I live in New England and there is a bit of snow on the ground this morning. Winter is on the way…
I’d like to ride thorugh the winter, when conditions permit. I do not plan to ride on ice. Packed snow doesn’t seem like a good idea either.
I expect that cold weather (below freezing) riding is OK for roads that are clear, so I’d like to try that. I would think trails that are clear should be OK to. True?
Are there any speical issues with cold weather riding I should know of?
I live in Old England - how nice it would be to have any sort of winter here, other than damp. I would love to ride the trails in snow.
For your preparation you should bear in mind the old adage - There’s no such thing as bad weather, only inadequate clothing and equipment.
Enjoy the snow !!!
Chris
Re: Winter riding?
Packed snow shouldn’t be a problem, it can actually be a better surface as it can be flatter than the ground. Cycle tires get traction where a car would just slide. Snowmobile tracks should be fun.
I’ve ridden across patches of ice, with trepidation 
, but no problems.
Winter is in full force here in northern Ontario, Canada! Last night I went out riding at -15 C(5 F), after we got a bunch of new snow. The sidwalks had been plowed, but the stong wind created 6-8" drifts. These proved to bring an added challange and enjoyment to my riding!
Packed snow is really no different then trail riding, I find. However, once you start riding through a few inches of snow, it becomes very tiring very quickly. As for ice, I try to avoid that if I can; one wrong (jerky) move, and you’re down before you know what hit you!
If you have snow, or can get to a place that does, I certainly recommend doing some unicycling in the snow! It’s a blast…
Re: Winter riding?
I live in New England as well, and the snow or sleet or rain has never stopped me from riding to classes. As long as you have a knobby tire and metal pedals that can grib your shoes when wet, you should be fine. stay away from making turns on ice, but other than that, riding in the snow is a blast.
Winter is here in ottawa, ontario, and I’ve still been riding to school every day.
noby tires are a must as well metal spiky pedals. I deflate my tire really low (I’m almost riding on my rim) which helps with traction.
Ice should be fine as long as you go at a comfortable speed, don’t turn, dont speed up and dont slow down.
packed snow is fine. deep snow is VERY TIRING, and because of the loss of traction, you sometimes pedal but dont move.
wet snow or snow with ice underneath is fun, as you can slide.
If you get a chance, go down a hill!!!
you only have to pedal slowly, pedaling faster=less resistance, pedaling slower/not at all=more resistance to ballance. Also, you can sort of slolam down.
highly recomended:)
downhills in snow is one of the most fun things to do with a unicycle. the longer the downhill the better. I took my 2.6 gazz out last winter(hasn’t snowed yet here) and packed snow feels a little sketchier than dirt but very predictable. Downhills are awesome if you balance just right you can slide for a while and start pedaling again. its rad.
Go for it!!Snow is fun!although you get sick of it after a long winter.
you should probally wipe your uni dry afterwards becuse snow or ice will stck to it.
if you dont have or cant afford metal pedals,carry a hand towel in your coat pocket or somthing,and when you fall and your feet get wet,wipe them and your pedals off.
Yah snow is alot of fun, not much to worry about…don’t keep your uni outside unless your using it, and when your done let it dry off before going out again, and make sure you oil your bearings after your done! Other than that, its a blast…oh and i wouldn’t try any crazy rock trials, I was trying some simple stuff yesterday, and slipped, landed on my tail bone, bruised it, and got wiplash so watch out!
Re: Re: Winter riding?
Great news about snow! I’m pleasantly surprised that snow is rideable. This comment and the others are really encouraging. I’ve got a 24" with knobby tires and pedals with pins, so I think I’m all set w/ regards to equipment. I’ll just wait for the next storm.
Re: Winter riding?
On Fri, 17 Dec 2004 18:13:04 -0600, “marcvg” wrote:
> Great news about snow! I’m pleasantly surprised that snow is rideable.
Some simple snow riding here:
“Deflating pi does not reduce calories, it just concentrates them. - billham”
Winter riding
I love riding in the fresh snow but not in the slush. I ride if it is above 25 degrees.
as you said marcvg “I do not plan to ride on ice”
good plan cos me and a fellow unicyclist had an ice race.
it didnt end well (actuallly to be fair, neither of us finished)
Riding on snow is really fun, even riding ice can be fun. Here in Aspen we gets lots of oppurtunity to ride on the white stuff. Good ideas from all, low pressure on knobby tire on packed snow is great fun. Powder snow riding, well… then its time to break out the telemark skis and go powder skiing. Cheers
It’s starting the winter season here in Denver, and it has snowed a couple of times. We’ve had one actual storm, which I rode through 4 miles a day for the whole week to school. I don’t have spiky pedals ore knoby tires. Instead I have Schwinn pedals and a worn-smooth whitewall tire. I easily plowed through 6" of snow, and ice was no problem at all. As long as you keep good weight distribution, your tire won’t slip out. It was hard with a heavy backpack (as finals were on their way). The only trouble I ran into was mounting. I ended up sticking with a suicide mount all week because the wheel would slide on a normal mount and during idleing. A fun thing to try is build up speed on dry pavement heading for ice, then when you hit the ice, make a sharp backpedal and you will coast pretty far depending on the slickness of the ice or the bareness of your tire.
Always dry your rim especially when you get back, I was patching a hole the other day when I noticed rust in the nipple holes.
Have fun all around the world (Ontario especailly, Canada rocks!)
Here is an example of the problems of freemounting in snow demonstated by Klaas Bill (I hope you don’t mind me reiterating your material).
Dear Unicyclists,
Here in the far north of Sweden, my town has turned into a bumpy sheet of ice after a surprise two days of one degree (centigrade) above zero where everything melted, and now ten degrees below where everything refroze.
My KH24 does just fine as long as I don’t do anything except ride in a straight line. If I try to do any sudden movements, I fall hard onto rock hard ice.
How can I ride on this ice? It’s been almost a week since I’ve been able to ride!
signed,
Cold Turkey
buy ice tires like these- http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/studdedtires.asp
or take a mtb tire and put screws in the top (so the thread is in the rubber. make sure they screws are short so they dont pop the tube!
\ \ ` threads inside rubber
\ \
I live in southwest Tennessee (southern U.S.) and we have about 2 inches of sleet on the ground today.
I just got back from my first ride on frozen stuff. I rode my 24" MUni (knobby tires). I was surprised at how smooth it was. Traction was good. Turning was slick and quick. Temperature is 15 degrees (F.) but after about 10 minutes I was sweating.
I think I need to find a better location and go do this again.