“With the road salt and sand, I leave my road bike at home, and for the first couple of years, I used a yard sale bike until it rusted up. In hindsight, that was not the best choice. I’m now riding a low-end mountain bike with disc brakes and studded tires (Suomi Hakkapeliitta W240). I keep the chain well-oiled to keep it from rusting, but otherwise it’s doing pretty well for its third winter. The tires are great on ice, but not so great on loose snow. I highly recommend the studded tires since daytime melting can freeze up as soon as the sun goes down, and it is really hard to tell a wet road from black ice at night.”  

Thanks to MVTMA member and fellow winter cyclist Bob B. from Philips for sharing some of his best safety tips for cold weather riding earlier this month. Are you a cyclist? Do you, like Bob, brave the cold, snow and ice and take your bike out in the winter months? Let us know about it and you could win! Now through February 28th, take a picture of your winter commute, send it to @MerrimackVlyTMA and @MCBikeChallenge on Facebook and/or Twitter and tag it with #WinterBiker. You may also email us. Pictures with the most “likes” will win. A weekly winner will be drawn tomorrow at noon and a grand prize winner will be drawn on March 3rd. We’ll also be raffling off a bike tune-up to one lucky winner. Check out some of the great photos we’ve received thus far!