What time is safe to avoid the ice?!?

STEFANOS4784

Afternoon all, just wandering if anyone knows what sort of times are safe-ish for riding at this time of year. I've been gettin the bus the past few days and am sick of it costing a fiver and taking longer, i finish work at 6pm and start at 9 am the roads always look SKETCHY and the grass is often really white and frosty, am i sketching out needlessly? Also when will it start warming up again my brother reckons not til march :shock: :x

Any-one else commuting those sort of times?

CHRISNOIR

It can take frost ages to clear! It was pretty icy near us on Saturday and I spent most of the day waiting for it to clear. It didn't.

I think I'm resigned to minimal cycling until February / March... :x

Ricardo H

play on the side of caution. If it looks abit glassy do'nt bother. I was the same on sunday, spent the whole day looking out to see if it was going to defrost... never did.

STEFANOS4784

Bugger

fizz

Depends. The road outside our house never defrosted at all yesterday and then re-frooze last night it was like a skating rink this morning.

I still cycled over it, but I crawled along and when I had to brake I used the back and very gently, if it is icey in my experience if you pull on the front brake you'll be down before you know it. Whereas theres more chance of saving it if you use the front.

I had about 200 metres of this to cover before I got out onto gritted roads, but the cycle paths were frozen solid to. So I just pedalled nice and gently and didnt rush and got to work no problems at all an that was on 23mm conti race tyres... but its not for the inexperienced of faint hearted. But walking in my cleated road shoes isnt an option either and my only other way of gettng to work would have been by motorbike as the missus took the car this morning.

You'll be surprised what with a ilttle practice you can get through, but if you're in doubt or not sure its not really worth the risk.

Black ice is what really does you in, as you never see it...

pdstsp

We're all getting a bit pessimistic aren't we - we hardly had any frosts round here last year - just wind and rain - perfect for riding

This Saturday I went out around 10 for 4 hours - so long as I avoided sheltered roads it was fine - really enjoyable, however we do escape the worst of the frosts round here and many of the lanes round me are very open to the sunlight so conditions can improve rapidly - there were patches of frost/ice but they were pretty easy to avoid.

Best advice has to be to take it day to day - but don't get too depressed - the days start getting longer in two weeks!!

Steve I

Mate, I'm a Liverpool postie and I was sliding all over the place delivering to the last road on my round on Saturday, that was in Aintree around midday. Do you live close to the river or sea as we get plenty of frosts around the Aintree area?

I went out and did 36 miles starting at 2.30pm. Most of the ice had melted by then although there was plenty around Billinge Hill and Uphollland.

pdstsp

Live Crosby and rode out round Formby/Haskayne/Ormskirk - just did loops to avoid the more slippy roads further inland - no real problems - It was cold and the frost had been pretty hard but the sun seemed to melt everything pretty quick. Perhaps the weight of the letters on the postie bike caised a front wheel issue?

oldwelshman

The summer 8)

cougie

Its impossible to say - It can be icy in one lane, and not the next. Weekend on the Wirral was v cold and plenty of ice in the park - I didnt bother cycling this weekend. Today - loads warmer and just wet !

beverick

I'm struggling to get my mind around the fact that someone thinks that frost and ice are related by time and not temperature?

It's generally accepted in meteorological cirlces that ground frost will most likely occur when the air temperature (as measured at 1.5m above ground level) falls below 4C. It does depend on items such as the residual temperature in the ground, wind conditions and a host of other factors though.

In the meantime I'm just going to put my strawberry mivvi in the clock so it doesn't thaw.....

Bob

STEFANOS4784

Well in the morning, due to the lowered temperatures over night it's more icy than when the temperature first drops at night so even though it's the temp which causes ice, the amount of time the ground is exposed to the temperature makes a difference. That said i'm guna start commuting on the bike and risk it, i go from midsomer norton to Bath, if anyone knows the route. The traffic has been qued back to Dunkerton past couple of days and it's taking almost 2 hours to go 10 miles :shock: On the bike, even with the traffic should be no longer than an hour tops

morite

Well I managed to fing the frozen hail this morning.

On my way through Sankey (Warrington) and went to get on the bike lane to avoid the traffic and next thing I know I'm sliding on the hail.

Cought the very edge of it as you couldn't see it where it had started to melt, 50 yds further on it was white and I thought "oh yeah its been hailing here better not ride on the path" :roll:

STEFANOS4784

Uh-oh, still another hour and i'm having 2nd thoughts, must be strong, damit :x Must cycle, traffic looks really bad :roll:

morite

getting a lift home after this morning and I'll do an hour on the turbos instead

STEFANOS4784

Haha, done it, and it was great.....ish, don't know what i've been worried about, would recommend going out to all, just need some decent lights, i don't care what anyone says about fenix it aint good enough for me to go above about 12mph, to many potholes 8)
Think i'll save up and buy some super duper ones

dennisn

oldwelshman wrote:

The summer 8)

Damnit, I was going to use that.

Dennis Noward

OffTheBackAdam

beverick wrote:

I'm struggling to get my mind around the fact that someone thinks that frost and ice are related by time and not temperature?
Bob

I'll expalin it to you in simple words.
It's frozen overnight, ice doesn't melt completely the instant when the air temperature exceeds 0 C.
The chap wants to know how long to wait until it's going to be safe to ride out.
Around my home, anywhere that didn't get sunlight yesterday, stayed frozen, be it frost or ice on puddles.
If you can stick to gritted roads, you'll be safe (Temps haven't been below -4, so the salt still would be effective).
If your route covers a lot of shaded lanes, then you'll be facing the risk of an icey stretch all day.