u/olivedaisy

I recently started riding my bike again after approx. ten years, and I love it. I have two young kids and work full time so I don't get as much time as I'd like, but I steal away when I can. I'm from the south, and I've never really had outdoor hobbies that were affected by the weather. Do casual cyclists still ride here in the winter? Is it more dangerous if the roads are slippy? It would be such a bummer not to be able to ride outside for months.

I have a Peloton to keep up my fitness but I've been finding it hard to get on that when riding outside is so much more fun.

I feel like I'm racing against the clock to get my back up before winter so I can do some of the things I want to do before then.

**ETA: Is there any trail maintenance in the winter? Like snow plowing or anything? I wouldn't expect it given how hard it was just to get residential streets plowed this past winter.

I think it would make most sense to pick up the GAP trail in Homestead at the Waterfront, but it looks like the Pittsburgh Bike Map that the Homestead Grays bridge (along with Waterfront Dr and 5th Ave) is marked cautionary, which makes me nervous to bike. Are there any other routes that are safer, even if a little less direct?

https://preview.redd.it/xpwwnj4zhfah1.png?width=743&format=png&auto=webp&s=958dd3afcea56d0c25ce217ce4ad9c4469e74739

I rode my bike into my office for the first time today, and on the ride home, people seemed to get very angry that I was in the road on Forbes between Halket and Meyran. I was in the right lane, off to the right side, but I know it's real narrow there on Forbes. Several cars and a bus all honked at me, and one car yelled at me to get on the sidewalk. I thought that wasn't legal? Was I doing something wrong? There's no bike lane on that section of Forbes or I obviously would have been in it.

How do you all navigate roads like that, and especially areas like that in Oakland?