As a current resident of Chicago, I totally can not believe what people here do when the temperature drops, even below zero. They continue to ride their bicycles. In fact, just last winter, I even saw cyclists out riding around even in the middle of the polar vortex! I was even more shocked when I read an online article of people doing the same in Toronto, Canada, even in the middle of the polar vortex. It practically seems as though stopping someone from bicycling in the deep freeze is like stopping people from crossing the train tracks when the gates are lowered, the red lights are flashing, and even when the train is less than 5 seconds from the crossing and barrelling towards it at upwards of 50 miles per hour. And I mean, literally the type of people that, when they see red flashing lights and lowered gates, they step on the gas and swerve around the lowered gates, even when the train is entering the crossing, and they repeatedly do it at every railroad crossing until they actually get hit by the train. Seriously. Winter cycling is one of the surest ways to catch hypothermia, second only to falling through the ice on a frozen lake. Even multiple layers only provide temporary protection; like maybe 10 to 20 minutes, 25 at the very most. Eventually, your sweat saturates and soaks those layers from the inside out, causing them to lose all of their insulating capabilities and leave you fully exposed to the deep freeze. In fact, once your jacket gets wet from the inside out with your sweat, the sweat in fact becomes a conductor, pulling the deep freeze into your body and pulling the heat out. As an example, I am sure many of you remember that one day that you, as a kid, woke up all soaked and shivering in a wet bed, and your mom and/or dad told you to change your shirt, not to mention your bed mattress then needed to be dried off and all bed sheets changed. Another major hazard; ice patches. When a car hits an ice patch, normally it just slides, but it still stays upright. But on only 2 wheels, an ice patch will easily send a bicyclist cartwheeling straight into the ground. Even if you are on the sidewalk and you fall in the grass, the deep freeze easily makes the actual soil itself as hard as cast iron! Also, if they even exist at all, it is of my knowledge that metal-studded bicycle tires are illegal in the United States of America. Otherwise, most regular stores and bike shops would carry them.
