What weather will you guys NOT ride in?

rick_chasey

Headhuunter wrote:

In London, there's no prob riding in all weathers. If it's snowy and icy, I have to walk the bike to the main road as residential roads are not gritted and to slippery, but once you're on gritted London roads, there's so much traffic the snow and ice stands no chance. The roads are just wet. I've had to miss out on club rides in Kent though, once you get out on those rural roads it gets a bit dicier so I tend to give it a miss...

Pretty much.

will3

All weathers and it's 20 miles each way half of which is through pitch black ungritted lanes, which in the snow is fun

coupla notes:
1) black ice: If the road looks wet and it's freezing cold, it's probaby black ice. Go carefully, remain seated, stay nearer the centre of the lane where the road is less worn and rougher as you'll get more grip
2) I keep an old mountain bike with super knobbly tyres specifically for commuting in the snow/packed snow.
3) Your car may end up in a ditch on ice/ snow, but a bike will always get through, even if you have to carry it.

EKE_38BPM

Temperatures lower than 10 or higher than 20 degrees C.
Any rain above a very light drizzle.
Windspeeds greater than 5mph.
Snow or ice.

I even get off the turbo if the humidity gets too high.

wgwarburton

will3 wrote:

3) Your car may end up in a ditch on ice/ snow, but a bike will always get through, even if you have to carry it.

+1

With a bike you don't get stranded. They stop running trains when the lines are blocked by trees or the carriages are iced up, cars and busses get caught in gridlocked traffic.

If the weather's so bad that there are travel advisories and it's better to work from home then I might well choose not to ride but I don't generally reckon there's a situation where it's "better" to drive or drive/train than to bike/train.

Cheers,
W.

ManiaMuse

Nuclear winter.

Anonymous

Lovely weather for ducks

Mikey23

@eke... My kind of cycling too...

kieranb

wind, cold and rain ok, fresh snow is ok, ice is the only thing that I won't do as I usually have the option of working from home. Prefer to do that than have an off on some bit of black ice in London traffic, 9 times out of 10 it will be ok, but those odds aren't good enough. A bit of pointless MTFU could cost you lots.

monkimark

The days when it snowed last year and most cars stayed off the road was some of the most enjoyable commuting I've done.
Got the MTB out, rode to work on backroads with crisp snow and barely anyone else out on car bike or even foot - had great fun sliding it about into the corners.

Initialised

If it's windy I have a sheltered route off the roads away from traffic.

If it's icy or snowy I have warm thick clothes and studded tyres.

If it's raining I get wet and take spare clothes.

If the Valley floods I'll find a way around.

Mikey23

Today's weather ...

Cygnus

Snow

itboffin

Mikey23 wrote:

Today's weather ...

Was utterly shite here today and yesterday, very glad to be off the bike at the moment

Ubber tapering :roll:

domgears

Heavy frequent lightening strikes

We don't get much snow or ice in Singapore but we did have a hail storm a few months ago, it was 34 oC at the time.

You would expect lightening to strike the nearest tall building, however I have been next to a very tall building with lightening conductors on top but the lightening still chose the metal fence next to the building, also next to me, certainly makes you hair stand on end.

Unfortunately, here if it's raining it will most likely be lightening, which means anything more than light rain I won't cycle (actually it's the wife that won't let me(cycle in rain))

The Rookie

Heavy rain in (no showers or changing area so it's a practical issue), very high winds (exposed country lanes with 50mph traffic and high winds is an interesting cocktail), ice I do (though the salt means almost daily chain lubing) and I'd do snow (not yet done so as other factors meant I was driving last year in the snow).

jedster

"Snow and/or ice. A frost isn't usually an issue, but until the snow's properly melted, I'd tend to prefer four wheels to two skinny untreaded ones."

Yeah, this really, although I confess that if its is absolutely stair-rodding it when I get up in the morning I may reach for the car keys. Bibilical rain on the way hom is just one of those things.

I have ridden in icy conditions and have offs as a result but I get REALLY GRUMPY when injuries keep me off the bike so I now don't see the point of riding on one icy day when it might cost me a month of cycling.

The Rookie

Go MTBing, learn to fall without hurting yourself!

Kieran_Burns

I've been out in winds strong enough to blow an Oak tree down, in snow deep enough to catch the pedals, rain hard enough to flood the road, a lightning storm that blew the roof off a barn (that was fun to watch), hail that HURT, and -8C temperatures

Done the lot. Which only goes to show I'm an idiot.

However - I do have this rule of three

Rain
Wind
Cold

Any 2 of the three and I'm happy. All 3 is the Devil's triangle and is just depressing. I'll do it if I have to but I'll grumble all the damn way.

Agent57

So far, I'll ride in anything.

Hail storms can hurt.

Ice means being very careful (I put on spikes if I can), so I tend to be a bit more choosy about it - probably wouldn't go for a recreational ride on ice. YouTube: Riding on ice in Lancaster. Snow's fun, and easy enough to ride on if it's not too deep. I find riding in gently falling snow incredibly serene.

Might concern myself with the weather if there was a typhoon or hurricane in effect, mind.

ChuckWoking

I'd put spiked tyres on my road bike but knowing that means I'll be on slippery roads with Surrey drivers, speeding as they do in their top heavy 4WD's, I'd rather give it a miss. 19 miles each way also makes it a bit far.

I save the spikes for the folding bike, lower centre of gravity with that and just cycle to the train station, only 2 miles away, ditto at the other end. Spikes are for the inevitable ice....if only I had a shield for myself though, riding with the spikes on, on an icy road, some of the local twats/teenagers thought it would be fun firing a slingshot at me, the stone passed so close I felt it's passing.

anthdci

Since I cant fit spiked tyres to my road bike then if there is ice on the road I'll not bother. Last year I came off 4 times trying to cycle on ice roads, learnt my lesson then!

Bordersroadie

We get regular enough ice here to justify ice spike tyres, and the ice bike gets plenty of use through winter. The thing is to err on the side of caution so it does plenty of miles on non-icy roads when maybe just our half-mile (non-gritted) farm road is iced up with the rest of the roads clear.

As someone said though, it's the north-facing shady camber that will get you when out on a normal road bike on a seemingly lovely crisp sunny day. Not worth the risk, I'd rather crunch along on my slow studded tyres and be safe - I had a stint in hospital a while back which made me decide on studs. If you have the budget/space/justification, it's a liberating experience riding on ice safely.

Very high winds have me taking a day off the bike, mind.

Gallywomack

Gallywomack wrote:

Light drizzle.

Completely soaked this morning - maybe there's something in this

Big_Paul

None so far, last winter I invested on some Marathon Winters that I keep on a spare set of wheels, I'm convinced they saved me a trip to A&E a few times, for the deepest snow I used the MTB I used to own on knobblies, it was surprising just how much grip there was. I do not like wind but rain I don't mind at all.

prawny

I always avoided, gusty wind, fog and snow. Most of my old route to work was exposed 50mph a roads so high chance of being blow into the path of a truck, rear ended or slid in to.

In the city. There wouldn't be much to stop me, it's the bit on the way in.

anthdci

this mornings 20mph head wind put me off thats for sure. No way was I doing 13 miles with that in my face the whole way! Though I regret it now since going home would have been fun.