Wintertime Cycling

I made myself a goal last year to be more courageous in the realm of
winter cycling this year. Well it's February and I am still on the
bicycle at least three days a week. I get the sense that my colleagues
believe me to be a nut, but we cannot let the opinions of others
influence our course beyond our duty. It's been cold. It's been warm. I
haven't fallen due to winter conditions yet. Here's the goods:

The Bicycles

I have two that are road-ready at this time. The first, which is also my
preference is a skinny-tire road bike, without tread.  More
specifically, it is a mid-80s Norco Triathlon on 23mm tires. [1] This
style bicycle does not lend itself to fresh snow or those very cold
days: less than 10F and -10C.  I mention this bicycle first because it
is the one I have ridden for the majority of the winter season so far.
Here in British Columbia, the roads are generally clear enough to ride
by the afternoon after a snow and it doesn't snow everyday. Most of the
time, the roads are good enough for this road bike to get me around.

And other times, lntl? What then?

Well, I am glad you've asked. There is another ride that I common. If
there has been fresh snow of less than 2 inches or it is incredibly cold
out and I fear the black ice.  This is my early 90s, hungarian-made,
Schwinn  Woodlands.  This behemoth weighs in at 40 lbs and is a bear to
ride uphill. The tread pattern is more aggressive than the road bike and
allows me a greater sense of security when riding on a questionable road
surface.


So you have different setups for different conditions. One for "good"
conditions and another for "less good" conditions.  Is there anything
else that changes with conditions?

Well, clothing for one. Style is another. In winter-time I become
hyper-paranoid about being killed by a motorvehicle.  More paranoid than
I usually am.

How about maintenance. Do you do any?

Truthfully, I usually put off maintenance until an issue becomes known.
ie: missing a gear, strange shifting, flat tire, etc. There is a detail
about my lifestyle that perhaps could be considered maintenance which I
will share.

In the wintertime, there is a lot of grime on the road from the sand and
salt which is dispursed. When riding through this grime, it gets all
over everything and will wear down surfaces.

I store my bicycles on the walls of my living space. I purchased some
brackets which hang a bicycle up by it's pedal and I like how they
display in my home. Also, I do not have a garage or bike-shed. At any
rate, before I hang up a bike, I do my walls the service of brushing off
all of that loose grit and grime from the roads. In reality, if I had a
garage I probably wouldn't do this. This action of clearing off road
grime is the extent of winter-maintenance which I regularly perform.


[1] gopher://republic.circumlunar.space/I/%7elntl/logs/img/norco.jpg
[2] gopher://republic.circumlunar.space/I/%7elntl/logs/img/woodlands.jpg