Snow!

[Sheffield_Tiger]

Although hard work... and slow... I like riding in the snow


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugt3hdfNtfI


Wouldnt dare attempt it without decent tyres though!

Second time today I have heard that track... Earlier today I was stuck at a gridlocked roundabout (had to go home to get my camera for an unplanned photoshoot at work, so I took the pool car, was NOT going to risk falling off with camera and bag of lenses in a side pannier)

Doesn't quite have the same ring to it sat in a box thinking go Johnny, go, for the love of god will somebody just GO!! Then some twat on a bike had the gall to go past

Nevermind, it gave me a remider of what driving to work is like, for those mornings when the nip in the air tempts me for a second to de-ice the car

 

[Norm]

And riding home was nerve wracking! The main roads were ok, although slushy at the edges, so I didn't dare trust it in case it was frozen, and rode home at snails pace. The bit between work and the main road looked like an ice rink, I had to walk it.

I couldn't understand the number of people who were cycling on pavements this afternoon.

Not only because, well, GET OFF THE BLOODY PAVEMENTS but because they were still covered in ice whilst the roads were completely clear.

 

[BentMikey]

This should be one time of year when it's *VERY* obvious that cycle lanes are much more dangerous than the roads.

 

[hackbike 666]

Yawn.

 

[skudupnorth]

This is what my Spec Sirrus looked like after last nights 30 mile round trip from Bolton to Timperley and back....

 

[zophiel]

i had a go in the snow yesterday for about all of 3 minutes. I fell twice. Didnt look that bad when I set off but a few minutes down the road it was just sheets of ice everywhere. So I now have a very sore hip and left arm. In the end had to get a lift to work Only time this year i havent got to work on the cycle.

 

[wafflycat]

This should be one time of year when it's *VERY* obvious that cycle lanes are much more dangerous than the roads.

Next village (more suburb of local town) to me has recently had, to much publicity & fanfare) an extention to a cycle farcility put in to the local school. Basicall they slightly widened the footpath & made it a shared use farcility - all along where the parents park their cars, so right in the door zone... Yesterday and today it was covered in deeply rutted snow & ice. The road was much better - as is normal. But hey, that's another much needed farcility provided to enable to council to tick a box...

 

[Arch]

I couldn't understand the number of people who were cycling on pavements this afternoon.

Not only because, well, GET OFF THE BLOODY PAVEMENTS but because they were still covered in ice whilst the roads were completely clear.

God yes, even walking in places was nerve wracking - I figured that at least I had the bike to hang onto... Even today, some pavements are still sheet ice/snow. Still, most of the icicles have now dropped off my windows.

 

[gbb]

Plenty of snow here
Yesterdays commute into work was in virgin snow for the most part, maybe 1 or 2 inches deep...no problem on the 38mm shod hybrid. By last night it was compacted outside work and looked decidedly dicier and it was freezing over.

Cycle lanes here...no problem. We only really have them on the main routes into and out of town, so they've had as much salt as the road. Maybe a little icy right at the edges in a couple of places, but generally good.

This mornings commute..packed frozen slush. A little care and a steady speed.

Normally this is the only time of year i wear a helmet, but as a colleague was knocked off a few weeks ago, i've taken to wearing one all the time. Personally i think if there's a time to wear one, now's the time.

Last years worst commute...

Going to have to go some to beat that !!!

 

[skudupnorth]

Plenty of snow here
Yesterdays commute into work was in virgin snow for the most part, maybe 1 or 2 inches deep...no problem on the 38mm shod hybrid. By last night it was compacted outside work and looked decidedly dicier and it was freezing over.

Cycle lanes here...no problem. We only really have them on the main routes into and out of town, so they've had as much salt as the road. Maybe a little icy right at the edges in a couple of places, but generally good.

This mornings commute..packed frozen slush. A little care and a steady speed.

Normally this is the only time of year i wear a helmet, but as a colleague was knocked off a few weeks ago, i've taken to wearing one all the time. Personally i think if there's a time to wear one, now's the time.

Last years worst commute...

Going to have to go some to beat that !!!

Makes mine look extra soft....quality !

 

[gbb]

Makes mine look extra soft....quality !

That was one of my hardest ever commutes. Blinding snow flurries, 3 or 4 inch deep snow, i only managed maybe 5 mph The snow was coming round with the tyres, hitting the V brakes and flying off at 90 degrees like a snow plough.
Some colleagues said to me 'you didnt come in on the bike did you '

I said...'its a wonder you made it in the car..i probably went faster than you'

Soft tw....

 

[661-Pete]

I - for my sins - had to go into work this morning (Saturday: last-minute-panic-late-on-project-sort-of-stuff). I decided it was safe enough on the bike today after yesterday's walk. Indeed the main roads were mostly clear, a bit of loose slush in places. The residential back streets I normally use are hard-packed ice all along and utterly useless to me in this weather: I only have slick tyres. I'm now wondering, if this sort of weather is going to be the norm each winter from now on (global warming?), should I have a hybrid and winter tyres?

I hope all those motorists understand that there's a reason why there are more cyclists on the main road than usual, and why they are more of the time in primary (indeed primary position may be the only clear path through the slush). Most of them seemed understanding and considerate today, I have to say. I think in extreme weather a spirit of camaraderie between otherwise hostile groups, does sort of break out. At least I hope that's the case.

Later in the afternoon, I took the car out for our weekend shopping: we decided that, improving roads notwithstanding, this was not the day for cycle-shopping. Driving to the end of our road (a solid sheet of ice that I didn't dare to cycle, I walked it when I was with the bike) I advanced very gingerly in the car at probably less than 3mph. I still managed to put the car in a spin, all the same, despite doing nothing with the controls. That's the sort of surface it was. Luckily, what with the speed I was going, didn't touch anything.

At least cyclists can get off and walk. It's motorcyclists I sympathise with most. They'd have stood no chance at that spot. And I saw pedestrians taking tumbles on the pavement, all across town.

 

[GrasB]

I hope all those motorists understand that there's a reason why there are more cyclists on the main road than usual, and why they are more of the time in primary (indeed primary position may be the only clear path through the slush). Most of them seemed understanding and considerate today, I have to say. I think in extreme weather a spirit of camaraderie between otherwise hostile groups, does sort of break out. At least I hope that's the case.

My guess is not all. The reason I say this is the other half tells me one of the support staff at work came off the main road, wet but completely clear of snow/ice, into side road heading for the car park, snow packed into ice, at a reasonable lick this morning. They then tried to turn into the car park & spun the car, hitting 3 cars before coming to rest! Their response was along the lines of - it wasn't icy on the motorway so it should have been fine in the car park...

 

[gbb]

I - for my sins - had to go into work this morning (Saturday: last-minute-panic-late-on-project-sort-of-stuff). I decided it was safe enough on the bike today after yesterday's walk. Indeed the main roads were mostly clear, a bit of loose slush in places. The residential back streets I normally use are hard-packed ice all along and utterly useless to me in this weather: I only have slick tyres. I'm now wondering, if this sort of weather is going to be the norm each winter from now on (global warming?), should I have a hybrid and winter tyres?


.

I was talking about this last night. In the 30 years i've lived in Peterborough we've rarely had snow and even then it doesn't stay for long. The last two years have been a real eye opener. Shape of things to come maybe ?...or just a spike.

 

[D4VOW]

OMG, we get a small amount of snow a couple of years on the trot and the world is coming to an end Back in the 70's and 80's we would get regular snow that wasn't just a few cm's deep, but at times was feet deep. Back then everyone was saying we were on the edge of an ice edge That happened didn't it