When is it too risky to commute by bike?

When I used to cycle year round, the only time I took the bus was when the snow fall was really heavy and they hadn't been out to clear it ... it was even difficult to walk on those few days, with snow up past my knees. Or if it was really icy, like if we had a bit of a thaw and then it froze again.

That's all.

Christine_72 wrote: »

I won't even ride a bike on a road on a perfect sunny day. Too many kittenhead drivers out there...

Same here.

Don't have a bicycle now but when I did I only road it on bike only pathways. Can't count the number of reported bicylist deaths on the roadway that I've heard about on TV or read about in the newspaper or on the Net.

Just off your title, always. Jeez, even driving is more risky these days with all these selfish losers that can't stay off their phones while driving.

7elizamae wrote: »

So, those of you who ride a bike in all kinds of weather, when do you skip the ride?

To an extent it depends if it's a simple commute, ten miles to my local office, or a multimodal commute; London by train.

Locally I'll use my CX bike so deep enough snow to make that untenable.

In London I'm on my Brompton, so heavy rain or snow. At least on the Brommie I can fold it up and take it on the bus in London.

Riding defensively; dominating the roadspace, exploiting shelter and taking opportunities at junctions help a lot. Don't cower in the gutters.

When the weather people say "travel ban- do not go outside unless you absolutely need to!"

My friend's father cycles all year round- and we live in upstate NY so it's darn snowy. He has a ton of reflector on his bike, as well as the flashy light, and he wears the reflective vest. I think he may even have reflective strips on his helmet.

Another Londoner here. I skip in fog or torrential rain. I'd also skip if very icy (but unusual here). Any time my safety might be compromised by visibility. It's just not worth the risk, especially as I'm riding on roads. But my preference is to be out there on the bike!

NEVER! I go in anything!

Country and country roads with no shoulders.

I'm doing my first full winter cycle commuting this year and have already done it in -30 temperatures with snow and dark, even though I'm a big baby about cold usually.

However, I am urban (so there are streetlights and other people around), I wear my ski gear (including ski pants, mask, and goggles), I have my bike lit up like a Christmas tree (front and back lights, those LED wheel lights that make colour patterns, LED bracelets so my hand signals are seen), I have a bike with wider grippy tires (and I want to buy some studded ones!), and my city has some bike paths and lanes for about half my commute as well so I'm separated from traffic. I also wear neon and a helmet, and my city is a winter city and good about ploughing/salting/sanding/grading within 24 hrs so the roads themselves are usually not piled with snow or covered with ice with no sand or anything.

I am very, very careful to use less-congested roads and ride with caution.

It was scary for about a week, but I'm already accustomed to it and I am so happy I'm pushing myself to do it this year. It's 40 minutes of moderate exercise every weekday I wouldn't be getting and it's saving me money and time (since it's actually faster than my public transit option and parking at my office is like $400/month).