On Tuesday night, we got between 5 – 10 cm of snow, making it the first decent snowfall of the year. When I bike into work on this type of day, I often avoid the usual sidestreets, since they haven’t been plowed yet. In semi deep snow, the studded tires don’t do much for me. It’s only when the studs can claw their way down to pavement that they have any effect.
This is the bike lane along Dupont just east of the railpath. Normally, I bypass this stretch on backroads. There is a bike lane along here that was put in last year. The plowing of the bike lanes is highly variable. This stretch has been at least partially plowed. I’ve marked the white line since it is not very visible in the original photo. On stretches like this, I ride with traffic, not overtaking stopped cars to the right. On snowy days, most cars slow way down so it is easier to keep pace with them. I would say that most downtown drivers are also relatively polite, and more so on a day when it is slippery for everyone.
On this stretch of Lansdowne, I’m almost better off than I was on Dupont, even without a bike lane, since traffic mostly avoids the curb lane, and I have much more space choose my line. I typically ride right at the edge of the area that has been cleared by car tracks.
It might seem a little counterintuitive, but avoiding the side streets is actually better on days like this, since the main streets are cleared of snow much faster, either by plows or car traffic. On a day like Wednesday, my usual 30 minute commute stretches to something like 45 minutes. When I do it on side streets, it can take an hour. On the other hand, someone else in the office drove in the same morning, and the usual 45 minute drive time stretched to two hours.
Keep it rolling, and be careful out there!
Yeah, picture number one i would stay out of that stuff! On poor weather days like those, car commuters really get a taste of the actual distances they drive.
I think once a few years ago my bicycle commute was doubled, epic snow-storm! Fun!