Anyone Riding Tomorrow

fossyant

Rode in.

MTB with Snow Studs worked absolutely fine. Main roads were fine, but considering I did less than a mile during the whole commute on main roads. Rode on the Trans Pennine most of the way to work, so no sliding cars to worry about. More snow near home as it's higher up, less near work.

rolf_f

Oh well, that was interesting. Couldn't decide on MTB with Marathon Winters, MTB with knobblies or Tourer.

Went for Tourer on the basis that there was no obvious ice and the snow wasn't settling on the roads and the full mudguards on the tourer keep feet warmer. Probably none of the options would have been ideal!

So little traffic I decided to extend my commute along the high level A650. Unfortunately, that was gridlocked at the top probably due to the M62 so I had to head back into Leeds. Unfortunately, the snow was starting to settle on parts of the road - either full coverage or just in places as random bits of packed snow a cm or so thick. So that was really interesting riding - trying to avoid being pitched over by sudden lumps of snow on the tarmac. Got in with 13.4 miles done at an average speed of 11.8 mph! I'll be taking a more sensible route home

Kieran_Burns

Oh yeah - avg speed according to Endomondo = 9.6mph.

Oh wait, just checked.... 9.2mph :shock:

rolf_f

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Oh yeah - avg speed according to Endomondo = 9.6mph.

Oh wait, just checked.... 9.2mph :shock:

Pussy

MarkAshton

TheStone wrote:

I took the tube or misery. Seemed a lot people still riding, but I didn't notice anyone on normal road tyres.
Has anyone in London tried?

Rode on 23mm slicks. Pulled up along side a guy with studs... Commented that shouldn't those be used in snow? hehe, think it pi$$ed him off a little.

Why do people bother with going to all the effort of buying and fitting studded tyres for a central London commute. Surely for the 2, 3 days of year we actually have snow, just use main roads. I would imagine the studs on wet roads and no snow are actually worse for grip than road tyres?

Fireblade96

well, I made it on the MTB with Snow Studs, but even with them there were a couple of seriously dodgy bits. It's a mile from home to the main road, first part was OK but then I turned onto a road that was hard-packed, glassy ice. Even the Snow Studs failed to grip on that, so I got off and walked on the footpath which had more snow, so more grip.

Main roads all clear but dirty, tow path fine, but the footbridge I have to walk over was slippery as feck - shoe grip << tyre grip !

I'm probably more cautious than usual as I'm off snowboarding at the weekend, and I don't want to break myself *before* I go.

Kieran_Burns

Rolf F wrote:

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Oh yeah - avg speed according to Endomondo = 9.6mph.

Oh wait, just checked.... 9.2mph :shock:

Pussy

I know :oops: but in my defence I kept stopping to let cars by, plus I stopped a couple of times to lower the pressure in the tyres as well

asprilla

MarkAshton wrote:

TheStone wrote:

I took the tube or misery. Seemed a lot people still riding, but I didn't notice anyone on normal road tyres.
Has anyone in London tried?

Rode on 23mm slicks. Pulled up along side a guy with studs... Commented that shouldn't those be used in snow? hehe, think it pi$$ed him off a little.

Why do people bother with going to all the effort of buying and fitting studded tyres for a central London commute. Surely for the 2, 3 days of year we actually have snow, just use main roads. I would imagine the studs on wet roads and no snow are actually worse for grip than road tyres?

Not all of us who finish our commute in central London start our commutes in Central London. London only makes up the final third of my commute. Besides, having spikes on allows me to have a lot of fun in Richmond Park.

mudcow007

im thinking of making some snow chains for on the way home

reckon linked together paper clips will get me any more grip?

Kieran_Burns

mudcow007 wrote:

im thinking of making some snow chains for on the way home

reckon linked together paper clips will get me any more grip?

Oooh, you should be able to ride along at a fair clip...

UndercoverElephant

Kieran_Burns wrote:

mudcow007 wrote:

im thinking of making some snow chains for on the way home

reckon linked together paper clips will get me any more grip?

Oooh, you should be able to ride along at a fair clip...

If you have disk brakes, you can make nice snow tyres by wrapping zip ties around the rim and tyre.

Erm... they make you go zipping along.

Like so:

rubertoe

^^ Does that actually work? ^^

mudcow007

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Kieran_Burns wrote:

mudcow007 wrote:

im thinking of making some snow chains for on the way home

reckon linked together paper clips will get me any more grip?

Oooh, you should be able to ride along at a fair clip...

If you have disk brakes, you can make nice snow tyres by wrapping zip ties around the rim and tyre.

Erm... they make you go zipping along.

Like so:

nice, will red ones make me go faster?

yellow are so last season

TheStone

The weather's looking a lot better. I think I'll just take a couple of days off the bike.
http://uk.weather.com/weather/10day-London-UKXX0085

UndercoverElephant

rubertoe wrote:

^^ Does that actually work? ^^

I have no idea, really. Can't imagine it'd be much cop on ice, but I imagine that it'd be good for snow.

Kieran_Burns

pangolin

Snow is no issue really though. New snow is nice. Ice is the problem. Deadly, deadly, ice.

That or ice with snow on top.

bushu

similar to kb, set off but oncoming cars unable to steer themselves and myself being guided by the snow to every drain on the road..

redvee

No work on Friday when the first snow hit Brizzle but have ever since and been on 25c Gatorskins but taking the longer, flatter route to work which is snow free. Today with traffic shall be different though. Luckily for me I have time to swap tyres before work not needing to leave home till after 12 noon.

pangolin

UndercoverElephant wrote:

If you have disk brakes, you can make nice snow tyres by wrapping zip ties around the rim and tyre.

Erm... they make you go zipping along.

Like so:

Just hope he never gets a puncture...

bushu

Really really hard pushing through all the snow, note to self - let the kids sledge and hardpack everything before trying again..

mudcow007

rolf_f

TheStone wrote:

The weather's looking a lot better. I think I'll just take a couple of days off the bike.
http://uk.weather.com/weather/10day-London-UKXX0085

What good is knowing what the weather in London is of all places?!

Seriously though - ideally just stick with the Met Office site. It's the original source of all the worthwhile forecasts and more comprehensive. Either the site you linked uses Met Office in which case it is a bit superfluous or it uses other sources in which case it is pointless!

Ben6899

I'm not riding or running until temperatures come back above freezing - simply not worth it. I've bought a temporary pass for the gym at the end of the road so I can go for a run on the treadmill instead (can't stand stationary bikes).

vermin

17 miles this morning at 18mph average, on 23mm slicks. A bit of face-freeze from the snow but, other than that, what's all the fuss about? :P

Long_Time_Lurker

Made it in on my MTB. Got sprayed with slush by all of passing cars though, so my kit is soaked and a dirty grey colour.
Just hope it dries out before the return leg.

leeefm

Yep; southwest London totally clear on the main roads...

porlyworly

Just about made it in to work in one piece on my Genesis Equilibrium, evidence I definitely need to finish this cyclocross build sooner rather than later as the non main roads were almost impassible

wod1

5 miles here in Lincolnshire, No snow issues, road was busy enough to have black tyre lanes. stayed on the tyre tracks, It rained a bit last night then snowed later without being below zero so no real ice to worry about. Was horrible black wet slush.

Wrath Rob

9 miles on 25mm slicks for me. The only slightly sketchy bit was my road as despite it being a bus route they never seem to grit it properly. Hopefully it will syat nice and clear for the ride home.