Do you cycle when it's snowy/icy?

[Gastropod]

Not a cyclist bashing thread, I am one and I usually cycle everywhere!

But I never cycle on snow/ice. I'm just too scared that I'll skid and fall - I find it terrifying.

Where I live there is quite a bit of snow at the moment: although main roads are mostly clear, the side roads and cycle paths/lanes are definitely snowy with patches of ice. And yet I saw dozens of cyclists this morning, all merrily pedalling along as though it were the middle of summer, some with kids on the back, etc.

If you do cycle in snow/ice can you tell me whether you consider it safe, and what you do to make sure you don't skid or fall? I'd like to be brave enough to try, but not if it's dangerous!

YABU: Cycling on snow/ice is fine if you're careful
YANBU: Cycling on snow/ice is dangerous and I'd never do it

I cycle a lot but never in snow or ice. Too easy to slip and have a nasty fall. I’ve already had a broken elbow once when my waterproof trousers caught and I couldn’t put my foot down. That healed fine but it taught me broken bones are painful!

No. Unless I Know that I can use main roads that are clear of snow and ice. No side roads or shared paths. You can buy studded tyres that are supposedly v.good. But I've been using public transport the last 2 days. I'm not prepared to hit the ground again. It hurts and usually costs me money

No I won’t cycle when it’s icy now. I came off on black ice a few years ago and think I broke my ribs. So I’m on the bus this week and trying to embrace the good things about it such as listening to a few podcasts or music. I begrudge the money though - £3 each way for my 4 mile trip to work and back.

I used to , but had one nasty on road skid which should have put me off but didn’t . The second time snow and ice completely compacted into both my tyres , didn’t realise until I got to my destination and the bike slid over onto me as I dismounted, just left me a bit bruised , but decided it probably wasn’t a good idea after that .

I think a lot of us do until we have some kind of incident that makes us feel a bit less invincible.

When I was biking, yes to light to medium snow, no to heavy wet snow, hardpack, snowfall over 6", sleet, freezing rain, blizzard conditions with high winds, and ice.

No. My plan was to start cycling more in the new year. But not in this weather. The bottom of my road is an ice rink, I can feel the car wheels slipping every time I drive. I wouldn't like to walk on it, let alone cycle. I'll wait till it's a bit warmer before I get on my bike.

I cycled this morning, in London it’s very cold but minimal ice and the snow at lunchtime didn’t settle. If there’s ice/compacted snow then no, but the current conditions are really not that bad.

I do but only on main roads that are cleared. I once saw a cyclist on an icy cycle path skid, fall and slide straight across a busy road. He was OK but it was terrifying to watch.

I won’t cycle on the shared use type paths in the UK, but will ride on the more main roads. Britain seems to get quite icy. I will take my CX bike out in the woods in snow and ice as I can run silly low pressure and it’s usually mud and slush underneath when you fall off at 5mph. I have done winter periods in Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland and will cycle in the snow and cold conditions there. They seem to grit a lot more cycle infrastructure, and the climate where we were didn’t seem to be so British wet icy, it felt a lot drier cold so although there was white on the grounds I didn’t get the same feelings of ‘could hit black ice any second’ and hundreds of successful negative temp miles seemed to agree. Switzerland tended to be on actual snow snow, and have no problems riding on that. It’s kind of like riding sand at times, but again doesn’t feel like unexpected ice rink at any point.

Basically if you just avoid where they have stuck a bike sign on a pavement in the UK it’s probably alright. Stick to larger roads where the gritter will have been, or head proper off road onto the bridleway network which is often mud underfoot so quite safe in the snow really, though lower speed it’s more for fun that commuting.

Off road on mountain bike yes

On road on road bike, no

This is interesting - I'm actually in Belgium and where I live there is no gritting of cycle paths at all!

Thanks for all the interesting points of view. It's interesting - but of course horrible for those who hurt themselves - that quite a few people used to cycle in icy conditions until they had an accident. It's definitely confirmed to me that I will not be going out on my bike until the temperatures are back above freezing. I was out walking this morning and all the pavements and side roads seem to be extremely icy - and yet the cyclists are still whizzing by!

Same as lots of other folks... hard no after falling off on ice.

No. I have seen too many people land badly in bad weather.

Actual snow and ice, no I don’t. But it doesn’t usually settle around here so the roads are usually clear once cars have driven over them a few times. It is pavements that stay treacherous.

If I lived somewhere where it snowed regularly, you can get studded snow tyres for bikes. I used to see people pedalling around Toronto and even Canmore in deep snow, perfectly safely. Obviously no point buying them somewhere that has snow for 1-2 days every couple of years, but if you live in the Dales or in rural Scotland, could be an idea?

I'll cycle after a bit of a frost, but not when it's icy. Far too dangerous, especially in the evening when it's re-frozen after a thaw during the day. Definitely would not have cycled yesterday.

I cycled to school as a child. My parents sent us out whatever the weather including in snow. I remember having to break suddenly on the main road and the bike went from under me. I fell off and ended up between the front wheels of the bin lorry. How I wasn't killed I have no idea. The driver got out of the cab, peered under the front of the lorry and pulled me out. He was white and shaking, he thought he'd killed me.

So no, don't cycle in snow, or make your kids cycle in snow. It is incredibly dangerous for both you and other road users.

We can back from there Monday and actually commented wondering if they had like narrow gritters or something else to get on the cycle routes as the paths where we were seemed to be in really good condition for the weather. Maybe it’s just that the area I live in the UK is so bad for it that it was good in comparison. We also found a lot of the bike paths were more like roads compared to here where it’s a 3ft pavement and that is shared with pedestrians and people parking their cars on them. Certainly along the waterways there were some very nice tracks.

I don’t usually as I’m worried about falling off, so walk instead.

I used to in my 20s, now I don't even get the bike out if there are fallen leaves around!

Same as others, tried it and fell off.

No, I normally cycle but not with snow and ice. I am in the south of England so these it is rare we even get frost. Despite the temperatures being above freezing last night the pavements are still icy so I am doing a penguin waddle in some places just walking. It doesn't even look slippery, so glad I am not trying to cycle it.

I went for a walk this morning thinking everything had thawed (I'm in the south east, it was 2 degrees on the thermometer and everything was wet and soggy) and nearly slipped on a patch of black ice in a shady spot. Just shows how easy it is!

Yes i do

I posted above about not using side roads well this am I did. Guess what happened? Black ice, hit my head (helmet luckily), right hip bruised. Main roads were just wet and no issues. I'm too old for falling heavily.