If you haven’t heard of the local nonprofit Common Cycle, you should definitely check them out!

Here are some of the great things this local bike group is doing:

• They are at the Sunday Ann Arbor Artisans Market from about May-October with a free mobile bike repair stand
• They’ve helped getDowntown with Bike Commuting Stations on Bike to Work Day 2011
• They also conduct workshops via UM’s Outdoor Advertures and in other places
• You can see them at many UM and community events that focus on the environment, biking, or both.

In addition to all of these great services, Common Cycle is also on a mission to make winter cycling a little less intimidating.  To that end, they’re helping getDowntown put on some Winter Communting Basics Workshops in October and November as part of Conquer the Cold.  A couple Common Cyclers have also compiled a great list of online Winter Biking resources.  Those resources are listed below.

Winter Biking Resources (compliments of Common Cycle)

Let’s Go Ride a Bike
Dottie and Trisha are year round bicycle commuters who share their experience via this blog.  Dottie lives in Chicago and posts quite a bit about winter commuting.  I particularly enjoy this post, with a great how-to video about dressing.
http://letsgorideabike.com/blog/2009/11/how-to-dress-for-winter-bike-commuting/

Icebike
Icebike is no longer updated, but it was the first site that taught me that winter riding is both possible and fun.
http://www.icebike.org/

Winter Cycling forum on Bike Forums
An active community of winter riders.  Lots of information can be found by searching the forum and its archives, or you can post to ask a question.
http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdisplay.php/53-Winter-Cycling

Wheels in Motion Commuter Challenge
Wheels in Motion runs a winter commuter challenge.  You can post your mileage and see your standings among your winter commuting peers.
http://wheelsinmotion.us/articles/commuter-challenge-main-pg311.htm

Peter White Cycles
Peter White runs a mail order bike business.  Here is his very opinionated page on studded tires, and which ones are appropriate for which riding conditions.  The site also has lots of information on lights for night riding.
http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/studdedtires.asp

Tree Fort Bikes, Two Wheel Tango, and other local shops
Sell Innova steel studded tires – an inexpensive tire to get started with studded.
http://www.treefortbikes.com/home http://www.twowheeltango.com

Bike Nashbar
Another source for studded tires.
http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/TopCategories_10053_10052_-1

Your friends and neighbors
Talk about your trips to the store, riding to work, and different weather conditions.  Everyone has their own favorite tips and tricks, and maybe yours will help out another common cyclist.  Local cyclists are a great resource because they may know sneaky ways to get around high traffic areas or problem spots for ice.