Are You An All-Year-Round Cyclist?

[Dmac]

Yep & the thing that keeps me home is usually the darkness not the cold though when it starts getting dark too early to ride after work the weather is often bad & the trails too bad to ride on with ice on them.

 

[mschwett]

I have often said that I’d never choose to live somewhere where exposure to the weather alone could kill a person! of course there are many ways to prepare for weather extremes, but I prefer to spend my time and energy elsewhere

health issue have put an end to this steady pace, but heres three years of riding. note the nearly perfectly straight green line (Total mileage) from February 2001 to September 2003.

 

[DaveMatthews]

I work at home 4 out of 5 days a week.
In 2022 I was out doing 8+kms at lunch every day.
Things have changed. Now I'm an owner of the business, and stuff needs to settle down after losing a tech to cancer.
It'll get better...

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I have often said that I’d never choose to live somewhere where exposure to the weather alone could kill a person! of course there are many ways to prepare for weather extremes, but I prefer to spend my time and energy elsewhere

'Es gibt kein schlechtes Wetter, es gibt nur falsche Kleidung" The only thing that is infuriating during a bad weather (especially in the winter) is the time required to put the proper clothes on! (I wouldn't like to live in Canada or Australia though). I'm so glad I bought a Helly Hansen sailing jacket in Autumn 2022, as that single clothing item brought me safely through two winters since!

Distance in every year since I started riding e-bikes (includes both assisted and unassisted rides).

Accumulated distance in km until today.

 

[harryS]

I've ridden 80 out of the 127 days so far in 2024. In January-Feb I got out 24 times. Only ride when it's above 40F, with sun, and no ice on the pavement. . We're 30 miles west of Chicago, and we had a mild winter. Didn't use my snownlower at all this year.

Nice thing is my wife will join me when it's near 50F's. She's been out 50 times.I keep a log.

 

[Aushiker]

'Es gibt kein schlechtes Wetter, es gibt nur falsche Kleidung" The only thing that is infuriating during a bad weather (especially in the winter) is the time required to put the proper clothes on! (I wouldn't like to live in Canada or Australia though). I'm so glad I bought a Helly Hansen sailing jacket in Autumn 2022, as that single clothing item brought me safely through two winters since!

View attachment 175343
Distance in every year since I started riding e-bikes (includes both assisted and unassisted rides).

View attachment 175342
Accumulated distance in km until today.

Are these graphs provided by Komoot or have you done them in a spreadsheet?

 

[Gionnirocket]

I've ridden 80 out of the 127 days so far in 2024. In January-Feb I got out 24 times.

I don't log but I don't believe I've missed a day that was acceptable.

Only ride when it's above 40F, with sun, and no ice on the pavement. .

My exact criteria as well

We're 30 miles west of Chicago, and we had a mild winter. Didn't use my snownlower at all this year.

Just north of NYC... same here.
The global warming silver lining.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

With regards to foul weather and cold temperatures.

I've found there is quite a bit of overlap between cool-weather cycling clothes and clothing for cross-country skiing. At the same time, kit that keeps me warm and toasty skate skiing at -10C just barely keeps me warm enough at 0C on a bike. Usually you are trying to strike a balance between staying warm enough but not so warm that you start sweating. At low temperatures sweaty clothing can freeze, which is spectacular when it happens to someone else and really sucks when it happens to you.

Probably the limiting factor for me in foul weather is visibility. I'm comfortable putting my warface on and going out in traffic. But during periods of very poor weather I am a lot more circumspect because I am pretty certain that I am much harder to see and that the cell-phone wielding bonehead in his 4-ton super duty pickup truck won't see me before he kills me. So busy roads with poor sight lines are a no go during major poor weather events.

Pleasant unpaved roads can quickly turn into amazingly muddy hog wallows. Also, locally here in the northwest a lot of unpaved roads are based on what I call "all weather glacial till" which is basically an extremely fine sand. This drains very well but also can be wicked slippery which makes for very exciting descents. Also this material can be seriously abrasive so you'll probably be needing to wash your drivetrain down every day, or sometimes multiple times per day.

