Descending in the fog

[cyberknight]

Here was what i could see on my commute yesterday , use the force to find the corners....

 

[mjr]

[QUOTE 4587639, member: 9609"]I wouldn't ride a bike in the fog, too many idiots in vehicles that don't seem to slow down.[/QUOTE]
So what do you do when you encounter it? Walking pushing the bike just puts you in harm's way for longer.

 

[mythste]

When snowboarding in a whiteout I've had times where I thought I'd stopped or at least slowed significantly but because your just floating on powder and there no feeling of movement or visual clue to movement. You go to sit down but your moving much quicker than you thought ending up going A over T.

I've had the opposite with wind and a whiteout skiiing - thought I was belting it down the mountain regardless of the terrible weather but in actual fact I'd hit a shallow section and actually wasnt moving at all

 

[Sixmile]

We've had the opposite weather in N Ireland the last few days, it's been really clear and bright. Last week though I got caught in fog on the way home. Fortunately it wasn't until mile 13 that I was overtaken and then only had a further 2 miles to go. If I knew the weather was to be like that I wouldn't have cycled that day.

 

[Dogtrousers]

The classic whiteout is a hazard to skiers and mountaineers; movement is difficult without the usual visual cues and you tend to lose balance and fall over.

Similar thing driving a dogsled on dead flat trails (on a lake). You don't sense any movement, & have to check that the dogs' feet are moving.

 

[mjr]

[QUOTE 4590421, member: 9609"]get off the bike and off the road when I hear something coming - same tactic as when pedalling into a low sun.[/QUOTE]
Climbing off the road for every motorist is both time-wasting and seems hazardous (due to drainage ditches, rabbit holes, high banks and the other stuff alongside roads...). I wouldn't do that.

A low sun is at least predictable and routes can sometimes be chosen to minimise that risk. Fog isn't, or at least not to me around here: I've set off from home in clear daylight and then there's been thick fog on the bridges over the drains, but none over the river 100m further on from a drain or the road between two lakes.

 

[Slick]

[QUOTE 4591027, member: 9609"]Getting off is not a big issue on quiet roads, yesterday I may have only encounter 10 moving vehicles in 28 mile, I think I stopped for all but two of them, nothing to do with fog or low sun just narrow roads. There are a lot of people round here that think they are rally drivers I don't trust them, I'm not sure everyone has encountered cyclists before which doesn't really give confidence - there's some complete plantpots up some of the valleys.[/QUOTE]
The reality is, there are some real plant pots everywhere. It would probably take me a week to get to work if I got off every time I met a car though. I must admit, it's very tempting at the moment.