My thoughts and attitude towards winter cycling

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D

Deleted member 1258

Guest
Winter cycling is pointless when you can use a choice of about 12 good apps on the smart trainer.
Maybe it just makes people feel hard. The risk of crashing or been run over really isn’t worth it is it??

I'd rather be out on the bike on a winters day, providing its not raining or snowing, than in the shed on the turbo, I'm still going to get cold on the turbo but I'm not going to be out and about.
 

nickyboy

Norven Mankey
Winter cycling is pointless when you can use a choice of about 12 good apps on the smart trainer.
Maybe it just makes people feel hard. The risk of crashing or been run over really isn’t worth it is it??
Admittedly there are times on a winter ride when I question my sanity in venturing out. But in the main it's very enjoyable. Plenty of hills to keep warm, nice cafe stops and the pleasure when you get back of a hot shower and some warm, snug clothes

Much rather do that than a turbo session

IMG_20181202_112820.jpg


Here's yesterday's cafe stop Fritata (a first for me on a ride). I wouldn't get that in the conservatory on the turbo
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
There's no more risk of crashing or being run over than at any other time of year.
Not strictly true...

There could be ice at other times of year, but not likely, so that is one real winter hazard.

I experienced another winter hazard this afternoon when I did the long climb from Mytholmroyd to Blackstone Edge between about 15:00 to 15:30. The sky was clear so the sun was shining brightly but it was setting and was exactly in line with the road ahead. A lot of the time I had to ride one-handed and shield my eyes with the other hand. I was overtaken at speed by a lot of motorists who would have had exactly the same problem as me unless they were using sun visors correctly, so every time I heard one coming up to me I just had to hope that they weren't 'driving blind'***.




*** To save you the effort of replying that no driver in their right mind would drive towards the low sun without using a sun visor ... @Littgull lives only 5 miles from there and had his car written off by such a driver who drove into his parked vehicle and blamed the collision on being blinded by the low sun!
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
[QUOTE 5459522, member: 9609"]I don't give em a chance when its like that, I get off the bike and off and the road until they're past. You can see from the weird mouth wide open and wrinkled nose expressions on their faces that its' 'wing and a prayer' stuff as to whether or not they will make it. keep out of their way is my plan.
[/QUOTE]
That part of the climb is over 4 km long and there was much more traffic than usual on that road. I reckon it was because the local schools had just closed. TBH - all of the drivers were ok today, but it only takes one idiot to maim or kill you!

It would have been a pain to keep getting off every 30 seconds or so, and there is only a narrow verge with a drainage ditch in it.

It was the wrong time to go up there. Apart from the traffic and the low sun, it was a bitterly cold 60-70 kph descent from Blackstone Edge to Littleborough. I'll make sure to do the ride a couple of hours earlier next time.
 

Pat "5mph"

A kilogrammicaly challenged woman
Moderator
Location
Glasgow
Winter cycling is pointless when you can use a choice of about 12 good apps on the smart trainer.
Maybe it just makes people feel hard. The risk of crashing or been run over really isn’t worth it is it??
Some of us use the bike as you would use your car, for transport :whistle:
Granted, we could use public transport in winter.
 
Not strictly true...

There could be ice at other times of year, but not likely, so that is one real winter hazard.

I experienced another winter hazard this afternoon when I did the long climb from Mytholmroyd to Blackstone Edge between about 15:00 to 15:30. The sky was clear so the sun was shining brightly but it was setting and was exactly in line with the road ahead. A lot of the time I had to ride one-handed and shield my eyes with the other hand. I was overtaken at speed by a lot of motorists who would have had exactly the same problem as me unless they were using sun visors correctly, so every time I heard one coming up to me I just had to hope that they weren't 'driving blind'***.




*** To save you the effort of replying that no driver in their right mind would drive towards the low sun without using a sun visor ... @Littgull lives only 5 miles from there and had his car written off by such a driver who drove into his parked vehicle and blamed the collision on being blinded by the low sun!

A 'like' for advising about the significant winter hazard of complacent drivers dangerously not heeding the need to drive more cautiously when their vision is affected by a low 'winter' sun. Thankfully, there was no one sat in my car when it was written off. On the plus side, it will be 2 years in January 2019 since my car was written off and I decided not to get another one. Since then my mode of transport has been bike, walking and train. One of the best decisions I've ever made not to replace the car. Even when taking into account the woeful performance of the train operator franchises.
 

Wobblers

Euthermic
Location
Minkowski Space
Not strictly true...

There could be ice at other times of year, but not likely, so that is one real winter hazard.

I experienced another winter hazard this afternoon when I did the long climb from Mytholmroyd to Blackstone Edge between about 15:00 to 15:30. The sky was clear so the sun was shining brightly but it was setting and was exactly in line with the road ahead. A lot of the time I had to ride one-handed and shield my eyes with the other hand. I was overtaken at speed by a lot of motorists who would have had exactly the same problem as me unless they were using sun visors correctly, so every time I heard one coming up to me I just had to hope that they weren't 'driving blind'***.




*** To save you the effort of replying that no driver in their right mind would drive towards the low sun without using a sun visor ... @Littgull lives only 5 miles from there and had his car written off by such a driver who drove into his parked vehicle and blamed the collision on being blinded by the low sun!

To be fair, low sun is a hazard that can be encountered at any time of the year (though not, obviously, at any time of the day!). If I go out on a summer evening, I'll try and time things so that I'll be back before the sun gets too low, for exactly the reasons you give.
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
To be fair, low sun is a hazard that can be encountered at any time of the year (though not, obviously, at any time of the day!). If I go out on a summer evening, I'll try and time things so that I'll be back before the sun gets too low, for exactly the reasons you give.
That must be true but I don't remember it being a big problem at other times of the year.

If I think about my favourite local roads, that is the only one where I would normally be heading towards a low sun. It takes me about 45 minutes to get home from there. Other roads are either sheltered from the sun by big hills or I would normally be riding in a different direction that close to sunset.
 

PaulSB

Legendary Member
To be fair, low sun is a hazard that can be encountered at any time of the year (though not, obviously, at any time of the day!). If I go out on a summer evening, I'll try and time things so that I'll be back before the sun gets too low, for exactly the reasons you give.

Exactly. This is a year round problem and not a winter problem. Both leaving and entering my village one can encounter this any day of the year.

I used to commute on the M6 to Knutsford daily. At certain times of year low sun was a serious issue on the motorway. This is far from a winter issue but will be more prevalent when the sun is lower.
 
By using public transport you develop a muscular immune system that kicks the ass of lurgy. (Or perhaps you die, this is the drawback of natural selection).

So surely by that logic cycling (uphill at that) to the tram stop then using public transport will supercharge my immune system so I'm pretty much lurgy proof.

Which will be handy where I work, to be honest...
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
A 'like' for advising about the significant winter hazard of complacent drivers dangerously not heeding the need to drive more cautiously when their vision is affected by a low 'winter' sun. Thankfully, there was no one sat in my car when it was written off. On the plus side, it will be 2 years in January 2019 since my car was written off and I decided not to get another one. Since then my mode of transport has been bike, walking and train. One of the best decisions I've ever made not to replace the car. Even when taking into account the woeful performance of the train operator franchises.
Please tell me the driver who hit it was banned, thereby removing a second, far more dangerous, car from the road...
 
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