Also: flash floods. Many of my favorite routes have stream crossings. During periods of heavy rainfall those easy crossings can easily become temporarily impassible.

 

[mschwett]

…Probably the limiting factor for me in foul weather is visibility. I'm comfortable putting my warface on and going out in traffic. But during periods of very poor weather I am a lot more circumspect because I am pretty certain that I am much harder to see…

an important point! although we don’t get extreme temperatures here, we do get intense coastal fog that at times reduces visibility on some of my favorite routes to essentially nothing. it’s simply not possible or enjoyable to ride at a slow enough speed to be able to stop if an animal or vehicle were to dart out in front of you when you can barely see your front tire

i like to ride fast, and feel it’s unfair to work hard to ride up a hill and then not be allowed to go fast down it, so i stick to fairly dry roads

 

[Stefan Mikes]

a spreadsheet

This.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I changed my ways because I remembered a time when it seemed nobody wore a bike helmet because nobody fell on his head. Looking into a low sun, it was hard to see an oncoming car. A hat with a big brim would keep me safer. I'd worn a safety vest because I'd noticed that bicyclists were often hard to spot. My big white hat seemed to make me as visible as the vest.

I'm really concerned about your riding safety. While the wind is not expected to blow the hat off your head, the acceleration at an (always possible) crash would certainly do. I don't want to preach here but a proper helmet has saved my skull on the most dangerous crash I had, and probably on several other.

Me riding in a race in semi-coma post the crash. Later inspection of the helmet shower it internally cracked: that would be my skull if no helmet worn.

Accidents are always a big surprise. I was trying to convince my friend Jerzy to wear a helmet and he always said he was a sweaty type of a person, so he would not wear the lid. Then he (of course unexpectedly) crashed to smash his nose. Even that did not teach him a lesson...

 

[Dmac]

'Es gibt kein schlechtes Wetter, es gibt nur falsche Kleidung" The only thing that is infuriating during a bad weather (especially in the winter) is the time required to put the proper clothes on! (I wouldn't like to live in Canada or Australia though). I'm so glad I bought a Helly Hansen sailing jacket in Autumn 2022, as that single clothing item brought me safely through two winters since!

View attachment 175343
Distance in every year since I started riding e-bikes (includes both assisted and unassisted rides).

View attachment 175342
Accumulated distance in km until today.

It depends where you live in Canada. Canada is big and most of us live in the south. Where I live, the climate is "humid continental" the same as Chicago or New York City.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

It depends where you live in Canada. Canada is big and most of us live in the south. Where I live, the climate is "humid continental" the same as Chicago or New York City.

I got influenced by @Prairie Dog who lives in Alberta Been to Vancouver and Sunshine Coast once to find the climate there similar to Norway's south coast, that is, bearable (pun intended!)

The Poland's climate is "moderate, between maritime and continental with six seasons". We used to have -25 C snowy winters and +36 C dry summers. Nowadays, everything is far more moderate. Our winters nowadays are usually not colder than several degrees C below the freezing point (one month), with the most of the cold season oscillating between 0 and +10 C. Summers rarely exceed +32 C.

We have had several exceptionally warm days with +26 C for the May Long Weekend (actually, a week). Now, the temperature is some 17 C, which is appropriate for the Spring in Poland (and let it remain for a long time!)

 

[Mr. Coffee]

I'm really concerned about your riding safety. While the wind is not expected to blow the hat off your head, the acceleration at an (always possible) crash would certainly do. I don't want to preach here but a proper helmet has saved my skull on the most dangerous crash I had, and probably on several other.

Pet peeve: Helmets are a tool. You can use reasonable judgement on whether that tool is appropriate for the conditions you are riding in. If you are riding at slow speeds and/or are not interacting with motor vehicle traffic it is often reasonable to skip the helmet. So I will often not wear the helmet on unpaved, lightly traveled rail trails or if I am grinding at 8kph up a steep, shadeless logging road. Yes, some of us may be even more likely to fall off of our bikes at low speeds but the risk of serious injury is very low at low speeds: you wouldn't wear a helmet while out hiking, would you?

