Ice...

ChrisLS

...is keeping me off my bike, and I don't like it...came off last week, as did many people judging by the posts throughout Bikeradar, from MTB to commuting...two wheels and ice not good...

...go away ice I want to get my bike out again... :?

...anyone else laying low 'til the thaw?

...sensible thing to to do really...

Mog Uk

Back to being wet and miserable up here in not so Sunny Cheshire... Have to admit I didn't use the bike a great deal last week due to the ice.....

attica

I went for a ride on Saturday up by the Yokelbury International Airport, nearing the top of a small incline at the top of the hill I found my back wheel spinning up with alarming regularity.

The descent was very VERY slow, walking pace with my back brake on.

MTFDed today yet it's warmer, but rain is forecast for this afternoon and I don't like the ice cream headache you get when it's this close to freezing and if the temp does drop it'll be black ice hell.

days start getting longer in a fortnights time though, so it's not all bad.

DonDaddyD

I had a I want to drive my car day, today.

I bought a new car stereo yesterday (one of those £59.99 Sony ones from Halfords - that you can hook your) Ipod to. I wanted to test it out. So I drove.

I got home late yesterday 1.45am and woke up early 6.30am and wasn't in the mood to cycle. So I drove.

I stepped out of the house in trainers and onto the frostiely ice covered road only to find that balance was nearly a distant concept for me. No way was I going to ride a bike with an ever diminishing concept of balance. So I drove.

I drove to work today.

I will ride my bike tomorrow. In this type of weather I have to mentally preparred.

woodyonthebeach

was out at 7.30 - 8.00 am on Sunday. There were a few hairy moments that day. Stuck to the main roads after 3 attempts of bike trying to bite me.

Just remember Pain is a weakness leaving the body......

chuckcork

Out yesterday for the first time with Kingston Wheelers, first experience of road riding out in the country in winter! Rather a bit of ice around too, had to get off and walk through a decent size patch, and found my wheels spinning at another uphill so had to walk it :?

...and missed out my last ride with the club in Ireland the previous Sunday due to being a full on heavy frost coating everything :x had been looking forward to it too, not doing enough riding...

On the bright side not many icy days usually in winter, can look forward to less than icy most of the time, but not an experience I want to have too often.

linsen

Ah but imagine the smug feeling you can have leaving the house wiithout having to scrape the windscreen first....
Admittedly it has only actually gone below freezing once this year here in Sunny Southampton, but I have cycled in zero and been fine so far......
I have slowed down considerably though.....

bluecow

linsen wrote:

Ah but imagine the smug feeling you can have leaving the house wiithout having to scrape the windscreen first....
Admittedly it has only actually gone below freezing once this year here in Sunny Southampton, but I have cycled in zero and been fine so far......
I have slowed down considerably though.....

Ha haa yes, that's one thing i definitely don't miss about being a car commuter. It takes me an hour to cycle to work. 40 minutes to drive. Add on 20 mins of getting the car de-iced and i may as well have cycled and had an extra biscuit at work.

AndyManc

Mog Uk wrote:

Back to being wet and miserable up here in not so Sunny Cheshire... Have to admit I didn't use the bike a great deal last week due to the ice.....

Yeah and it's back to freezing roads tomorrow and the rest of the week.

I've not been on my bike for 10 days, I'm now off work with the flu after using the bus (germ containers) to get to work.

It sucks, as I said in a previous thread ... the worst start to a winter I can remember .... things can only get better .... surely :?

Haynes

its not just me then, i havent ridden much over the last couple of weeks. Had a cold then first morning back on the bike and it was icy so i came straight back home. Ive come off a few times on ice and have vowed not to venture out in it again on 2 wheels.

Ive started working from home now which is a pain in some respects because i dont get my 34 miles in each and every day. I have managed to go out in the mornings though, that is until now. Maybe a change of routine is required and i shoudl go out for a ride at lunch time.

Unusual this time of year, down south anyway, normally icier jan to march. From what i remember quite often it will be freezing cold but the roads arent covered in ice the way they have been recently, till into the new year.

Quite like that smug feeling whilst everyone else had to defrost their windscreens, only most of them aint too thorough and visibility is impaired.

Totalnewbie

There doesn't seem to have been any ice round my way, perhaps because I am not that far from central London in a pretty built-up area and I don't leave til after 8.30am?

My back wheel did slip on *something* as I crossed over Oxford St this morning but I don't think it was ice, more likely diesel.

If it was really icy you could bet I'd be on the bus.

chromehoof

I'm finding the city streets aren't so bad. Ventured into the mountains on saturday morning though, after a night of close to -6 degrees. At about 10am there was a strong sun out and it was melting the ice/frost from exposed areas. The problem was that there were a lot of areas that the sun doesn't get high enough this time of year to melt away and slippy stuff.

Descents were done at a crawl and I tried to stay away from ones with any degree of sheerness (not always possible).

Apart from the odd wheelspin (out of the saddle was pretty much out of the question), things were mostly ok.

A route that normally takes 3hrs 50mins took 4hrs 11mins. I put the extra 21 mins down to overcompensating for the ice rather than being out of shape (as if!).

biondino

the worst start to a winter I can remember

I'd have said the opposite! We've had snow, we've had sun, we've had cold but it's been beautiful for the most part. I'm really enjoying this winter, though I'm lucky enough to have only had one, maybe two days where the ice has prevented me riding.

NWLondoner

At the moment each day is different.

Saturday was gorgeous for cycling. Monday morning was a different matter. I almost slipped over a few times walking to work.


As long as we have bad weather in the week and great weather on Saturday i'm happy.

lost_in_thought

biondino wrote:

the worst start to a winter I can remember

I'd have said the opposite! We've had snow, we've had sun, we've had cold but it's been beautiful for the most part. I'm really enjoying this winter, though I'm lucky enough to have only had one, maybe two days where the ice has prevented me riding.

+1!

It's been just lovely, rather than grey and rainy. I like the cold, it makes me feel christmassy!

But like Biondino says, as I do the majority of my riding in London I haven't been stopped by ice...

AndyManc

biondino wrote:

the worst start to a winter I can remember

I'd have said the opposite! We've had snow, we've had sun, we've had cold but it's been beautiful for the most part. I'm really enjoying this winter, though I'm lucky enough to have only had one, maybe two days where the ice has prevented me riding.

There's a big difference between Manchester and London ... even at present, London has got double the temps Manchester has got ..... 6C & 3C respectively.

As John Motson would say ... it's been a tale of two halves :roll:

emdeef

I fell off this morning. The road is pretty much a country lane and great to cycle but yesterday evening was a bit wet and then froze so an ice rink in patches. I wasn't going very fast as I could see the patches of ice but it still caught me out. Luckily no damage to the bike and just a bruised knee and elbow, but I might be on the bus tomorrow.