Cycling in snow, 2023 edition
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There was no cold autumn this year. Temperatures were unusually
moderate - ~5 degrees of Celsius and definitely over zero. Then in the
last week of the November it have started to snow.
We got unusually big amount of snow. Much more that in many previous
years. For example, last year we had some snow in November but it was
gone in a few days. Now it persists for almost two weeks and some more
snow is expected.
Anyway, I have had to do some usual bike rides - my daily commuting
(actually, I had to walk for two days) and a longer ride today (~18
km).
The main roads are mostly clean but cycle paths/ shared paths and
sidewalks are hit and miss. Moreover I have had to use a side road to a
village. It wasn't cleaned much but it was rideable for most parts.
I use am old (1960s) Moulton bicycle for winter rides. It has 16"
wheels ad 3 speeds. More importantly, it use Sturmey-Archer hub gears
instead of a derraileur so switching gears is instant and the chain is
higher above ground (thus there are less parts prone to damage).
The problem are the tyres. I used spiked rear tyre last winter but when
I installed it all the snow disappeared and never returned. So I am now
on an "all-year" tyres. They works but in some cases (wet snow, ice) I
have to pull my bike. IT is also hard to ride places which are not
flat. So frozen traces of big cars and such things made problem.
Anyway, I had to pull my bike for less than 1 km today (so I was able
to ride the bike for over 17 km). Not a bad result for 60 years old
machine.
I am curious if people will use contemporary bikes in 60 years...
