Leisure rides on icy days

Commuting, Day rides, Audax, Incidents, etc.
jatindersangha
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Re: Leisure rides on icy days

Post by jatindersangha »

RideToWorky wrote: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


I've got this for the Kindle. All the pics etc are in there.

--Jatinder
Bicycler
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Re: Leisure rides on icy days

Post by Bicycler »

It's mostly good. You just need to be aware of where the author is indulging his own opinions a bit more than a neutral person might find helpful. Basically he doesn't think much of helmets or cycle facilities. He also advocates a fairly assertive style of cycling which may not be appropriate or feasible for all types, ages and abilities of cyclist. Its advice on road positioning is unlikely to win over non-cyclists who already think cycling in traffic is dangerous.

So it isn't the key to getting more people cycling but its advice on how to cycle on the road is sound and I would recommend it to cyclists for that reason.

It is published by The Stationery Office and is the recommended reading for the UK's National Standard cycle training, so it is the closest we have to an official guide to best cycling practice.
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gaz
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Re: Leisure rides on icy days

Post by gaz »

The time that I make my commute is set at 8am, give or take 15 minutes. I expect to put the studded tyres on this weekend as frosty mornings finally look set to arrive in the coming week.

For leisure rides I can choose to wait until an extra hour or two before I set off. If I think there might still be some ice about and I still want to get out I'll ride the commuter with its studded tyres.
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[XAP]Bob
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Re: Leisure rides on icy days

Post by [XAP]Bob »

mjr wrote:
RideToWorky wrote: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.

Paper books don't incur vat, Ebooks do...
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mjr
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Re: Leisure rides on icy days

Post by mjr »

VAT isn't the difference between £10 and £15...
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rmurphy195
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Re: Leisure rides on icy days

Post by rmurphy195 »

The sun is a bit low in the sky at this time of year isn't it!

So on your regular roads, on icy mornings, these rules-of-thumb apply (I use 'em when driving, I've long since stopped riding on icy roads, 'cos if the ice doesn't get me the salt gets the bike!)

If it looks dry, it probably is - but that isn't guaranteed.

If it looks wet, then
    It might be wet, or it might be ice.
    If there's no sun at all, it's more likely to be ice
    If there's shady bits, these are likely to be ice
    If there's sunny patches, any ice might have melted, but then it might not!
    If there are puddles about, these may be surrounded by icy patches from water splashed by passing vehicles
    If there's a ford, then its approaches are likley to be icy, even if the sun is shining!
    etc. etc. etc.

For any stretch of road that you know well, you can probably guess what it's going to be like knowing the direction of the sun during the day, what hedges/trees/buildings lie alongside it etc.

PS its some years since I last rode on an icy day - lovely it was, sun shining, some snow but the lanes generally clear except for one or two. Then up around Middleton Hall I noticed a wall ahead covered in ice- snow had melted into a big puddle, the wall was sheidling the road from the sun, and suddenly on the approach to the puddle I was on sheet ice. (As vehicles had gone through the puddle water had splashed everywhere and frozen on contect on the road and on the wall!) So I shouted "ICE" and gently coasted to the side of the road, onto some grass and frozen mud - accompanied by the noise of bikes falling behind me! Turned out I was the only one who had neither braked, swerved, nor looked behind as someone else fell. Last man standing! Until I stepped off the bike ...
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PhilWhitehurst
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Re: Leisure rides on icy days

Post by PhilWhitehurst »

Most councils have a map online showing their primary and secondary gritting routes. If a road is dry and it's cold then it's fine to ride, even on icy days. Bridges are often icy as the air below cools them. Just ride to the conditions and if you front wheel twitches glide to a halt and walk a bit. Icy stretches rarely last long unless a road takes a lot of drainage. Roads that catch the sun are better in these conditions as its able to melt the ice. So east / west lanes with no a lot of shade are good.
RideToWorky
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Re: Leisure rides on icy days

Post by RideToWorky »

jatindersangha wrote:
RideToWorky wrote: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


I've got this for the Kindle. All the pics etc are in there.

--Jatinder



Thanks for that jat!

