Weather Channel: Ride your bike in the winter

Nov 30, 2007 By Richard Masoner Posted in The Archives Tagged with Commute by Bike

The Weather Channel featured this “Ride your bike in the winter” video recently in their Top Stories video section. Weather Channel reporter Jorma Duran visited a Chicago bike shop where they talked about how to keep cycling in the winter. Their tips? Fenders, layering, and lights.

See also Chicago Bike Winter for more Chicago winter cycling information. Props to Sue for that info.

0 thoughts on “Weather Channel: Ride your bike in the winter”

Noah says:

November 30, 2007 at 7:18 pm

Fenders?

Wussies.

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Noah says:

November 30, 2007 at 7:28 pm

And yes, that was flame bait. To each their own on equipment. I just haven’t sipped the fender kool-aid(tm) yet.

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Larry in AK says:

November 30, 2007 at 8:07 pm

They call that riding in winter! Thirty degrees and lower to single dilgits on ice and snow is winter riding. I agree, they are a bunch of wussies. Riding with studded tires on icy trails, and soft snow with fat tired bikes such as the Pugsley are real, winter riding bikes. Winter riding on pavement is for, well you know what.

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bikesgonewild says:

December 1, 2007 at 3:45 am

…i had to laugh at myself today…fritz lives down the sf bay from me, so he can attest to the chilly but beautiful weather we’ve been having…late afternoon, i get out on the bike & about two miles down the road, i make a quick stop at one a’ my LBS’s…my nose is running, my eyes are watering & it really can’t be any colder than the low 50’s out…

…thus the laugh…i said, ‘guys, if we had any real weather out here, i’d be a man in trouble…i think i’m becoming a wuss’…

…i don’t wanna believe it’s true, sheesh, but considering i used to play outside all day in 40-below zero (F) winter weather, as a kid in northern canada…hmm…

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Fritz says:

December 1, 2007 at 3:01 pm

Bike Winter Chicago has been pointing out for years that the weather is rarely extreme enough in Chicago to warrant extreme measures in cycling. Pugsleys and other specialized gear are not required for the bike commute on most days in the lower 48.

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Winnipeg Cyclist says:

December 1, 2007 at 8:09 pm

I have to agree… if there’s no snow and ice, if the thermometer isn’t stuck displaying everything with a permanent negative sign… well, then it isn’t Winter Riding!

Winter here in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada means daily temperatures of -20C is normal, and with the ‘wind chill’, -40 is also normal. When it get cold here, that’s when the -40 becomes normal (without the wind chill) and the Radio Announcers start talking in ‘seconds” of exposure before unprotected skin freezes!

BTW bikesgonewild as I am sure you remember, -40 is -40 is -40. It’s the temperature at which both the Celsius and Fahrenheit scales agree on the same temperature.

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bikesgonewild says:

December 3, 2007 at 1:39 am

…winnipeg cyclist…i’ll be honest w/ you, i moved down here before the conversion to metric (yes, that long ago)…through watching ‘le tour de france’ on the tube, i’ve gotten decent at converting kilos to miles, but the celsius X fahrenheit conversion never just falls into place…

…so, no, i lucked on the -40 only cuz my mom, before she passed on, mentioned that as kids we’d be out there all day, skating, playing hockey, & building snow forts at that temp, when we lived in several tiny towns in the timmins, ont. area…

…later we moved north of toronto, & we rode our bikes in the snow all the time…frozen creeks through the woods, 30 yard/meter skids w/ the back brake locked up…as a kid you hardly worry about the cold cuz you’re just too busy having fun…

…here in norcal, rainy winter days are usually temperate if ya wanna go out & play in the mud on yer cross or mountain bike…you know, just like when you were a kid…

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Father Georgy says:

January 18, 2009 at 2:24 am

You guys are all pathetic. Where I come from (Antarctica), temperatures of -70(C) are quite normal. Ever ride in weather like that in Manitoba? -40 is balmy and I can’t believe you girly men would call that “winter riding.” You people disgust me.

(And I was so upset by what the Weather Channel calls “winter riding” that I *literally* just threw up. That’s how hardcore I am.)

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Weather Channel: Ride your bike in the winter

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