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Can You Bike In The Snow?
By
Lauren Evans
Published Jan 6, 2015
Modified Jan 6, 2015
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By
Lauren Evans
Published Jan 6, 2015
Modified Jan 6, 2015
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The important thing to remember about biking in the snow isn't whether it's possible—everything is possible, except time travel and convincing your best friend to ditch Cameron Diaz and marry you instead.
Whether you should bike in the snow is largely an issue of tolerance: Would you rather be whipped in the face by an onslaught of tiny, freshly-sharpened ice daggers, or cram into an overly hot train car with a group of wet, cranky people-cattle and their mouth-breathing children? The obvious answer here is "Mexico," but it's already too late to plot any sort of escape this month. If you do choose the former, follow along to reduce your inevitable misery:
First, don't overdress. Wearing a pile of sweaters isn't going to keep your fingertips from freezing; it's going to make your core sweaty, and that sweat will quickly become cold. Wear merino wool or synthetic fiber, but not cotton—never cotton. Cotton absorbs sweat and then insists on pressing that sweat against your skin in a sort of frigid death embrace. You may as well just tape a bunch of frozen diapers around your rib cage. Seriously, avoid cotton.
Wear a waterproof or water-resistant shell on the outside, preferably one that's vented or has a two-way zipper. Wear waterproof gloves with interior grips, because a humiliating death is crashing into a truck or lamp post because your clumsy, wet hand flew from the handlebar. Bring extra socks. If you're biking in daylight, wear darker colors to stand out.
On your head, you'll want a balaclava or helmet liner—whatever it is, make sure it covers your ears and preferably, your nose. Leave your eyes for dead.
(Adrian Cabrero (Mustagrapho)/flickr)
Let's talk about your bike! Your bike hates winter. It's tough on your gears, your derailleur, your drive train, your everything. If you have enough green for a separate winter bike, get a fancy one with internal geared hubs and let me borrow it. Otherwise, you have some tire options: Mountain bike tires maintain better traction, but some people prefer thinner tires on the basis that more effectively concentrate your weight and thus provide a superior grip on the pavement, wherever that is. The other option is using a bike you won't miss when it rusts or corrodes. And the fewer gears it has, the less there is to have mucked up by salt and other destructive detritus camouflaged in the seemingly innocuous powder.
Regardless of the bike you choose, the best thing you can do is maintain it. A little oil where each tire spoke enters the rim every so often will help repel both salt and water. If it falls within your skill set, dismantle your bike and give it a thorough cleaning once every couple of weeks.
Also, fenders! Fenders will help protect your bike's prissier components, and maybe spare your pants a fractional amount of the crap shooting off the sidewalk. And if you've always wondered what it's like to take a lane, now is the time—plows tend to shove the snow right into the space where you'd normally ride, and anyway, you want to make yourself as visible to drivers as possible.
Wear a helmet and use your lights in the daytime: The roads are especially lawless in the snow, and cars expect your presence in such weather even less than they do on nice days. It's also damn slippery out there, so even if you're not a helmet-wearing person normally (for shame), become one today! Your hair already looks like crap anyway. It will look like crap until April 1, 2015, when you will awake to find that it's blossomed into a beautiful 90s Pantene Pro-V commercial. Embrace your matted, ugly hair, or your inner-beauty, whichever you possess more of.
Some things to avoid:
Licking your lips. You'll do this because you're nervous and also trying to eat the snow off of them, but your spit will freeze. Then you'll try to lick that off, and the cycle will continue until your lips look and feel like they were plucked from the bottom of the ocean. Avoid!
Hurrying. Look, you're not getting anywhere fast—no one is. Your greatest enemy right now is black ice, to which even history's most accomplished Snow Cyclists will inevitably succumb at one time or another, most often in front of group of children or supermodels. Take your time.
Allowing your bike to freeze/defrost repeatedly. This is counterintuitive, but a good point. Allowing your bike to freeze and thaw repeatedly can encourage condensation on your frame and cable housing, which makes your bike more susceptible to rust and frozen cables. But if you're going to leave it outside, pay special attention to where you locked it up, since all bikes look the same when heaped in snow. Water might get trapped in your lock and freeze there—just pour something hot like tea or the blood of a hated rival over it until it melts.
Your experience will correlate directly to your level of preparation. If you follow zero of these tips, you will likely survive just fine; the rest of your day might just kind of blow. I saw a man riding a Citi Bike in a T-shirt this morning, and I am at least 70 percent certain I heard him shout "Woo!" as a Hyundai splattered him with icy gutter sludge. Attitude is everything.
h/t REI, People for Bikes, Gothamist's Native Minnesotan-In-Residence, my own dumb experience.
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Lauren Evans
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