Ride safely.

Me and the Most Patient Husband of Them All like our bicycles. A lot. They are our main method of transportation, and we're riding them year round. Well, I ride my bike with a good dollop of less enthusiasm when there is a significant amount of snow, as it's a 20"-wheeled front-drive recumbent, and that means I pedal more than I actually get forward. Especially when it's up an incline there can be a lot of slip. Still, having a bicycle that it is possible to ride in winter? Totally cool.

To be able to ride said front-wheel-drive 'bent in winter, though, I do have to mount winter tyres. Yes, there are things like that for bicycles - and in contrast to those for cars, bike winter tyres have spikes. (At least most of them do.)

We're also mounting spike tyres onto the tandem, and the bike my husband uses for commuting to work. It's the same brand on all of the bicycles - Schwalbe Marathon Winter - only, obviously, in different sizes.

They do make a hell of a difference on slippery ground. Deep snow will still be awkward to navigate, especially when it has been ground up by cars and there are frozen furrows underneath, but black ice and otherwise icy streets lose most of their scariness. It's a very big boost to security to have spike tyres, and I'm always a bit surprised that so few people know about them.

So if you are in an area where there's snow and ice in winter, and you still want to ride your bike, consider investing into a pair of spike tyres. They are not cheap, but they will last you for years, and the difference between having them to navigate ice and snow and normal tyres is enormous!