Tangled Metal wrote:Off topic but that snowy winter we had, 2011 IIRC, we had the pleasure of having to drive through the lakes in deep snow. An hour and a half journey took well over 3 hours possibly 4-5 hours. The interesting thing was to drive up deep snow covered hills past abandoned 4x4s with all the gear needed for winter driving. I was in a 1.7 litre turbo diesel Astra.
This trip home was fun not least because of how surprisingly easy if stressful it was. It was very much clear that the biggest factor in driving in.those conditions was the skills of the driver.
Yes, definitely. And as you say, quite clearly the same is true for cycling; possibly to an even greater extent, especially off road.
There is no way those 4x4s with all season off road tyres should have got stuck when my car got through.
Except they probably weren't on all season tyres. Most cars in the UK are sold with summer tyres, which we use all year because there's not normally enough of a winter to justify changing, except in places like the Scottish Highlands. A friend with a LR Discovery visited Eastern Europe in the winter, hired a Renault Clio and found that it, with winter (snow and ice) tyres, got through snow drifts his Disco would not; difference was the tyres.
Back on topic I would compare the above with touring. An experienced, adventure tourer could ride a wider.variety of steeds than a novice or less experienced tourer. One guy broke the round the world record years ago now on what is now called an adventure bike. Another guy more recently set off on a skinny tyred road bike to do something similar. I however would want a modern tourer, whatever that is, and would probably spec it out with better wheels, etc. Likely I'd buy from a specialist tourer shop, Ghyllside cycles spring to mind. Which would likely mean long haul or disc trucker. Possibly a surly 26" wheel I don't know. Gear can help with a certain amount of inexperience but ultimately I feel experience is more important.
Yes, experience and ability get you through more than gear. See also those tests where experienced mountain bikers on BSOs with gas pipe frames and side pull brakes outride newbies on carbon full-sussers with discs.