Snow?

itboffin

rjsterry wrote:

itboffin wrote:

True but that was at 6am it continued all day, in fact its still mostly covered this morning.

Very odd. Too warm for a baselayer in S London this morning.

Erm which London were you in? not the same one as me that's for sure.

rjsterry

itboffin wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

itboffin wrote:

True but that was at 6am it continued all day, in fact its still mostly covered this morning.

Very odd. Too warm for a baselayer in S London this morning.

Erm which London were you in? not the same one as me that's for sure.

Heh. A quick check says it's still a balmy 5 degrees. Bit damp, mind.

bompington

Well, it's been snowing steadily here for 24 hours and it's up to about 6" or so... this would have to be the day when I'm committed to riding both ways :shock:
Glad that I didn't swap the studs, something I've been on the verge of doing for about 5 weeks now.

meanredspider

bompington wrote:

Well, it's been snowing steadily here for 24 hours and it's up to about 6" or so... this would have to be the day when I'm committed to riding both ways :shock:
Glad that I didn't swap the studs, something I've been on the verge of doing for about 5 weeks now.

Quite a bit here too 4-5" I guess. Too deep to cycle on unclear roads as it stands. Fortunately no plans to cycle and the winter tyres are still on the cars.

suzyb

We've also had quite a bit of snow fall overnight. And I've been woken up early by some of it falling from my window

bompington

Well, 6" was an exaggeration... in my defence I would point out that it was drifted deeper than that outside the window I peeked out of before posting that.
More like 4", but definitely 6" up the hill and drifting much deeper in places.
Strangely, the unclassified roads that make up the first half of my commute had all been cleared to at least some extent, you see lots of tractors with ploughs (and sometimes gritters too) out and about on the back roads. This included the big hill which was the best cleared of the lot, it looked like it had been ploughed clean about an hour or two before, i.e. probably some time before 5am!
Strangely, the "main" road (B road from Abernyte to Balbeggie) was by far the worst, not cleared at all. The 6" deep fresh stuff was fine but the rutted tyre tracks were really nasty, constantly pushing the front wheel off course. Thankfully the Nokians did their job and I managed to catch all the sideswipes, some of them only after very scary sideways-on skids though.

The worst part by far was the main A94, clear strips but repeatedly soaked by slush thrown up by overtaking cars. Credit to those (actually just about the majority) who moved right out to pass, no credit to those that moved out just far enough to put their nearside wheels right into the slush next to me, and as for the oldster who clearly didn't dare cross onto the slush at all and passed me with 6" (no exaggeration) to spare...

suzyb

Got to work 10 minutes late despite leaving the house 25 minutes earlier than normal. And when I do get here, yet again there is barely a snowflake. wtf is it with the Falkirk area that makes the snow miss it out :evil:

mudcow007

no snow here yesterday or today, but had to drive oop north to coatbridge (Scotland for you un-educated types) yesterday

say 2 crashes, a truck that had jack knifed into a field that was pointing towards traffic & a van on its side in the middle of the M6 just outside shap

not nice

bushu

moar snow... drifting across quite fast cba puttin the winter marathons back on but the ESS goggles are coming out

stings like fuckery on my face when riding head on into it, maybe waterproofs over them biemme bibtights today

mudcow007

well that was fun

i dont think i have ever done a power slide on my bike before - i wish i could say it was intentional....

MisterMuncher

Commute home at midnight last night was a laugh. Whatever was falling lay like snow but stung like hail, and regardless of my direction, seemed to always blow in at about 45 degrees to the right side of my face. Going uphill much of the way, on progressively less major and less used roads, by the time I got onto my own street, I was cutting fresh tracks in 3 inches of very powdery snow.

At least my overshoes didn't get damaged, sitting safely in the house.

Big_Paul

Woke up this morning to find the street like Narnia, remembered that I had take the Marathon Winters off my cx rims, so decided to give the MTB a try with knobblies on, was ok coming in, but it's still snowing and it's freezing the compacted snow into ice, so I had best get busy with the tyre levers tonight. :roll:

itboffin

More snow here, bored with this now :x

EKE_38BPM

I really do not understand parents who think it is OK to send their child to school for cycle training when the temperature is just above freezing and snow is falling at 45 degrees because of the gusty wind wearing just a polo shirt, sweater, thin trousers, those stupid ballet pumps and a thin jacket. No gloves!