Another pet peeve: often when a cyclist is hit and severely injured or killed by a motorist many people will ask, "was she wearing a helmet?" As if that would somehow absolve the motorist of responsibility. Or as if it would even make a difference. If you are hit by an automobile going 40kph or much faster your are almost certainly going to be seriously injured, and a helmet is unlikely to make much difference in that regard.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

the risk of serious injury is very low at low speeds

Believe it or not: crashes at zero speed are the most painful and most dangerous. It is because you have no time to react when the bike suddenly goes to the standstill (like, a blocked wheel). My crash at zero speed cost me a visit to the hospital and six weeks of pain. (You usually bang your temple against the pavement when that happens).

 

[Losna]

I have to drive year round.
Here in Denmark we have 16 months a year, as a poet pointed out: November, December, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September. October, November, November, November, November.

Regarding helmet or not, I compare it to wearing a seat belt in the car.
The 35 years i drove cars, I faithfully used the seat belt in vain, as nothing happened.
On the other hand, I really do not think I missed something.

 

[Aushiker]

Another pet peeve: often when a cyclist is hit and severely injured or killed by a motorist many people will ask, "was she wearing a helmet?" As if that would somehow absolve the motorist of responsibility. Or as if it would even make a difference. If you are hit by an automobile going 40kph or much faster your are almost certainly going to be seriously injured, and a helmet is unlikely to make much difference in that regard.

I agree 100% with you here. Helement does not help when you are smacked at speed or run over by a truck (actually quite common here).

 

[Aushiker]

Pet peeve: Helmets are a tool. You can use reasonable judgement on whether that tool is appropriate for the conditions you are riding in.

When I did an extensive ride on beaches from Esperance and Albany here in Western Austral,ia (about 700 km), I initially rode the first beach without my helmet on, but as wearing a helmet is so ingrained, (it is a legal requirement), I felt 'naked' without it, so went back to wearing it. Pointless, for sure, but I felt at least I felt "normal"

 

[Renee]

I got an interesting motivational message from Komoot: "You have ridden for 35 weeks in a row! Keep up a good work!" (Or something like that).

Well, we are in Week 20th, 2024? When did I restart my regular cycling? What did make my regular cycling stop last year? (The rule of Komoot is a "week" counts if you have registered at least a single 15-minute ride in a week).

Some inspection of the online calendars... and yes it is I stopped riding when I was on a vacation with my gf in Gdańsk for more than a week last year

View attachment 175275
That was what did stop my uninterrupted series of riding weeks! Next time, I'm renting a bike during any vacation and am registering a ride with Komoot

Are any of you all-year-round riders, setting off for a ride every week? Tell me about your experiences!

I got an interesting motivational message from Komoot: "You have ridden for 35 weeks in a row! Keep up a good work!" (Or something like that).

Well, we are in Week 20th, 2024? When did I restart my regular cycling? What did make my regular cycling stop last year? (The rule of Komoot is a "week" counts if you have registered at least a single 15-minute ride in a week).

Some inspection of the online calendars... and yes it is I stopped riding when I was on a vacation with my gf in Gdańsk for more than a week last year

View attachment 175275
That was what did stop my uninterrupted series of riding weeks! Next time, I'm renting a bike during any vacation and am registering a ride with Komoot

Are any of you all-year-round riders, setting off for a ride every week? Tell me about your experiences!

Yes as long as the temp is in the 40's and the snow is off the ground. So far the winters have been mild the past couple of years.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

What caused your crash?

Three crashes worth mentioning:

• "The race crash": The front wheel of my Vado SL got stuck in a gap between a speed bump and a kerb. The worst hit I got in my head happened there,
• A sudden stop not to ride into a distracted pedestrian who just walked in front of my e-MTB. I was riding at a minimum speed, still had to abruptly stop. The e-bike banged as heavily that traces of warm asphalt that smeared the side of a handlebar grip can be seen until this day. Of course, the helmet saved my skull, too.
• A careless roadie converged with me when I was riding at low speed and made me crash.