Proper Winter Weather

This year, there's proper winter weather in our spot of Germany - lots of snow, covering everything with a generous layer of white. There's so much snow that some even stays on the streets, which is quite unusual.

In spite of all the snow and the occasional icy patch, we are still using the bicycles to go anywhere in the city. It's fast (well, we go a little slower in the snow, of course), it's quiet, it's green, the bicycle always starts, and there's never a problem with parking space. Those bikes that we use during the winter get their tires changed in late autumn or beginning of winter - as soon as the conditions hint to possible ice on the roads - and then we merrily cycle through winter on spike studded tires. And these are really wonderful!

If you would like to ride a bike in winter, but don't dare to because of slippery roads, give these a try. Yes, they are rather loud on free road surfaces, but on snow or ice they have wonderful grip and make cycling so much safer. I used to have at least one fall each winter season, where a patch of ice turned up somewhere unexpectedly in a corner, but since we have the winter tires? None anymore. And this year, the tires are especially good to have, with these lots of snow around.