winter riding

vincesummerskRoxcBTr

Now I don't commute I have turned into a fair(ish - can't be too picky in Scotland! ) weather cyclist, tend not to go out if wet or icy, that is what Zwift is for! Still enjoy a winter cycle on the better days, bike always gets filthy as the back roads are always a bit mucky round here.

katani

mrb123 said:

I was always happy riding on unlit country roads as felt pretty visible to the few cars I'd see.
Getting out of town always felt a bit dodgy though. I nearly got mown down a couple of times at a particular roundabout where drivers seemed to struggle to see me despite me having decent lights.

I feel pretty visible on unlit country roads too quite because most drivers going in the other direction deliberately keep the full beam on when they realise it is a cyclist in front of them. Pr*cks.

pep.fermi

katani said:

I feel pretty visible on unlit country roads too quite because most drivers going in the other direction deliberately keep the full beam on when they realise it is a cyclist in front of them. Pr*cks.

Wait a sec, but don't collisions between a driver and a cyclist generally occur when the car comes from behind, or from the side? I don't think cars coming from the other side matter much really....

MidlandsGrimpeur2

Full beam from a car driver approaching will dazzle/blind you and could cause a cyclist to crash. I believe this is what Katani was referring to, not the likelihood of the driving hitting the cyclist.

pep.fermi

MidlandsGrimpeur2 said:

Full beam from a car driver approaching will dazzle/blind you and could cause a cyclist to crash. I believe this is what Katani was referring to, not the likelihood of the driving hitting the cyclist.

OK, thanks, this makes more sense.

paulbnix

I haven't been out riding at night for a couple of years but when I did I found that most car driver did dip their headlights albeit a bit late sometimes.
The worst blinding I had was from another cyclist with a very powerful front light. I met him on a small country road and had to stop until I could see again. I did shout at him.

super_davo

MidlandsGrimpeur2 said:

I think the amount you ride also impacts winter riding. If you are someone like me that does 15 hours per week on the bike, then indoor training is not really an option (unless you have a high boredom tolerance).

Personally, I love riding in winter. There is something about riding on cold clear day when the sun is setting and the roads are quiet that does have a very tranquil quality (this is about as close to feeling 'zen' as you will ever see me get ). I get the posts about washing bikes, kit etc. but that doesn't bother me. The only slight faff is getting ready takes far longer than just throwing on a jersey and bibs in summer.

I get exactly what you're saying and that's why both have their place.

If you've got 3+ hours in the morning / day time then outdoors is going to be the way to go, unless there are biblical weather conditions. If you've got less than an hour and a half to spare or no free time till after work that's where turbo comes in.

For me there are many days where I only have time before light or after dark or simply not very much time, so using the turbo is the difference between doing something on a particular day and doing nothing. I do 10-15 hours a week, but there is no way I could clock that up without a turbo to ride at times I couldn't otherwise.

katani

paulbnix said:

I haven't been out riding at night for a couple of years but when I did I found that most car driver did dip their headlights albeit a bit late sometimes.
The worst blinding I had was from another cyclist with a very powerful front light. I met him on a small country road and had to stop until I could see again. I did shout at him.

Some do dip, yes, usually when there is a car behind me though. But this year it seems to be much more frequent than in the previous years and I am wondering why.
Yesterday night the roads were very quiet, but on Friday lots were doing it again so I flipped the finger quite a few times too.
I have only got a small £4.99 decathlon light on the front which is some 150 lumens precisely to not blind others, but is still enough visible to cars, so that can't be the reason. I can ride at night even with no front light switched on on those unlit roads as it is never proper pitch dark.

By the way, I was riding in my summer kit last night. 13 deg C still at 7 pm. I wouldn't mind if it remained this mild for the rest of the winter.

ugo.santalucia

I have been inspired by this thread
https://www.strava.com/activities/10244750151

katani

ugo.santalucia said:

I have been inspired by this thread
https://www.strava.com/activities/10244750151

Perfect weather for riding last night too. Cold, but not frost-bity cold, and dry.
https://www.strava.com/activities/10258930065

The reality for the next 4 months

katani

pep.fermi said:

katani said:

I feel pretty visible on unlit country roads too quite because most drivers going in the other direction deliberately keep the full beam on when they realise it is a cyclist in front of them. Pr*cks.

