Leisure rides on icy days

[RideToWorky]

Frost/ ice - 1st thing in morning exercise - road bike ride - safe?!

Only time seem to get time to ride road bike for exercise is At weekend is 1st thing, before rigours of day....

Friday:
Gosh, ice on car windscreens, icy roads again this morning.
Checked side road, inner car tread - area of road. Nearest the kerb - slippy!


Weekend:
Main roads are quiet then, so can take road bikes on them.
However, 25mm summer tyres, road bike, Are they safe in these kind of conditions?
I've seen people on road bikes commuting into work this morning, but that is in town, and not out in the styx where I would do my weekend exercise road bike rides!


Hope you can advise

Martin

<Moderator note: There is a similar topic related to commuting viewtopic.php?f=7&t=102889 The two topics are differentiated by
separate subjects/scenarios:
1) commuting vs social riding
2) Road bike vs Commuter bike>

[on6702]

Good question Martin and one that I was also just about to post.

Have to say that frozen puddles instantly scare me off the bike - I just don't feel safe / confident riding in those conditions. I simply perceive the risk as being too high.

The other climatic condition that keeps me off the bike is fog.

Oliver

[whoof]

This is sort of covered by a post in the same section which itself has links to previous posts on the same question.

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=102889

[Vantage]

Some roads might be iced. Some might not. There's no way of knowing really imo.
The side roads ime are more likely to he slippy.
I personally can think of 2 options...
1: Take the bike out and be careful. However, even a 5mph corner can have you on your derriere if the tyres slip. Lowering your tyre pressure might help.
2: Get rid of the go faster race bike and get something that'll take wider (35c +) tyres and that way you can fit spiked winter tyres. Hydride, tourers, commuters, cyclocrossers and mountain bikes spring to mind.
There are winter tyres with a much softer rubber compound out there that might fit your bike but tbh I'm not convinced they'd make any difference on black ice.

[pwa]

I commuted to work by bike for about 20 years, including through the winter, and in frosty weather I stuck to gritted roads. If you don't you will, at some point, end up on your buttock on the road. And it hurts.

Others will tell you about special studded tyres, of which I have no experience. I never bothered with them because they only come in wider sizes that would require me to re-fit my muguards.

[mjr]

I commuted to work by bike for about 20 years, including through the winter, and in frosty weather I stuck to gritted roads. If you don't you will, at some point, end up on your <i>[rude word removed]</i> on the road. And it hurts.

My last ice crash was on a treated road. The buses hadn't started running yet and I think there just hadn't been enough traffic to work the salt in and melt the ice. I bought studded tyres after that. They run slower than molasses in January but resolutely keep gripping in everything we've had so far.

[Vorpal]

I used to go out when the puddles were iced over and things. I did so successfully for years, sticking to gritted roads. Even commuting on properly icy days, and sticking to A roads. I slipped a couple of times on cycle tracks or dropped kerbs, and avoided them after that on frosty days.

A few years ago, though, I went out for a Sunday ride on a day that I knew would be icy. I had the kids in the trailer (the trailer made the bike more stable), and headed for a cafe a few miles away. The roads had been gritted, and all was fine, until I came to a place where the road was closed. I knew the bridge was out, but there was a footbridge in its place, and I had planned to walk that section.

I thought, 'I'm coming to the bit where the road won't have been gritted, I'd better walk from here'. I put the brakes on, and found that I was already on ice. Of course I went over, and put a hole in my tights, and the kids thought it was funny.

I was fine, except for a strawberry on my knee and a few bruises. Ever since then, I don't ride my bike with summer tyres if there is a significant chance of ice on my route. I use winter tyres.

[pwa]

I commuted to work by bike for about 20 years, including through the winter, and in frosty weather I stuck to gritted roads. If you don't you will, at some point, end up on your <i>[rude word removed]</i> on the road. And it hurts.

Others will tell you about special studded tyres, of which I have no experience. I never bothered with them because they only come in wider sizes that would require me to re-fit my muguards.

I am amused that my "rude word" was removed. It is one of the most commonly used inoffensive terms, sounding rather like an animal similar to a donkey, and I had no idea it might still bother some people. Would the word "bottom" be less "rude", and if so, why?

[Si]

Automated swear filter for you. Comes preloaded with a library that the makers believe to be rude, whilst missing out some that we might think are lot worse.

Of course, someone could go to the trouble of going through it and updating it all, but that would be a pain in the donkey.

[Si]

I used to go out when the puddles were iced over and things.

I seem to remember that when I was young I went out in all sorts of ice. Ice these days seems much more slippery and harder.

Although...at the hospital the other day and say a club mate who informed me that last winter they thought it too icy to ride so went for a walk, tripped over and broke their arm! If it's going to happen, it's going to happen

[[XAP]Bob]

I commuted to work by bike for about 20 years, including through the winter, and in frosty weather I stuck to gritted roads. If you don't you will, at some point, end up on your <i>[rude word removed]</i> on the road. And it hurts.

Others will tell you about special studded tyres, of which I have no experience. I never bothered with them because they only come in wider sizes that would require me to re-fit my muguards.

I am amused that my "rude word" was removed. It is one of the most commonly used inoffensive terms, sounding rather like an animal similar to a donkey, and I had no idea it might still bother some people. Would the word "bottom" be less "rude", and if so, why?

It is in the US...
And English is unfortunately being replaced by US-ian ;(

[661-Pete]

The word complained of, is the English version, which is less donkeylike. Back in 1947, a British movie called The Guinea Pig nearly got banned for being the first to use that word, but times have moved on I think.

There's no hard and fast rule on avoiding ice - you just have to keep your eyes skinned and your six senses aware. But in heavy traffic there's very unlikely to be a problem on the roadway itself. You can usually see that the road has been gritted: covered in black sludge thrown up by car tyres.

[Vorpal]

I strongly recommend purchasing and reading Cyclecraft. Although, I don't think my version says anything about winter tyres, they may be included in more recent editions.

Cyclecraft has something to say about most things that you will commonly have to deal with cycling, including icy days, and offers strategies to deal with most hazards.

Bikeability courses are based on the information in that book.

[RideToWorky]

I strongly recommend purchasing and reading Cyclecraft. Although, I don't think my version says anything about winter tyres, they may be included in more recent editions.

Cyclecraft has something to say about most things that you will commonly have to deal with cycling, including icy days, and offers strategies to deal with most hazards.

Bikeability courses are based on the information in that book.

Just asking on the off chance someone knows...

is that book any good on a Kindle? Or are the road diagrams all missing etc?!


Regards
Martin

[mjr]

is that book any good on a Kindle? Or are the road diagrams all missing etc?!

I don't know. The paper edition is cheaper, which is just bizarre, plus most county libraries have a copy if you just want to look something up.

While some of its survival strategies are worth knowing, they're documented elsewhere and I can't honestly recommend Cyclecraft itself to people because some of the opinions in it are rather extreme, old-fashioned and unhelpful.