Grittiing cycle paths

tomb353

It clearly can be done with the right equipment, see david hembrows blog on the dutch system http://hembrow.blogspot.com/search/label/gritting.

I know some cyclist are against gritting because of the damage it can do to bikes. But is it right that what offroad network that exists in the UK is unrideable right now (without ice tyres)? Or is the experience from elsewhere in the country any different?

I found myself emailing North Tyneside council after trying out one of the boxing day rides recently featured in the guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/dec/23/uk-bike-rides-cycling and finding myself attempting mile after mile of sheet ice on my way past the borough's busiest shopping centre and office park. The reply I got from the council implied that councils will only grit roads which they themselves designate as priority highway under the 1980 highways act, should we be lobbying to have offroad cycle paths (or tow paths) used by commuters designated as priority highway?

TornadoTom

Well as they haven't bothered gritting any roads around here, why would they bother gritting a dogpooping path?

marchant

Clearly we should be feeding the dogs grit :idea:

Jay dubbleU

Cycle paths are not covered under the Highways Act and Local Authorities have no requirement to maintain them - they only grit A and B class roads and priority routes - they don't grit footpaths either. Given lack of resources in most Councils even this may not carry on. They don't grit at all in Scandinavia where winters are much colder

ride_whenever

no, ice is fun. Any quantity is fine, you just have to be a bit careful.

If it is really bad then ice tyres are a way out, but that's a bit dull and you lose out on all the sliding about.

Jay dubbleU

Or get one of these

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=h ... CA4Q9QEwAg 8) 8) 8)

ride_whenever

if you're going to be a big girl about it, and it happens regularly. You could get yourself one of these:

nicklouse

plowed and gritted in Sweden before the roads are done normally.

realALBERTAN

grit = road salt? gravel or sand???

Road salt is useless below -10...

I like the pugsley made for winter in Minnesota...

I had a hike through massive snow drifts so a little ice is nothing get some studs and keep going they will probably last 4-5 years for what you folks can expect.

Jay dubbleU

realALBERTAN wrote:

grit = road salt? gravel or sand???

Road salt is useless below -10...

I like the pugsley made for winter in Minnesota...

I had a hike through massive snow drifts so a little ice is nothing get some studs and keep going they will probably last 4-5 years for what you folks can expect.

+1 MTFU

tomb353

so the answer is buy a pugsley or some ice tyres- surely not in tune with the mass cycling nirvana that our glorious leaders are working towards? Seems like the route of the problem is cycle paths not being defined as highway, just a place to sink the odd spare bit of lottery cash without any thought to long term maintenance.

tomb353

NB, given the MTFU comments should point out that I did 20 miles on these sheet ice paths on studded tyres on boxing day to blow the cobwebs out, no problem it can be done and quite good fun once you get into it. But would you seriously commute on these each day, and would you expect newbies or people with kids on board to use them, not likely.

realALBERTAN

mtfu... NICE...

NB - When you have ridden in -25 or run in -40 we can discus cold tolerance. I did a 22 km run in -38 weather (before the windchill calculation) in early 2005 in Regina...


The city here does do some path clearing but the ones I use are not on the list. They are taken care of by parks & recreation dept., not the roads dept. so this sounds like you are experiencing a similar problem... the path system is viewed as recreation and not transport.

beverick

realALBERTAN wrote:

grit = road salt? gravel or sand???

Road salt is useless below -10...

It's a while since I looked at salt spreading but the calculations for spreading in the UK used to be based on a minimum temperature of -5C which required a rate of 20gm pm2. For lying snow and below -5C the spreading rate is increased up to a maximum of 40gm pm2). 40gmpm2) takes you to -9C.

Salt won't thaw existing ice reliably from -9.xC but, depending on the level of salinity, salt water won't freeze until about -15 or -16C when the salt crystals begin to separate from the water. Below about -20C the water freezes around the salt crystals.

Bob

realALBERTAN

Bob,

you bring up the "technical answer" of -15 or so and the practical one of -9. Yes a saline solution won't freeze until -15/16 but that's different than getting crystals to get ice melting at the same temperature especially when you factor in traffic pushing it to the curb before it becomes effective. Maybe I should have said that it becomes impractical at said temperature. This is why you see rusty vehicles in Eastern Canada and the U as they tend to get larger volumes of snow with warmer average temperatures. It can snow when it gets really cold but the largest volume is usually in the 0 to -15 range.