Internet is a fab place, someone knows the answer out there! 8)
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TrevA
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Re: Leisure rides on icy days

Post by TrevA »

PhilWhitehurst wrote:Most councils have a map online showing their primary and secondary gritting routes. If a road is dry and it's cold then it's fine to ride, even on icy days. Bridges are often icy as the air below cools them. Just ride to the conditions and if you front wheel twitches glide to a halt and walk a bit. Icy stretches rarely last long unless a road takes a lot of drainage. Roads that catch the sun are better in these conditions as its able to melt the ice. So east / west lanes with no a lot of shade are good.


+1. I print off my local councils gritting map and whenever there is a chance of ice, I only ride on the roads that are indicated as being gritted. It's mostly main roads but there are a surprising number of minor roads that also get gritted, often because it's a bus route.
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Richard A Thackeray
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Re: Frost/ ice - 1st thing in morning road bike ride - safe?

Post by Richard A Thackeray »

mjr wrote:
pwa wrote: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.

I have too (commuted year round, for 20+ years), even on - when I was using that bike - '20' section tyres, in winter (as they were all that would fit with mudguards, & Salmon Profil, at that !!!!)

If it's too bad, I'll run instead (I try to alternate, run one day, ride next)

It's either a case of fell-running shoes, if deep snow/slush
Such as my Inov-8 'Mud-Claw 330' (note peat-bog tide mark on legs!!, & Cycling club jersey)

2010. Holme-Moss Fell-Race. 12.jpg



If it's icy, I have another pair of Inov-8's (OROC-340) , which are really meant to be orienteering shoes, but great in ice, as they have tungsten studs!

Image
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whoof
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Re: Leisure rides on icy days

Post by whoof »

I did a loop of just over 50 miles on Saturday morning. Started on the Bath -Bristol railway path where there were patches of ice. Just after I left the path there was a 30 metre section of sheet ice and slush at the entrance to a farm. 8 miles of gritted roads with other traffic followed by a loop through the lanes running up besides the Severn towards Berkley. There was the odd patch of ice here and there plus one hill, just south of Cowhill that was covered in ice both going up and down the other side.

Didn't have any problems with my Schwalbe Marathon Winter tyres and in the lanes I think I saw 2 cars in about 2 hours. The nicest ride I've been on in about 3-4 months as all the other it's been raining, or blowing a gale or raining and blowing a gale.
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RickH
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Re: Leisure rides on icy days

Post by RickH »

I went out on Sunday morning about 9:30am with about 2" of snow & ice on the roads for the first 3/4 of a mile of completely untreated and, initially, undriven/ridden on. With Marathon Winters on I had no problems despite that 3/4 mile including a drop of c 250ft in the first 1/2 mile.

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RideToWorky
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Re: Leisure rides on icy days

Post by RideToWorky »

These marathon winters,

Can you leave them on all year for commuter bikes?!

Cheers
Martin
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Heltor Chasca
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Leisure rides on icy days

Post by Heltor Chasca »

HMRC and it's shiny crown has just provided me with a set of Kenda Klondikes. HRH's family, who I think work for Roses in Germany, sent them to the UK today. Not much, but I'm not complaining ...b
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Heltor Chasca
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Re: Leisure rides on icy days

Post by Heltor Chasca »

Richard A Thackeray wrote:
mjr wrote:
pwa wrote: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.

I have too (commuted year round, for 20+ years), even on - when I was using that bike - '20' section tyres, in winter (as they were all that would fit with mudguards, & Salmon Profil, at that !!!!)

If it's too bad, I'll run instead (I try to alternate, run one day, ride next)

It's either a case of fell-running shoes, if deep snow/slush
Such as my Inov-8 'Mud-Claw 330' (note peat-bog tide mark on legs!!, & Cycling club jersey)

2010. Holme-Moss Fell-Race. 12.jpg



If it's icy, I have another pair of Inov-8's (OROC-340) , which are really meant to be orienteering shoes, but great in ice, as they have tungsten studs!

Image


Great shoes Richard. I haven't seen the likes of those before. You look tired but happy [emoji854]
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