got out of the library to find freezing rain had made the world a skating rink. bad day to ride brakeless.
God dammit I can’t wait for the next shift bid so I can work days again. I hate finishing work at 10 P.M. in York Mills. When I’m downtown I’m fine, but riding out in suburban/industrial areas at night scares the hell out of me. There’s just enough traffic that I have someone on my ass the whole time, but not enough to keep those fuckers under 80km/h.
Just venting. Wanna ride in the snow.
[quote=“Rusty Piton”]Four inches just dropped on chi.
I’m gonna finish my beer and go for a ride.[/quote]
I am going to wait until it stops snowing and then walk to the bar across the street.
Yeah, we only get “French Canadian snow” here. It’s more adhesive. Oh yeah, and we don’t have cars here either.
Just dogsleds right?
My burton jacket of 8 years broke its last zipper. Might be time for a new winter coat 
On tires. I’m riding in Madison, obviously. Currently I run a 28c cross tire up front and a 37c cross tire in the rear, simply because that’s what I had already. It works the best on hard-pack and slush, very predictable handling. In deep snow like today I tend to slide around a lot, but with no falls. I can cut through large drifts no problem, but when I stand up to pedal my rear wheel occasionally loses traction and spins. On ice, I can only avoid falling if I ride in a straight line and lay off the brake, but this isn’t always possible and sometimes the ice is a surprise.
Last year I used knobby 26x1.95 tires on a SS MTB and had nothing but problems in the snow. Sliding everywhere and constantly getting stuck. And this was only in Virginia. I think the main problem was that the tires would gather snow until the tread was completely covered. You really need a tread that will shed the snow as fast as it accumulates. Also, now that I’m running 63 gear inches on a fixed instead of 73 on a freewheel I have dramatically increased control.
That’s a really big difference in tires, but ya use what you’ve got and that’s good, I think.
Yes. Up 'til february of last year I was running something like 53/15 (jeezes, that’s 92.9 inches!) 'cause I didn’t know any better. This year it’s 65 gi when it’s nice, 54 when it’s ridiculous and/or I’m hauling a hefty load. I like to dingle.
Holy fuck the dinglecog is the best idea ever.
Damn straight it is. It requires you to be a square and have two rings if you’re going to use it to its fullest extent, but it’s totally worth it. My zen has barely been affected at all.
I couldn’t find 'em either.
Yeah, we only get “French Canadian snow” here. It’s more adhesive. Oh yeah, and we don’t have cars here either.[/quote]
yes, there are different types of snow. that is why eskimoes have like 30 words to describe snow and ice, plus water has 10 (9?) different phases. also it sounds like you guys have a lot more plows and salt so the conditions are not the same. i’m just trying to figure out what’s best, and there is no way i could have moved anywhere last night on 23s, although i will have one winter bike with 23s and one with 28s for different conditons. maybe for when we get canadian snow.
You wish you did.
Ever since the Great Plains Blizzard of 96 shut chicago down for like a week, the city has been super vigilant about snow removal on the main streets. The plows and salt trucks roll as soon as the first flake hits the pavement. The sidestreets (the main thorofares of the shorcut takin’ cyclist) however, become sheet-ice and hardpack once the snow stopps falling and the temp drops. I’m seriously considering a pair of nikosians. They’re soooooo expensive though.
it snowed over the weekend here, but the snow is gone and now all we have is terrible rain/freezing rain/slushy mixture.
with that being said, i ate shit last night coming home right in front of my house, it was so epic. first of the season!
I’m waiting for the first snowstorm here this year, so I can get some idea of what I need to do to my bike. Who knows when that’ll happen, though. It was 20F on Monday. Right now, it’s 60F and raining.
And for that matter, so do we.
Snow
Slush
Hardpack
Powder
Flakes
Blizzard
Drifts
and I’m sure there’s at least a couple more.
Last night at 2am, first frozen ride of the winter for me. It was ~30F, all puddles frozen into solid chunks of ice, foggy to the point of not seeing 50ft in front of me, bone dry outside, and I wasn’t sober… so much fun!
yesterday here it was 80 during the day
then around 10pm it started snowing
no snow today but cold for atx and windy as shit
I did some epic shit-eating just today. Not my first of the season, unfortunately. Damn bumpy roads combined with dirty, slushy crap concealing ice! I may just have to wash my jeans.
EDIT: After he saw me slide like 20 feet on my side and, hop up off the ground, and get on my bike, a dude in a car asked “Are you alright!?!” in a really concerned, dramatic type voice. Shoulda said, “I probably broke some ribs,” then rode off. Instead I just said I was fine and thanked him for stopping.