anyone else brought down by black ice today ?

oldwelshman

Arghhh had my first off today in a big way
Joined a fast ride in cardiff and went out with temp around zero ( been out in much colder thi syear already). Problem was rain on saturday and un treated roads.
30 riders 2 abreast, approcahing roundabout about 20mph, front 4 got across, riders behind slowing down for traffic cam off, everyone else had to brake to try to avoid them, result about 20 odd riders down sliding about 15m !!!
A stretch of about 30m of the A48 was covered in black ice, no grip.
All the cars were sliding everywhere also.
Luckily no one was hurt badle, I have some gravel rash on hip and bruised knuckles only.

Oh and finally, although I would never force anyone to wear a helmet, they are bloody stupid if they dont, I have a large dent in the side of my Atmos where my head bounced off the kerb !!!!!

Tom Butcher

20 years ago they'd all be dead.

onceboy

caught me out as well.Left the house in Rhiwbina,took a right on to Maes-Y-coed rd and that was it gone! Total ride time 3 mins, distance0.6 m.ls . Ended up with a nasty gash on my knee (daughter insists it needs stitches!), road rash to my right cheek and ruined a pair of longs & under shorts! worst of all ripped my brand new jacket (the first time I'd worn it). if only I had waited an hour later for the ice to melt! GUTTED!

oldwelshman

One poor guy came down 3 times!!!
First when I was turning left into maindy, they were out to warn us as they had just came off.
Then he came off again in the big one.
Then when everyone turned round, by Cyncoed he came off on another roundabout !!
Where was Cardiff Council to treat the roads ? !!!

webbhost

was alright here, but have experienced it in the past. 20 bikes down? How much damage did that cause to the bikes mechanically and costwise lol?

ChrisLS

...went out, rode 2 miles, very, very slippy, walked home(SPDs)...

cbj

Went for an early Sunday morning run, it was like ice skating down the road in parts

I guess it was more dangerous because as it was unexpected , it didn't look or feel cold enough for sheet ice, wouldn't have liked to be on a road bike in those conditions

bahzob

Yes. Still relatively new to cycling and never experienced anything like it before and hope wont again.

Severely curtailed our club run. Even found that major A roads (A4 in our case) were affected and passed 2 accidents where cars had gone off road and into ditch.

Strangely both said cars were 4x4s.

CanterburyTailwind

I only went out for a family ride yesterday, but ended up having the bike slip from under me. Luckily I was only going 5 mph, so no damage done...but it took me by surprise. The rest of the family seemed to be okay on their big, under-inflated tyres...

oldwelshman

webbhost wrote:

was alright here, but have experienced it in the past. 20 bikes down? How much damage did that cause to the bikes mechanically and costwise lol?

Surprisingly very little damage to any bikes, just one damaged fork on one guys bike, but lots of pride hurt
We must have slid a fair way becuse I could not find my bottle initially.
Then I walked back about 15m and there was one of those kerbs with a gap to drain water and my bottle went in there and into drain below!! Whats thee odds on bottle hitting the only hole in the kerb? lol.

Would have been a craking video for u tube as we all fell off in synch and all slid at same speed at same time , it was like the TDF

jellybellywmb

Sorry ti hijack this topic but I notice a bit of a welsh contingent.
I am staying in Port Talbot later in the week and have spotted an opurtunity for and afternoon of ' Paperwork ' if you get my drift.
Can anyone suggest a nice 20-30 mile route, I heard the mumbles was nice??

Richie G

It Was pretty treacherous round on Sunday too. Was quite glad i went out on my own rather than with the club run- had a couple of moments as it was. Found the wheelspin when pulling away a bit disconcerting! 30 riders in a club run - most i've been with is about 12! Which club you with?

keebo

2 attempts on Sunday:
1st at 0900 - bad black ice - total distance covered before good sense prevailed 0.6 kms
2nd at 1130 - patchy black ice - distance 0.7 kms
Discretion is the better part of valour!

feel

keebo wrote:

2 attempts on Sunday:
1st at 0900 - bad black ice - total distance covered before good sense prevailed 0.6 kms
2nd at 1130 - patchy black ice - distance 0.7 kms
Discretion is the better part of valour!

Agree

got up early sunday, looked out of window, went back to bed.
Did 15 miles in the afternoon, instead.

and no it's not a poem

oldwelshman

Richie G wrote:

It Was pretty treacherous round on Sunday too. Was quite glad i went out on my own rather than with the club run- had a couple of moments as it was. Found the wheelspin when pulling away a bit disconcerting! 30 riders in a club run - most i've been with is about 12! Which club you with?

It was a mixed run with riders from several clubs in Cardiff, with me tagged onto the back
Maybe I should have gone on the front , but then again, there were too many tasty young guys there so though I would let them tag us all along and they were happy to do that
jelly , Mumbles is nice but not sure for a ride, a bit boring.
Nice ride would be to head North from Port Talbot towards Cwmavon, Pont Rhyd Y Fen, Abergwynfi to top of Bwlch ( This is the climb we went up twice in Dragon last year.
That would be 20 to 30 miles if you went up and back, lovely views, only problem is you would be climbing almost straight away for mile after mile, then a descent back down

oldwelshman

Oh, and if you dont fancy a straight up and down one long climb, head to Cwmavon, then right onto b4282 to Bryn towards Maesteg, then left in Maesteg onto A4063 towards Cymer, then at top you could turn right to top of Bwlch or turn left to go back down hill towards PortTalbot.

geoff_ss

I chickened out on Sunday too. I've never liked ice and I don't bounce so well theses days. Pity really as I had tentative plans to ride up to Elton and see if Matthew Parris had fixed his head cutter up

I had a trike for icy commuting before I retired and before that, as a keen motor cyclist, always fitted a sidecar in Winter. Now I'm getting keen again, I'll have to get the old Higgins sorted out.

I rode a 300k audax on a bicycle from Doncaster in 1991. We started just before dawn and rode up the A19 on very slippery roads in a big bunch. My main worry was a car trying to brake behind us and sliding. I stopped to take my dynamo off and had wheelspin as I restarted. Very scary indeed. It was great once the sun rose properly.

Geoff

cycologist

Main roads seemed to be ok but the back lanes were a bit dodgy. i had a stiff neck by the end of the ride - i don't think it was the cold - more likely to be stress induced, worrying about if i might take a spill at any particular moment