I wear 4 or 5 layers on top and two pairs of trousers, gloves with liners and a hat and I'm still chilly. The kids rapidly go from excited to be out of class and riding bikes to freezing cold and desperate to go inside to warm up. Its no fun for them and they don't learn as well.

What are the parents thinking?

rjsterry

EKE_38BPM wrote:

I really do not understand parents who think it is OK to send their child to school for cycle training when the temperature is just above freezing and snow is falling at 45 degrees because of the gusty wind wearing just a polo shirt, sweater, thin trousers, those stupid ballet pumps and a thin jacket. No gloves!

I wear 4 or 5 layers on top and two pairs of trousers, gloves with liners and a hat and I'm still chilly. The kids rapidly go from excited to be out of class and riding bikes to freezing cold and desperate to go inside to warm up. Its no fun for them and they don't learn as well.

What are the parents thinking?

A trip to somewhere cheap to get together a few sets of cold weather gear? Obviously, you shouldn't have to, but some will genuinely not be able to send them in anything else. 3 or 4 pairs of children's gloves + a couple of fleeces from George at Asda or similar can't cost that much and would help everyone join in.

jimmypippa

Not getting through this very quickly

ThatBikeGuy

Time to invest in a snow plow?

EKE_38BPM

rjsterry wrote:

EKE_38BPM wrote:

I really do not understand parents who think it is OK to send their child to school for cycle training when the temperature is just above freezing and snow is falling at 45 degrees because of the gusty wind wearing just a polo shirt, sweater, thin trousers, those stupid ballet pumps and a thin jacket. No gloves!

I wear 4 or 5 layers on top and two pairs of trousers, gloves with liners and a hat and I'm still chilly. The kids rapidly go from excited to be out of class and riding bikes to freezing cold and desperate to go inside to warm up. Its no fun for them and they don't learn as well.

What are the parents thinking?

A trip to somewhere cheap to get together a few sets of cold weather gear? Obviously, you shouldn't have to, but some will genuinely not be able to send them in anything else. 3 or 4 pairs of children's gloves + a couple of fleeces from George at Asda or similar can't cost that much and would help everyone join in.

I was thinking the same thing, but this is a school where Oxbridge is a real aspiration, the kids are picked up by their yummy dummy mummys in Chelsea tractors, ski trips are the norm and the Sunday Times lists it as one of the top 20 state schools in the country. Lack of money is not the problem, its just bad parenting.

daviesee

jimmypippa wrote:

Not getting through this very quickly...

I was faced with similar driving home on Friday.
With 4WD and winter tyres I was doing well and enjoying it up until that point.
Discretion was the better part of valour. U-Turn. 8)
Sometimes you just have to concede that nature is more powerful than mankind.

jimmypippa

daviesee wrote:

jimmypippa wrote:

Not getting through this very quickly...

I was faced with similar driving home on Friday.
With 4WD and winter tyres I was doing well and enjoying it up until that point.
Discretion was the better part of valour. U-Turn. 8)
Sometimes you just have to concede that nature is more powerful than mankind.

I have cycled up there before now - it is Beet Lane - and this is what google streetview shows of the same place as my photo - spot the difference

http://goo.gl/maps/g79Ih

I don't think we'll be getting our Wednesday delivery of eggs and meat from the farm about half a mile further up the hill. I was walking today, but the weather was silly as the gusts were pretty strong too.

rjsterry

EKE_38BPM wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

EKE_38BPM wrote:

I really do not understand parents who think it is OK to send their child to school for cycle training when the temperature is just above freezing and snow is falling at 45 degrees because of the gusty wind wearing just a polo shirt, sweater, thin trousers, those stupid ballet pumps and a thin jacket. No gloves!

I wear 4 or 5 layers on top and two pairs of trousers, gloves with liners and a hat and I'm still chilly. The kids rapidly go from excited to be out of class and riding bikes to freezing cold and desperate to go inside to warm up. Its no fun for them and they don't learn as well.

What are the parents thinking?

A trip to somewhere cheap to get together a few sets of cold weather gear? Obviously, you shouldn't have to, but some will genuinely not be able to send them in anything else. 3 or 4 pairs of children's gloves + a couple of fleeces from George at Asda or similar can't cost that much and would help everyone join in.

