goes on to explain that the buses and trolleys all roll into this area and could easily transport people to and from the hub if they are not in biking distance to get there.  All of the cities primary amenities are located in walking distance of the hub, and the city’s largest employer (General Electric) is only 5 miles away. Steve is one of the GE’s employees and chooses to ride there from home, but he feels that anyone could make the commute from the hub to the company.

The Seaway Trail

Hopefully with the help of fellow cyclists and advice from national organizations, we will turn Erie into a cycling friendly city for all to enjoy!  So I ask that you please follow along and watch as the transformation takes place. Who knows maybe I will inspire you to do the same in your community!

Steve would love your ideas and support

Progress:

The logo you see above should do one of two things to you when you see it. It will either fill you with intrigue and excitement about what you have been missing out on and are about to experience, in which case I envy you dear reader… or it will fill you with a deep feeling of dread and mental pain, in which case we stand brothers in arms (well… legs, but you know what I mean).

The horribly evil officials in the Sufferlandrian Office for Pain and Suffering have recently released a new manifesto and it is indeed ‘A Very Dark Place’. Gone are the days when The Sufferfest videos were released with a world-wide health warning, these things are down right evil now and if you go into them thinking they are going to be any different then you are going to get chewed up and spat out of the back of a Lemond turbo trainer. A recent census was sent out to all residents of Sufferlandria and some of the questions and answers can be found below from LovingTheBike.com’s very own Darryl & Stevie.

Sufferlandiran Minister for Pain - The latest Sufferfest video is called “A Very Dark Place”……do you feel its the deepest and darkest out of the 7 videos they have available?  How come?

Darryl – I’ve only personally seen two other Sufferfest videos (Revolver and Fight Club) and both of those really did a great job at introducing me to how life is in Sufferlandia.  I have to be honest about something, it’s November here in Austin and the weather is still far too beautiful for me to get on the trainer for an indoor ride.  But I did want to check out A Very Dark Place and provide my feedback in addition to what Stevie had to say.  So my answers will be based from an observer perspective on this one and not a true sufferer.  I do plan on riding through the video sometime in the months ahead though.  So to answer the question, this video does look to be the darkest one yet but the true test will come when I experience the suffering first hand.

Stevie – It’s definitely the darkest Sufferfest video I can remember… but that might be due to falling off the bike and blacking out each time I do them and losing a few more brain cells each time. It’s July 2009 right? Damn I love that Contador guy he’s so strong! But seriously, I’m astounded how these videos seem to warp time! Has the Sufferlandrian Minister for Clocks decided to use a different method of timing because those 4 minute sprints seemed considerably longer! The superb footage used in this video (and in the others to be honest) was the only thing that kept me going!

SMfP – Do you prefer the short bursts of maximum effort (4:00 intervals) found in AVDP, or would you rather have longer sprints with less intensity?

Stevie – Prefer!? PREFER!? I prefer to sit in a country pub garden on a summer’s evening drinking a nice pint of English Ale. I prefer to smell the cooling scent of a coniferous forest. I prefer to smash myself over the head with a track pump whilst sticking tyre levers in my… well… sorry. When I stick a Sufferfest video in my VHS player I try to concentrate on that video alone and think of nothing else. It sometimes takes longer to choose which training video to do than to actually complete it. There really is a video for every situation. So to answer the question, I’ll do whatever I’m told to do by the scary man who types the stuff on my television screen.

Darryl – I’m with Stevie on this one….hahahahaha.  Nah, I do love the feeling of accomplishment that comes with pushing myself to the max and taking on new challenges.  In all areas of life I prefer to give things 100% and get it done as quickly as possible so I’d much rather go full-out for 4 minutes than to do a long climb or sprint.  Most of the time, anyway.  However, 4 minutes at the intensity demanded in the Sufferfest can definitely feel like never-ending eternity.

SMfP – What was your favorite part of AVDP?  Is it possible to have a favorite part of The Sufferfest?

Stevie – Favourite? I refer you to my previous answer! Although the best features of any Sufferfest video are the brilliant race clips and the rousing music that really keep you going. I do love seeing some classic race footage from previous years… they bring back the memories and the tears… oh the tears. The tears and the pain! Thank you Sufferfest!

Darryl – Yes, favorite might be the wrong word to use…..when it comes to the suffering part.  In terms of production I loved the incredible soundtrack.  David ‘The Dark Artist’ from the Sufferlandria seems to always be able to find great music that’s somewhat obscure.  I consider myself pretty knowledgeable when it comes to music, but the Sufferfest tracks always seem to be foreign to me….but totally motivating and great to listen to.  Along with that, it’s always nice to get the feeling that you’re riding along with the pros like you do when watching any of the videos.

Darryl – What I would like to see (if it’s possible) is for the Sufferfest to re-create a famous ride such as climbing the Col du Tourmalet or Hautacam in the Pyranees of France. That would be cool… but painful. Now that they have seven videos under their belts, I’d like to see the dungeons of Sufferlandria create something totally different. Although I’ve only seen three of the videos, they all seem to be fairly similar.

SMfP – If the professional riders featured in the video were asked, nay TOLD to complete ‘A Very Dark Place’ how do you think they would do against the seasoned Sufferlandrian?

Darryl - Nice question…who’s coming up with these?  I feel like I’m in #bikeschoolright now.  I think the crazies out there (aka Sufferlandrian’s) who give these videos all they’ve got and have done them over and over again would do quite well against a pro rider.  First you’ll have to find a pro rider willing to take on the challenge, but if they give it all they can my money would be on the pro.  Hey David, have you had anyone take on this challenge before?  It would make for a great story….and video.

