The first few days of snowy commuting.

Snow afternoon. Like many people in Boston on Friday we were told to go home early due to the impending snow storm that dumped as much as an inch of snow an hour on New England.

I headed home feeling confident that the Schwalbe Marathon Winter (26x1.75) studded tires I had put on my bike would keep me upright despite the less-than-stellar road conditions. I was soon deprived of this delusional thought and although I did remain upright I also discovered the limitations of a wide road tire on compressed snow. Tire tracks made by cars in fresh snow create a rather slippery mess for biking. I now know what people mean when they say that a skinny road tire can often be better than a mountain bike tire at handling snow. The thought being that a skinny tire can cut through the snow to the asphalt beneath. Bike paths were especially fun as the snow on them was virtually untouched and made for some steady, stable, quicker then you would think, and quiet riding. That being said I found that on virgin snow, ice, slush, or really anything other than the compressed snow left by cars the tires hooked up fine and have kept me commuting in weather I wouldn't have dared ride in last year.

I'm beginning to think that a more aggressive knobby studded tire would be good for that first fresh snow, but of course these would be less than ideal for the day to day commute. Which makes me think that a cyclocross or similar type of bike with narrower 700c studded tires would be better suited to commuting in New England with it's unpredictable weather. The narrower 700c tire might cut through that compacted snow a bit better and would likely perform better on slushy, wet or even cold dry days. Research to follow!