Wait a sec, but don't collisions between a driver and a cyclist generally occur when the car comes from behind, or from the side? I don't think cars coming from the other side matter much really....

Rural roads in the UK can often be very narrow. So narrow two cars can't get past each other and one has to reverse until there is a passing bay or wide enough. They will also often have tall hedges on both sides, through turns too. And a national speed limit which for that type of road is 50mph/ 85km/h.
Town streets are mostly 2 lanes, but, unlike in Germany, lots of people here live in terraced houses, meaning they have no parking space and just park their car(s) outside their property on one of the lanes leaving the other one for two-directional traffic.
And if you happen to be cycling in the lane with right of way, some drivers will honour this, some will not and proceed straight at you hoping to scare you and get out the way.

So yes, frontal collisions could very much be a hazard here, but you learn how to ride safely in those conditions if you do it often too.

I am ok with the darkness and poor weather though. It is the reckless disrespectful driving that I fear most. Yesterday, almost got side hit by a car in the town again. Flashing lights on the bike front and back, highlighter yellow jacket, white colour helmet and shoes, street lamps everywhere so almost daylight bright, but he still couldn't see me. Apologised later with hazard lights, but I would rather they watch the road ahead instead.

webboo

Actually it is 60 mph speed limit on those rural roads in the UK. There is no way you could ride on unlit rural road in the UK without a powerful front light due to the poor standard of the roads. It can be nightmare in daylight negotiating the potholes.

oneoff

Thanks for your contributions everyone. More pictures of your winter bikes against a winter background please.

Best wishes,

pblakeney

oneoff said:

Thanks for your contributions everyone. More pictures of your winter bikes against a winter background please.

Best wishes,

davebradswmb

When I was a youth I commuted along rural lanes. I started off with one of those Ever Ready steel cased lamps which barely lit the road and would flicker on and off over rough surfaces. Oncoming drivers never dipped, probably because they couldn't see me! I was going through batteries at an unsustainable rate so I got myself a bottle dynamo with a halogen front light. Suddenly I could see the road, and most drivers would dip their lights.

Nowadays it is easy, get a front lamp with at least 600 lumens and you can see the road, 800 lumens and you can ride quite fast. Most drivers dip, unless they are *rses, and you can always angle your light into their face to remind them, your light is just as blinding as theirs is.

mrb123

vincesummerskRoxcBTr

webboo said:

Actually it is 60 mph speed limit on those rural roads in the UK. There is no way you could ride on unlit rural road in the UK without a powerful front light due to the poor standard of the roads. It can be nightmare in daylight negotiating the potholes.

Exactly

You would also not be able to see the edges of the road and bends ahead - all night riding here is pretty much unlit roads and.modern bright front lights make riding enjoyable at night.
Most drivers will dip their lights when they see you and it is sensible to make sure you aren't blinding them either.

katani

webboo said:

Actually it is 60 mph speed limit on those rural roads in the UK. There is no way you could ride on unlit rural road in the UK without a powerful front light due to the poor standard of the roads. It can be nightmare in daylight negotiating the potholes.

I thought I was taught it was 50 for single carriageways, 60 for dual and 70 for motorways, unless the signage says differently, when I was doing a driving licence course in 2009, but that's not correct apparently. Not that it makes any difference to a cyclist what speed the car was doing when they got hit. Everybody, except learner drivers, goes 30(ish) in 20 zones, and that's already lethal.

Roads in and around Warrington, especially southward, are actually in a pretty good state compared to what I have seen elsewhere or when I was commuting into Manchester. On my usual 60-70 mile evening ride, there's maybe a couple of places where there are pot holes that can do some damage, but I have been to every of those places a million and one times and know exactly where each pot hole is and just navigate past on autopilot.

Biggest issue for me riding outdoor in winter though is the low temperatures as anything below 8 deg C and my hands go numb 30 mins. in unless I am wearing heated gloves, which I hate to do because they are bulky and the wiring makes them quite rigid. And having to repair a puncture when it gets very cold and I am sweaty and dehydrated mid-ride 20 miles from home can end up really badly, so in those conditions, I don't go far out, but just stay close to town.

webboo

I don’t know when you were last in the UK Katani but these days potholes literally appear between rides. I think you would struggle to go on a rural ride and say you had ridden on roads that were in good repair.

katani

webboo said:

I don’t know when you were last in the UK Katani but these days potholes literally appear between rides. I think you would struggle to go on a rural ride and say you had ridden on roads that were in good repair.

