good luck to everyone working today!!!

fuck good luck, just fucking call in sick like everyone else who doesn't even have to spend the day outside. i've gotten to work (it's only 500m from my house) and it's dead, very few people out. get stoned and go sledging.

I'm not going in; I'm too young to die.

I had to be talked out of going to work, but then, I've never ridden in snow, so had no idea what to expect. I'd probably have crashed within minutes.

Meh. I was going to work really hard this week - I want a week off at some point.

exactly, how many damn deliveries could we do at such conditions?
if anything, doing it by foot would be quicker!!
and ive tried riding on this weather, it simply didnt work.
and its not even that cold really.

i 'd rather not.

whats the point?its uncomfortable and its not fun at all.
im not gonna do it if im not enjoying it cause thats the
whole reason why i do this thing!
and we dont even get any extra pay!
but thats just me, if you have fun on such conditions its all good
and i even envy you!

tough girl.way too tough.Only thing is just because you going out doesn't mean you getting paid too.In fact quite the opposite tdy.Still a very tough girl.

These are the days that you get through, that make you feel special. It was great fun today, truly.

on the back thats fine but if u wanna turn corners change the front, or u'll be eating tarmac all day long.

On the back is definitely not fine, I was riding in a straight line and the back end just completely swung out and I wenr flying, I also pulled about 20 wheelspins getting away from lights as well. Even metal studded 3 inch wide tyres would be sketchy in my opinion

still a few flakes coming down..

lets put this to bed.
1. i am indeed tough
2. i'm not a girl
sorry to disappoint you fellas.
let the fun continue

I'm sure Kirk will have something to add, once he's stopped laughing.

No I don't find it funny when I read about places getting hit with Anchorage-like weather. I feel a profound level of sympathy. I've got Nokians for all my bikes and one that's set up to do okay in heavy snow and great on sheets of ice with some double wide rims and of course studded tires, icy roads and cold weather are normal winter for me, for you it's a rare freak event. This guy gives great advice on studded tires. They're expensive and heavy but when you need them you don't mind so much.
http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/studdedtires.asp
My one minor disagreement, I think it's still a good idea to do that run-in thing the manufactures suggest. Avoid the ones sold under the Innova brand, cheap with soft steel studs. They suck. I've seen the studs on other peoples bikes wear down into the tire after only a few blocks on pavement. They suck, he adds again for emphasis. Anyway, good luck and don't get hurt. BTW I might be taking the day off due to the prospect of a volcano erupting and filling the skies of Anchorage with lung ripping, bearing eating ash.

probably clear up by the weekend

I worked monday, more for reasons of curiosity and novelty. It wasn't much fun, but we did have a few good snowball fights. Did 9 jobs. I gave up around 1pm yesterday, fuck it. I had cabbies honking and revving behind me as I was trying to make it down any street which deviated even slightly from a main road. How stupid was I to think that they might give us a slightly wider berth considering the treacherous conditions? Cunts.

I would have worked today but I hit an ice patch while cornering last night, came off, bruised pretty bad but thought it would be OK. Woke up this morning with a massively aching shoulder... might be out 'till next week!

You have to weigh things up, IMO. For those of us who don't have wheel-mounted blowtorches and spikey MTB tires it's fucking risky as soon as you hit a backstreet, and 2 days in I'm already housebound. I've made probably less than 50 quid this week, was it worth it?

Westcoastmess, That would be me. Bmac, spends most of his time in a little town called McCarthy these days but he doses come into Anchorage in the winter months to work at the Performing Arts Center. I sometimes run into him at Darwin's right before I have to run home to the wife and kitten and haven't had the chance to really talk to him yet.

Well, I did start in Jan' last year so it's up to you on whether this is my first winter. Certainly haven't had to put up with anything like this before, spent the cold months last year just riding around to keep warm.

But yeah, when it's this dangerous (well like monday and tuesday, and possibly tomorrow) I think you just gotta make your own decision. Tuesday was mostly fine on the main streets, although there were large patches of ice on the side of the road, meaning on some bits cyclists were forced into the middle lanes (which most messengers prefer anyway but it's nice to have the option) and then often there would be a sudden ice patch which you didn't see coming, and you'd have to balance immediate speed reduction with handling the (mostly unsympathetic) traffic. And when every path except the main roads are iced right over, you're met with the dilemma of battling through shortcuts or just taking the scenic view. I think it can be hard on a messenger to have to forfeit all your good shortcuts.

Anyway, let's hope it mostly on the way out and we can all get back to it next week.

whats it like in london anyway? i got told 15cm on monday, and my mate skied to the pub.

apparently nottingham's run out of grit, so its gonna be dicey tomorrow up here. i say enjoy the challenge while you can, it never snows so i'm making the most of the riding while it lasts.