Cold Weather Biking

If the weather changed overnight from 40°F to 14°F, be sure to check your brakes and gears before riding, especially if it was also raining throughout the previous day.

I got on my bike this morning without remembering the above, and almost hit a pedestrian as my brakes were frozen in place. I wasn't going too fast since my gears and chain were also frozen in place, and hopped off without incident. It took me an hour and a half to get my bike into a ridable condition, which was rather challenging in the cold weather. My brakes work fine now, but i haven't been able to shift all day, at first because the derailleur was full of ice, now because it's full of crud (my morning solution for getting the bike in working order was to spray it down with WD-40, the only lubricant i had on hand).

The bike ride was cold but easy, though i did slightly sprain my knee as i am not used to going so far in such a low gear.