Winter Cycling - Top 10 Tips

Alright, there's room for bitching here... the skateparks are full of snow and a semi-recent bout with knee arthroscopy can leave a guy a bit sketched on blasting through the mounds of lighter-than-normal-but-still-heavy-by-powder-standards coastal snow that is collecting on Moons up at Cypress right now. But being stuck in the city in the winter isn't all that bad. There's a great way to take advantage of urban snow to get your kicks. It's obvious really... go ride a bike! Riding bikes in the snow is fun because it's sort of like learning all over again. But just jumping on and pedaling away as if it's merely a rainy day can have a wide array of disastrous results, most of them involving hard and unexpected contact with the ground. When I lived in Toronto I worked as a bike courier through the winter and learned a thing or two about a thing or two about riding bikes in the snow. Here's 10 of those things:

1. Wear a helmet - I'm not exactly the best poster boy for helmet use, but if ever there's a good time to wear a lid, it's now.

2. SLOW DOWN - Snowy, icy road conditions change everything. Going slower means more time to react to the unexpected slide-outs that are all but guaranteed to happen.

3. Respect the front brake - In regular conditions, the front brake supplies basically all of the bike's stopping power, but ease off when the roads are slippery because while a rear-wheel skid is easy to recover from, a front-wheel skid generally means eating it.

4. Keep toe straps/clipless pedal tension loose - Slide-outs happen fast in ice and snow, being able to get a stabilizing leg out quickly is vital.

5. Pick a low gear - Spinning faster equals staying warmer.

6. Stay seated - More weight on the rear (drive) wheel = more traction.

7. Use full-wrap fenders - Keep snow and slush build-up to a minimum.

8. Clean the wheels well and spray the spokes and rims lightly with WD40 - Giving dirt and snow nowhere to stick to means preventing the wheels from turning into 15-pound discs of ice and slush. (Note: don't spray WD40 into the hubs, and for the sake of your teeth, don't get any on your tires).

9. Clean the bike after riding - Snow and road salt build-up will eat cables alive and corrode steel components. Pay particular attention to the hubs and bottom bracket.

10. Ride a fixie - It sounds crazy, and I didn't believe the people who first told me this, but fixies really prove their worth in the snow. First, they provide the ultimate in traction awareness. You know if you're in a skid the instant it starts. Second, they reduce (or eliminate) your reliance on brakes, whose effectiveness deteriorates with the quickness once snow and slush are introduced into the equation. Third, a direct-drive transmission means no derailleurs or shifter cables getting clogged up.

Photo courtesy of The Wicked Soul.