For all of you living in places where the cycling streets are covered in white stuff all winter, there’s light at the end of the tunnel.  Yes, my friends….Spring is on it’s way. I’m definitely a cold weather riding wimp and could never imagine riding through a cold and snowy winter, but I’ve met a lot of hardcores who do it each and every year.

Sam Haraldson (@sharalds) and his group of riding buddies from Bozeman, MT don’t let winter get in the way of their riding…and last November they launched the cycling hashtag #ridethroughwinter to help celebrate this fact.

#ridethroughwinter

LTB: When did you first send out a tweet with #ridethroughwinter?

@sharalds: The hashtag was born November 18th 2010, about the time I put the studded tires on my bicycle in prep for our beloved Montana winter.

The first tweet it appeared in was as follows:

@sharalds: Rode home from @BZNBikeKitchen with a beautiful flurry of snow falling from the sky and accumulating on the street. #ridethruwinter.

I got a few complaints from friends that disliked the word “thru” and it then morphed into #ridethroughwinter.  In fact there is a Tweet from fellow BZN cyclist @singletrackm1nd questioning this dilemna:

@SingletrackM1nd: Ok Bzn peeps I need a ruling here. Is it gonna be #ridethruwinter or #ridethroughwinter? I’m getting confused, although that’s easy to do.

My group of friends are all year-round cyclists and when the weather gets bad we tend to give each other virtual high-fives regarding riding in these conditions so a hashtag like #ridethroughwinter is the perfect way to do that.

LTB: What city are you from and what is it like to ride there through winter?

@sharalds: I reside in Bozeman, Montana where winter can start as early as October and end as late as June.  We have snow and ice on the streets for at least six months of the year and regularly get cold snaps of -20 deg F that can last up to two weeks.

LTB: How many years have you been riding through winter?

@sharalds: I started commuting year-round in ’06 or ’07 when I was living in Duluth, MN.  I consider my new home of Bozeman to be absolutely tame compared to Duluth.

LTB: Have you seen the #ridethroughwinter hashtag used a lot?  Can you remember a favorite tweet that included it?

@sharalds: I was interested to find fellow Bozeman cyclists picking up the use of the hashtag but haven’t been paying attention to whether it has spread viral at all.  Anyone that would tag a tweet with it would probably get along with me because it takes a certain someone to ride their bicycle all year round and I like that kind of person!  Just knowing that a few hard men and women are bicycle commuting to work in 25 deg F temps strengths a bond between us. If I was to suggest a favorite tweet of mine that used the hashtag I would say it was:

@sharalds: The bite of a Schwalbe Ice Spiker Pro into ice atop asphalt. #ridethruwinter

LTB: You’re almost done with #ridethroughwinter….how excited are you about #SummerRiding?

@sharalds: Bicycling-wise I’m just as excited for summer as I am for winter.  I get to ride a lot no matter what time of year it is so I’m always stoked. Come summer I’ll swap my snowboard for my mountain bike and that will be nice but here in SW Montana we try to live in the moment and keep ourselves from always looking ahead to the whatever the next season will bring. I throw another hashtag around from time to time (winter and summer) and that’s #cycle300.  I set a goal for myself this year to ride 300 days and am so far on track to do so.

Sam has a bunch of his winter cycling photos up on his Flikr account, and can be tweeted at @sharalds. Thanks for sharing your #ridethroughwinter story with us.

Photo c/o Sam Haraldson

In the final installment of Winter Riding Wednesdays, Kip gives a few more tips on how to navigate snow covered streets. “You’re curious…do you think you’re going to try it this winter?”

See all four parts of Winter Riding Wednesdays on Loving The Bike’s YouTube channel.

Good winter biking gear is expensive; but, if you’re willing to spend some money, you’re going to be more comfortable and less likely to give up on winter cycling.

iOS version available here

Once again, Kip goes into detail on what type of gear a winter cyclist should use to be comfortable during winter rides:

• a helmet
• goggles
• head gear
• jackets
• gloves
• pants
• underwear
• foot protection

Be comfortable, be safe and you’ll be a successful winter cyclist.

In today’s video, Kip focuses on studded tires.  This is a very informative clip on how to stud your own tires, what to look for in a good winter tire and how to save money.  As always, enjoy your ride and leave comments.

iOS version available here

My teammate, Myron, is back once again with a great new series that will run each Wednesday in December. In September, Myron posted up some awesome articles in a series he called “Mac Mondays” and I’m very stoked to have him back once again for this one. As you know, I’m not a winter riding kind of guy and this is why I escaped it and came to the Southern States. But I know there are a lot of riders who already are (or would like to) ride through the winter…so Myron is here to help you out with “Winter Riding Wednesdays”.

Welcome to the first installment of “Winter Riding Wednesdays.”  Kip Luce (from Saskatoon Saskatchewan’s Bike Polo group) gave a presentation to staff and students at Walter Murray Collegiate in November on how to get ready for the winter bike riding season (and Myron from Loving The Bike was there to film it).  Kip is a year-round cyclist and is a knowledgeable guy when it comes to winter biking.

(iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch version available here)

In part one, Kip gives a few tips on safety, equipment and cornering on snow/ice.  The main points to remember from this “Winter Biking Wednesday” bike school (look for #bikeschool on Twitter every Thursday evening) are to be visible, pick your route, go slow and be patient.  Enjoy your (winter) ride.

If you have more tips, please email or leave a comment.