No more ice this winter.

[Brandane]

Forget what the Met Office or anyone else says, I can safely predict that the rest of the winter will be particularly mild and ice free. How can I say this with so much confidence? Easy; I have just ordered a pair of spiked tyres (Schwalbe Marathon Winter Performance) from Wiggle. Bought them as I haven't managed to get out for the last week because of the icy roads and paths around here. December mileage stands at less than 15 miles . Think I can safely wave goodbye to this years target now.....

 

[User16625]

I managed a 20 miler on 23 slick road tyres 2 days ago. Some places arent so bad but the road salt doesnt do your bike much good. (would be worse without it tho!)

 

[Oldspice]

Forget what the Met Office or anyone else says, I can safely predict that the rest of the winter will be particularly mild and ice free. How can I say this with so much confidence? Easy; I have just ordered a pair of spiked tyres (Schwalbe Marathon Winter Performance) from Wiggle. Bought them as I haven't managed to get out for the last week because of the icy roads and paths around here. December mileage stands at less than 15 miles . Think I can safely wave goodbye to this years target now.....

I'm bookmarking this thread and have my lawyers on stand by (but i can settle out of court)

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I bought mine back in November, only got around to fitting them on Monday but have not used the 'winter' bike yet because I still need to go on another bike spending spree to fit it out for my use...
since then we have had 2 weeks of ice, frost and more ice & dense freezing fog (not counting today which all it has done is rain). managed 250km on the ice on 25c tyres in that time - which included meeting my target a week last thursday whilst cycling up the right hand side of a slightly wider, exposed back lane that was litterally ice across the 3/4 width of the road for 750m, much to the total confusion of the driver behind me!
How are the roads generally? - hoping to get back up that way in a week's time, no doubt in time for all that rain we usually get over Christmas/New Year. (my childhood playground was right on the boundary of the highlands with ayrshire and I know it can get bad there with all the rain run off then freezing.)

 

[Brandane]

How are the roads generally? - hoping to get back up that way in a week's time, no doubt in time for all that rain we usually get over Christmas/New Year. (my childhood playground was right on the boundary of the highlands with ayrshire and I know it can get bad there with all the rain run off then freezing.)

I am right on the coast, in Largs. Not too bad around the town, but if you know Largs then you will appreciate that the trunk roads are not great for cycling on, to put it mildly! So venturing away from town means either the Brisbane Glen Road to Loch Thom (tried it yesterday and it was treacherous - I turned back), the path down to West Kilbride (not too bad just now), or the Fairlie Moor hill to Dalry (an ice rink with lots of water run offs frozen).

The norm up here now seems to be to grit the bus routes, and that is all. Result being that all other routes are subject to ice in the cold weather; and as you rightly said, the only other type of weather we get at this time of year is of the wet and windy type. What a wonderful place to cycle . Although it has to be said, when it is good, it is REALLY good (about 2 weeks of the year then ).

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I am right on the coast, in Largs. Not too bad around the town, but if you know Largs then you will appreciate that the trunk roads are not great for cycling on, to put it mildly! So venturing away from town means either the Brisbane Glen Road to Loch Thom (tried it yesterday and it was treacherous - I turned back), the path down to West Kilbride (not too bad just now), or the Fairlie Moor hill to Dalry (an ice rink with lots of water run offs frozen).

The norm up here now seems to be to grit the bus routes, and that is all. Result being that all other routes are subject to ice in the cold weather; and as you rightly said, the only other type of weather we get at this time of year is of the wet and windy type. What a wonderful place to cycle . Although it has to be said, when it is good, it is REALLY good (about 2 weeks of the year then ).

OK - fair point.
The area I know is much further north, just at the base of Rannoch Moor, so I spent most of the Bond Film Skyfall spotting the places I knew very well including Hankley Common in Surrey where I lived for 12 years!

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Watching this thread

 

[Norm]

... so I spent most of the Bond Film Skyfall spotting the places I knew very well

You probably had a better time than anyone else in the cinema then.

 

[mattsr]

You probably had a better time than anyone else in the cinema then.

Noooo!! Skyfall was great- best Bond film for ages- or at least since Casino Royale......

Anyhoo, on the subject of Marathon Winters- I fitted a pair back at the beginnning of December, in anticipation of "The Beast from the East"- remember that? We were all supposed to be facing a new ice age, we'd all freeze to death before Christmas,etc.,etc.......

So, the weather fairy must have seen me on my new tyres, because all we've had since then has been:-

I'm sure we'll got some cold weather before long, but it would be typical if, having fitted them, we have the first ice-free winter in living memory!!

Still, the tyres pumped up to about 85psi are absolutely fine to cycle on, and today I replaced the 6 or so studs that I've lost since I fitted them, which took all of ten minutes. Will from Schwalbe UK kindly sent me an envelope containing about 60 spares just before Christmas.

I plan to leave the winters on until about March, when I will swap them for Marathon Pluses. We must have had some Ice by then, surely.......

 

[summerdays]

The weather men have been dropping their hints that it is possible the end of January will be cold (bet you I don't get around to fitting my spikes to the spare bike till I actually see the evidence ).

 

[al78]

The weather men have been dropping their hints that it is possible the end of January will be cold (bet you I don't get around to fitting my spikes to the spare bike till I actually see the evidence ).

Yes there is a strong Sudden Stratospheric Warming event currently taking place which tends to result in a weakening of the westerlies and a blocked weather pattern, which typically means cold easterly or northerly winds over the UK.

http://metofficenews.wordpress.com/tag/sudden-stratospheric-warming/

 

[Biker Joe]

Yes there is a strong Sudden Stratospheric Warming event currently taking place which tends to result in a weakening of the westerlies and a blocked weather pattern, which typically means cold easterly or northerly winds over the UK.

http://metofficenews.wordpress.com/tag/sudden-stratospheric-warming/

Nicely put. But I hope the Met Office is wrong. They never are though, are they? (Chuckle, chuckle)!

 

[Brandane]

Oooops! I was wrong.......... http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/took-a-tumble-2.

 

[fossyant]

Oops - you should have been using them.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Well, nae ice today either! Bright and sunny here.
Got an unexpected day off, might go for a walk instead of a ride
Comes to mind when cycling to go places was a novelty for me, now walking it makes a change