I have been here non-stop for the past 18 years. Like I wrote, I think we are quite lucky here in Warrington area being a bit of an exception from the usual state of affairs with the quality of asphalts pretty much everywhere being really good and quite a few potholes have been recently re-surfaced too. I really can't complain.
Actually, quite a few roads have recently been entirely resurfaced in the town. No idea why though as there didn't seem to be anything wrong with them.

Tonight's ride was delightful. 4 deg C, dry, quiet traffic, most cars behaved, bike and myself clean on return home. I like riding under a fool moon too. Heated gloves on, so hands were happy too. Happy days.

webboo

Down to 0 degrees at 7:30 this morning and now only hovering at one degree but nice and bright. As usual this leaves me hesitating whether it’s worth chancing going out given I would be riding on un gritted roads.
It might be a case leave it till lunch time and just go out for a couple of hours.

pblakeney

webboo said:

Down to 0 degrees at 7:30 this morning and now only hovering at one degree but nice and bright. As usual this leaves me hesitating whether it’s worth chancing going out given I would be riding on un gritted roads.
It might be a case leave it till lunch time and just go out for a couple of hours.

I chose to do a virtual Alpe d'Huez instead.
Too much white stuff in shaded areas for my liking.

Dorset_Boy

-4 overnight, no more than 4 degrees all morning, by 126 kms on predominantly dry roads, but 4 or 5 icy areas to be aware of, and none for more than a couple of metres.

pangolin

Pretty dry all week which helps. Had a good ride but it took about 20 minutes for my toes to stop tingling after they warmed up.

davebradswmb

Yesterday I went on a ride with a slower group than I would usually ride with. The temperature was pretty much 3°C for the whole ride. I was wearing my usual amount of kit for this kind of weather but felt a little chilly as I wasn't working as hard as I normally would be. There were a couple of spells of light rain which was really unpleasantly cold on the exposed skin on my face. My extremities stayed comfortable thoughout, I'm loving the Hestra Infinium gloves that I bought last year and the combination of merino socks, MTB shoes and neoprene overshoes worked well.

feelgoodlost

-5 on Saturday afternoon down in Lancashire. Pretty hardened to the cold and wearing Spatz clobber makes a huge difference. Aside from their overshoes, the balaclava/snood is a bit of a gamechanger too. I'm not sure I could have sustained more than a couple of hours in those temps though. Looks to be more of the same this week too...

veronese68

A couple of thoughts on the above from my urban commute with a large park thrown in. Regarding idiots not dipping their lights, could it be the lazy phuckers leaving their lights on auto-dip and the car is slow to react or not noticing a bicycle? I'm sure a good proportion are just merchant bankers.
Is a Wahoo's temperature reading more accurate than a Garmin? I remember the consensus seems to be that Garmin read 3-4 degrees lower than reality.
I just ordered a large STVZO compliant light, riding through the park the problem I have is that the Exposure Strada I have just spits out a cone of light, this means I have to point it downwards quite a lot to avoid blinding people riding the opposite direction, this makes the deer very hard to spot. I'm hoping the new light will help.
No pictures until the park is properly frosty, much prettier then.

davebradswmb

My Bolt V1 measured 2 degrees below actual. I was looking forward to not having to do the mental calculation when I got my new Bolt V2 a couple of weeks ago but sadly it also reads 2 degrees below actual. Ho hum.

0°C on the display this morning, not quite cold enough to worry about ice, I'll be getting the studded tyres onto the gravel bike tonight ready for tomorrow's commute, and I'll have to remember to get out of bed 10 minutes earlier tomorrow morning to make up for the extra drag. Or else it'll be sticking to the main roads.

paulbnix

My Bolt V1 was more accurate than the V2 I have now.
The V1 agreed with my mates Garmin and with the forecast.
The V2 is 2 or 3 degrees too low.

davebradswmb

It's annoying. The component measuring the temperature is obviously accurate enough, it just hasn't been calibrated correctly. It would be nice if they allowed you to modify a parameter to correct the calibration.