Oh My word

[gazmercer]

Well, it looksl ike I might be stuck in work in the morning.

Snow is about a foot deep so far and it's still dropping out of the sky.

Just wondering if I'll manage to cycle home. How deep is too deep when it comes to cycling in the snow ???

 

[summerdays]

Well we've finally got some here but it won't be a foot deep until its been gathered into a ball/pile to build a snowman - I'd guess at a maximum of an inch ... but for my children that's a very important inch.

Good luck getting home through a foot of the stuff.... how near to a main road do you live/work ... and what time do you go home... cos it sounds like its going to be very difficult even on those roads.

 

[gazmercer]

..<snip>

Good luck getting home through a foot of the stuff.... how near to a main road do you live/work ... and what time do you go home... cos it sounds like its going to be very difficult even on those roads.

Mostly main roads going home but I doubt they will have been cleared yet. I leave work at 8am. I might make it home within an hour (usually 25mins)

 

[GrasB]

How deep is too deep when it comes to cycling in the snow ???

Depends on the equipment. I've ridden in >18" deep snow before with aggressive 700x44 CX tyres. The problems were gearing (I needed a 21t chainring & 32t sprocket rather than the 32t chainring & 21t sprocket I had) trying to keep my legs & feet warm.

 

[downfader]

Mostly main roads going home but I doubt they will have been cleared yet. I leave work at 8am. I might make it home within an hour (usually 25mins)

Any depth that touches the base of the forks, chain stays, pannier bags etc will make it more difficult but not impossible. High gear, low speed and you should be fine... if you;re on slicks it might present problems with tracktion, if you have knobblies or snow/mud MTB style tyres you'll get by much better.

Compacted snow and ice will be the dangerous stuff. Ride either in the fresh snow, or in the slush/cleared section of road. Slush will be a bit slippy too, and again anything with a decent tread will cope better.

It has snowed here in Southampton but its only 1-2 inches deep..

Dont forget to layer up, though I'm sure you have enough clothes if you rode at night..

Doh! Just reread that you left at 8am. Did you get home ok?

 

[kevin_cambs_uk]

incredible, but here in Cambridge I think we have had less than 1 cm the entire last 8 weeks of winter weather.

I am absolutely convinced that Cambridge University has banned snow for our area

 

[GrasB]

Cambridge city maybe but in the south east of the county we've had about 3" or so of the settled stuff. Ice had been much more of a problem as there appears to have been a lack of grit applied to the roads.

 

[stowie]

Well, in E17 it has just started to snow really heavily. This morning went out to do the shopping on the cycle when there was no snow at all and came back to a cycle under a load of the stuff.

Cycling back was fun - but I was only wearing a helmet on my head and so was utterly frozen by the time I had got back.

Good luck to all those car drivers though - not one overtake by them as traffic is now stationary. Going to the shops there was barely a car in sight. Now the roads are packed. I guess people see the first sign of snow whilst shopping and run back to try to get home before everything gets stuffed. I think the ones I rode past had left it a bit late....

 

[downfader]

Most of it has melted here! Seen just as many cyclists as drivers

My neighbour tried to ride back from the New Forest in the ice the other night, he said this morning. Had a bit of a crash apparently, dont seem to hurt thankfully but I passed on the knowledge of the studded tyre to him

 

[HLaB]

Its all turned to solid ice here for a while but no doubt more snow will be on the way

 

[Glow worm]

incredible, but here in Cambridge I think we have had less than 1 cm the entire last 8 weeks of winter weather.

I am absolutely convinced that Cambridge University has banned snow for our area

Nowt here either-

 

[jayonabike]

Sh*t loads here in the chilterns, havn't had this much snow in a long while

 

[Reiki_chick]

stepped out this morning onto a lovely white covering of snow, maybe an inch or so, all pretty and fluffy and fresh... but as soon as I got my bike down to the main road, the rest of my commute was just a grubby slushfest! Amazing how quickly it all gets so dirty (as it were)

 

[Wobblers]

Hope you got back OK.

Nowt here either-

Help yourself to some of ours - we've loads of the stuff! About six inches fell today: even the main roads were snarled up. Hagley Road (the main westward route out of Birmingham) was stationary as I walked down to the shops. I have to confess to being amused by those prats blowing their horns - I don't think that was going to help things much. Or perhaps they were hoping to scare the snow away?

 

[gazmercer]

I managed to get home OK. Walked for 20mins until I saw one of the roads was partly cleared thanks to the cars that had already driven up there. Managed to cycle until I was 5 mins from home then I had to walk again. By god it takes some concentration riding in the wheel tracks of mostly slushy snow but there were some patches of rock hard blobs of ice which I wobbled on a couple of times too.

Chickened out tonight and got a taxi to work but looking at the roads I could've cycled most of the way but by the way it's freezing over I think it was the safe choice.