I was thinking the same thing, but this is a school where Oxbridge is a real aspiration, the kids are picked up by their yummy dummy mummys in Chelsea tractors, ski trips are the norm and the Sunday Times lists it as one of the top 20 state schools in the country. Lack of money is not the problem, its just bad parenting.

Pretty sure most schools now use the ParentMail system to keep parents up to speed. Maybe a polite email to start with, and also see if the school has some spare clothing in a cupboard somewhere.

EKE_38BPM

rjsterry wrote:

EKE_38BPM wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

EKE_38BPM wrote:

I really do not understand parents who think it is OK to send their child to school for cycle training when the temperature is just above freezing and snow is falling at 45 degrees because of the gusty wind wearing just a polo shirt, sweater, thin trousers, those stupid ballet pumps and a thin jacket. No gloves!

I wear 4 or 5 layers on top and two pairs of trousers, gloves with liners and a hat and I'm still chilly. The kids rapidly go from excited to be out of class and riding bikes to freezing cold and desperate to go inside to warm up. Its no fun for them and they don't learn as well.

What are the parents thinking?

A trip to somewhere cheap to get together a few sets of cold weather gear? Obviously, you shouldn't have to, but some will genuinely not be able to send them in anything else. 3 or 4 pairs of children's gloves + a couple of fleeces from George at Asda or similar can't cost that much and would help everyone join in.

I was thinking the same thing, but this is a school where Oxbridge is a real aspiration, the kids are picked up by their yummy dummy mummys in Chelsea tractors, ski trips are the norm and the Sunday Times lists it as one of the top 20 state schools in the country. Lack of money is not the problem, its just bad parenting.

Pretty sure most schools now use the ParentMail system to keep parents up to speed. Maybe a polite email to start with, and also see if the school has some spare clothing in a cupboard somewhere.

I'm back there next week to see the same trainees and the weather will be similar.
I kept on saying to the group "Lesson 1 of cycling: All dress appropriately for the weather" so, hopefully, they will all be warm next time.


Or nice and cool. This date last year it was 20 degrees and I was wandering around Whipsnade in a t-shirt. Ahh, the memories.

Kieran_Burns

I'm not able to get out in the snow at the moment, but a mate took some good photos:









This is around Mercaston near Derby.

byke68

Snow, what snow? No snow on Tyneside (yet)!

Kieran_Burns

Fook me.

Remember the 106 miler I did last week?

This is the scene next to where we cycled past this week:



The A515 just North of Fenny Bentley.

EKE_38BPM

I agree KB, this weather is ridiculous. It has been snowing on and off for at least three days here in London and in places it is almost 5mm deep!
It took MrsEKE almost THIRTY SECONDS to clear the windscreen of the car this morning.

menthel

EKE_38BPM wrote:

I agree KB, this weather is ridiculous. It has been snowing on and off for at least three days here in London and in places it is almost 5mm deep!
It took MrsEKE almost THIRTY SECONDS to clear the windscreen of the car this morning.

That is nothing, down here in sarf london, 2 or 3 flakes settled on a leaf in the garden! The panic is widespread and all of the trains have been cancelled. Luckily it's Easter anyway otherwise the schools would be shut too.

veronese68

I think I saw some snow as I rode through the frozen tundra of Bushy Park.
EKE, I think RJS is right about most schools having Parentmail or similar and the school should notify the parents officially that children will not be allowed to do the course if they are not approriately dressed. Unfortunately as we see all too often whilst some people are too stupid to be allowed to breed, they still do.

EKE_38BPM

Veronese68 wrote:

I think I saw some snow as I rode through the frozen tundra of Bushy Park.
EKE, I think RJS is right about most schools having Parentmail or similar and the school should notify the parents officially that children will not be allowed to do the course if they are not approriately dressed. Unfortunately as we see all too often whilst some people are too stupid to be allowed to breed, they still do.

I think all of the trainees will have learned that lesson very well indeed. I'll see tomorrow.

jimmypippa

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Fook me.

Remember the 106 miler I did last week?

This is the scene next to where we cycled past this week:



The A515 just North of Fenny Bentley.

http://buxtonweather.co.uk/
An amusing collection of photos from near me (good for peak district road reports too although some of them can be paraphrased as "I stupidly tried to drive along an exposed hilltop road and got stuck" )