Ice cycles: the northerly world cities leading the winter bicycle revolution
theguardian.com
theguardian.com
Obviously you need something that protects you from occasional rain or at least some dry and clean clothes to change into, but apart from that, the seasonal change will not be harsh. It is usually gradual, and yes, you will at some point want to wear gloves, and long pants, at some point even long underwear (or specific biking clothes), but it is never suddenly cold. Actually you become less sensitive to the cold overall. At least that was my experience.
To be fair, I stopped doing that a few years ago, since not having a shower at work makes slightly longer commutes uncomfortable with co-workers and clients, obviously. And I became more and more afraid of my laptop in my backpack, because yes, you will get wet, your stuff will get wet, you will slip on snow, etc.
(Edit: I'm in Germany; we tend to get snow and ice in winter and the cycle paths are not always cleared immediately.)
Although to be honest, around here we almost never have persistent (packed) snowy streets anymore (those usually have very good grip). The winters are milder with every year, so most snow just disappears in a few hours, and most cycle-paths and streets are salted heavily, so it is just wet most of the times.
The only really tricky situations were right in the middle of heavy snow-fall, where a lot of salt was already on the street or being added. The street is soap then, and I don't know if any tire will help you with that.
It is another thing if you live where there is a lot of snow, and often fresh powder - let's say more than 15cm soft surface on a regular basis. I guess yes, you would sink with most regular tires there, then you need large balloons and a bike that can take them.
Fenders and lights are essential.
So, those treated paths in Finland are almost certainly safer (from a slipping/sliding perspective) than the Mid-Atlantic US, where paths melt and refreeze throughout the day, leaving a slick layer on top.
Mind you black ice could be nasty.
If you're slightly used to biking, you will have a foot down almost immediately (which will also slip, granted), but it almost always becomes a rather comical slip that takes you to the ground rather slowly instead of a neck-breaking action stunt in my experience. I guess it is different if you have full racing gear and a street racing bike, don't want to slip with that.
(1) studs are tungsten carbide, which has a Mohs hardness of about 9 (similar to sapphire)
(2) most important thing: giant, wide tires will float on the snow and are not as safe as a narrower, touring tire with studs -- the narrower tire won't float on the snow and will give you control
Gloves are absolutely a must, even on days that are brisk but not freezing. Beyond that, something to cover your ears on cold days is usually a good idea.
My bike commute now is 20+ miles, and takes a little over an hour in good weather on my road bike. Studded snow tires are obviously much slower, and the ride is much longer. It is challenging to use the correct clothing over a longer distance. My core stays warm and i have to be able to vent it so I don't sweat. I can keep my hands from getting too cold, but it is incredibly difficult to keep my feet warm after about 45-50 minutes in. Exposed skin over an hour gives frostbite where at 20-30 minutes it won't. I have since given up on commuting when it's below 20F now.
A former buddy of mine would use those for his MTB-Training in Winter. There are options intended for to -20° C IIRC.
Without dedicated bike lanes, a reduction in lane size is bad enough (it is hard to share the roads when there is no road to share). Add in drivers trying to swerve around bicyclists (a really dangerous action on icy roads), and you have a recipe for accidents.
As this article points out, advanced planning is key. But convincing Canadians (in places like Manitoba), who have very low population density and very far stretches of road to build/maintain, to sacrifice infrastructure dollars for bike lanes would be a tough political move. Finland is about half the size of Manitoba and has 4x the population. That's an 8x spending advantage in terms of roads!
Europeans have a much easier time with infrastructure than Canada (and the US to a lesser extent) because of significantly higher population density. I know I'd love to have European-style infrastructure, but it just isn't practical.
Personally, I wouldn't feel safe riding a bicycle in the winter. Not with our roads.
But once enough snow accumulation has happened, a lost lane will be unavailable until spring. The dedicated bike path that cuts through my community is closed during the winter and much of the spring (too much snow accumulation). The snow plow budget in most years couldn't possibly cover it.
In fact in Copenhagen at least the bike lanes are cleared much more reliably than the road. The city owns many more of these bike lane snow-removal vehicles (which are small and fairly cheap) and only a few of the big road-plowing trucks. Salting the bicycle lanes also takes less salt, so tends to be done more readily.
I honestly think the best answer would be to stay home and work from there.
That was the starting quote. I hope we can agree that that's a big storm.
Sensible clothing, just as one needs to walk or ski, is all one needs to bike in the winter. Studded tires can make up for defects in infrastructure maintenance.
And having sunny outdoor time midwinter is decidely good for my mood— people pay thousands of dollars to take ski vacations, after all.
Avg temperature -14c in Jan to 19c in July.
Avg precipitation 19mm April to 65mm August.
Avg windspeed <10mph year round.
UV index +4 in July (50% cloud cover).
Terrain: small and flat.
Conclusion: a tiny, flat city with cool, yet mild weather is a good place to ride a bike year round.
https://www.worldweatheronline.com/v2/weather-averages.aspx?...
http://www.oulu.climatemps.com/
https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Oulu,+Finland/@64.995967,25...
On a really bad day I would take the bus, but I almost always rode my bike. Of course there was that time I rode home in a thunderstorm and was so afraid of the lightning that I didn't see the parked car that I crashed into.
I know this place has an unhealthy worship of cycling, but this is a bit ridiculous.
And folks are biking over sidewalks covered in a couple inches of ice, I might add. On hills and in mountains, it seems.
And no, it isn't always pleasant, but you get used to it and learn how to dress properly. Afterwards, it isn't a big deal.
I don't bike to work nearly enough, and I absolutely love cars, but it baffles my mind how much money and hassle people expend on cars that are (to them) just a transportation appliance.
Yes, some people like to multi-task their exercise by biking (although then it's much harder to multi-task your audiobooks), and yes some people have short commutes that are slightly faster by bike, and yes some people just enjoy biking. But for most people, transportation is about fast reliable transportation, and if you're on HN your time is likely worth several times the car cost.
(Obviously, people can spend a significant fraction of even large salaries on a luxury car, but that's a personal choice that doesn't have much to do with economical transportation. It doesn't make sense to tell someone driving a Mercedes that they could save money by riding a bike.)