Snow and the Orca

[BenM]

I got up this morning to be greeted by the first snow of the year. Lovely. I thought oh I am commuting to work, how hard can it be?

Well not too bad. The Orca is a very different kettle of fish in the snow than a DF... especially with slick tyres.

Balancing is interesting especially with tiller steering.
Applying any sort of power with slick tyres was a no no so I had to find flat/downhill bits to recover from the inevitable "offs".

Fell off 4 times, all low speed, two within 2 yards on fresh snow after a right turn, the next on a slight uphill incline which also requires a sharp left at the top, and the last one after negotiating a road pillow on a well packed snowy road.

Smiles all round though I think I may have bruised my shoulder a little.

Unfortunately there isn't any video because, as a result of wearing a hat under my camera mount, the Muvi was pointing at the sky.

Tonight I will be cycling home along main roads, rather than along my usual mainly off road route.

B.

 

[neil earley]

I got up this morning to be greeted by the first snow of the year. Lovely. I thought oh I am commuting to work, how hard can it be?

Well not too bad. The Orca is a very different kettle of fish in the snow than a DF... especially with slick tyres.

Balancing is interesting especially with tiller steering.
Applying any sort of power with slick tyres was a no no so I had to find flat/downhill bits to recover from the inevitable "offs".

Fell off 4 times, all low speed, two within 2 yards on fresh snow after a right turn, the next on a slight uphill incline which also requires a sharp left at the top, and the last one after negotiating a road pillow on a well packed snowy road.

Smiles all round though I think I may have bruised my shoulder a little.

Unfortunately there isn't any video because, as a result of wearing a hat under my camera mount, the Muvi was pointing at the sky.

Tonight I will be cycling home along main roads, rather than along my usual mainly off road route.

B.

 

[neil earley]

what are you like , think you was very brave this weather to give it a go fair play to you , hope your ride home is not to bruising !!

 

[Misty]

We have several feet of the stuff - it's a challenge to drive anywhere, let alone cycle.
Well done for having a go - I think you're nuts by the way, but it's good to see people out and about despite the weather.
RIDE SAFE!

 

[BenM]

I managed to salvage a minute of video - it shows the two main fallings off... if you are remotely interested, it can be seen on my blog

 

[henshaw11]

Mine's *definitely* sitting in the garage 'til the snow/ice has gone, and preferably until either we've had some rain to wash the salt off the roads, or my can of ACF50 (see another thread on salt n bikes) has arrived and I get it applied Our close (and one or two roads near work) are like sheet ice - just doable on the mtb.

I had a nasty moment last winter when I hit some slush (and ice!) in a cycle path which I'd briefly ducked into to give traffic a better chance to pass - doing about 20+ at the time, downhill - managed to sit up and rode it out, but more by luck than judgement I suspect.

 

[Misty]

Ha Ha - today I've sorted the snow problem... actually, that's a lie, I haven't sorted the snow problem at all, but I now have a solution to the snow versus cycling frustration.
Bought an adaptor kit for the Cyclops trainer, and can now pedal away on either my Mistral or Sprint3 ... bliss!

 

[steveindenmark]

Ben have you got more money than sense or what ?

For this type of weather you need a trike with those winter studded tyres.

I am expecting my new Bacchetta Giro 26 to be delivered next week and we have a lot more snow than you. I will just park it in the living room and look at it for a few months.

My first ever audax is on March 5th in Germany. We could still have snow then.

Steve

 

[ufkacbln]

This weather is where trikes are undoubtedly superior!

 

[BenM]

Yup - a trike FTW.... however not yet as for more money than sense.... that could apply to any recumbent owner though I have never been blessed with much sense in fields other than cycling.

B.

 

[ACW]

went to work on my bike this morning, clear roads no problems . tonight on the way home it was freezing slush and snow. lots of fun riding in it the bike was surprisingly stable but traction on the uphill bit was limited. car tomorrow i think.

 

[steveindenmark]

We have had it down to -15 and a metre of snow over the last 10 days. My girlfriend Jannie rides her bike through the Danish countryside to work every day without fail. It is 5 miles to work but even though she has a nice car in the carport, she prefers to ride.

She rang me up at 6 o`clock last night to say she was at a friends house 12 miles away but would not let me go and get her, she rode home.

But she did say that she really had to concentrate on the track because it was very slippery.

It was -12, what did she expect?

I think she is a little crazy.

Steve