Frost and ice and cycling?

BostonB

I've been put off getting out on the bike these mornings. even in the car the first 20 mins of my journey are slippy, and I've seen a moped come down this morning . Obviously the main roads are gritted, but in at the kerb and the cycle lanes on and off the main road aren't. As the queues are long, you tend to be going up the side of the queues instead of in the middle of the lane. Its a bit hariy. Any tips or it just a case of take it handy. My estate is like a rink in the morning.

skim

not so sure bout the city or that but i went out last sat at twelve thinking the main roads would be ok but soon found out they were not now i have a broken hand and a cut up face so i wont be goin out in any icey conditions again

Freewheeling Ed

BostonB wrote: »

I've been put off getting out on the bike these mornings. even in the car the first 20 mins of my journey are slippy, and I've seen a moped come down this morning . Obviously the main roads are gritted, but in at the kerb and the cycle lanes on and off the main road aren't. As the queues are long, you tend to be going up the side of the queues instead of in the middle of the lane. Its a bit hariy. Any tips or it just a case of take it handy. My estate is like a rink in the morning.

I you are using any kind of pedal clips... just forget it..

used to love playing on ice back in me bmx days.. great fun if you intend to skid..
but if you hit ice by surprise and lose a wheel.. its all over pretty quick..

there is a slim chance, of getting a foot down.. if its on the you use for putting your foot down.. (with me its the left foot.. never use the other foot much ?? )

also some evening if there is ice and you have time, a bit of slide practice will help, and is fun when you get the hang of it.(at your own risk...)

So maybe the advice is ..
slow down.. be observant.. and keep one foot ready to put down..

Lumen

The only consistent advice I can find it to run lower pressures. This is the same as "get more rubber on the road", since tyre pressure and contact patch area are directly related.

A wider (slick) tyre will help achieve this.

FWIW, I seemed to have significant better traction on icy roads than Raam and El Tonto last Saturday when I was running lower pressures than them. It didn't stop me from crashing the week before though.

jimmycrackcorm

I just take it a bit handy on the frosty parts expecting to need to recover from a slip at any time. It's the black ice that will catch you out.

davidsatelle100

i wait that bit longer till the traffic has built up and cleared the main roads and just walk out to them in the mornings

Still find myself taking if pretty handy and having to back wheel slip out a bit from time to time. i would say another couple of weeks and the bus may be called into action

If you have flexi-time then use it!

In the summer I noticed I was getting in at around 7am or 7:30am but now I'm making it into work for 9am. Partially down to how it'll be frosty, partially down to my body going by when the sun rises methinks.

kenmc

Myth wrote: »

If you have flexi-time then use it!

In the summer I noticed I was getting in at around 7am or 7:30am but now I'm making it into work for 9am. Partially down to how it'll be frosty, partially down to my body going by when the sun rises methinks.

I've gone the other way, try to get in for 8ish now so you beat the school run in the dark, and traffic is not usually too bad then, whereas at 9 town is bumper to bumper. Then leaving at 4:30 or so means you're missing a lot of the heavy traffic on the way home too.

blorg

Very important- don't use your front brake. It is a lot easier to control a rear wheel skid than a front one. If your rear wheel locks over ice you will very likely be able to handle the skid;* if your front wheel locks over ice you will very likely crash.

I am pretty sure it was application of the front brake that did me in a few weekends back- very probably the same caused the others' crash too?

*definately able if you are used to it, you can hold a pretty straight line with the rear locked.

kenmc

Yeah but unfortunately the front one has a hell of a lot more stopping power than the back, and in commuting traffic there's always the chance of needing an emergency braking manouver. But yeah for rolling up to red lights or whatever the back should be fine.

Caroline_ie

skim wrote: »

not so sure bout the city or that but i went out last sat at twelve thinking the main roads would be ok but soon found out they were not now i have a broken hand and a cut up face so i wont be goin out in any icey conditions again

Welcome to the club. i am almost on 2 weeks with a broken wrist ... 5 more weeks to go. i am thinking if I hadn't hurt myself then i would have probably hurt myself anyway ...

Raam

Lumen wrote: »

The only consistent advice I can find it to run lower pressures. This is the same as "get more rubber on the road", since tyre pressure and contact patch area are directly related.

A wider (slick) tyre will help achieve this.

FWIW, I seemed to have significant better traction on icy roads than Raam and El Tonto last Saturday when I was running lower pressures than them. It didn't stop me from crashing the week before though.

Yes, Tonto and myself were like new born deer on roller skates. For what it's worth, I was running Conti Gatorskins.

seamus

As blorg says, don't use your front brake. If you do find yourself unexpectedly coming upon a patch of frosty/icy ground, the important thing is not to panic. Don't lean the bike, don't stand to sprint and don't brake. Just keep an even speed (freewheeling is best, but not for you fixies ). If you have clips/cleats, clip out just in case the bike leaves you.

If you see a corner coming up, brake as early as possible and brake gently and evenly on the back. The aim is purely to make the wheel's spin slow down, as opposed to normal braking where you also want the tyre to grip onto the ground as you brake.

I haven't had any real problems, but then I'm running an MTB with slicks, 1.5" on the front and 1.75" on the back. Which is a lot of rubber compared to roadies.

Lumen

Raam wrote: »

Yes, Tonto and myself were like new born deer on roller skates. For what it's worth, I was running Conti Gatorskins.

Same tyres then. Since I'm about the same weight as you, it must have been the pressures.

Raam

Lumen wrote: »

Same tyres then. Since I'm about the same weight as you, it must have been the pressures.

Nerves probably had something to do with it too.

Chips Lovell

Lumen wrote: »

FWIW, I seemed to have significant better traction on icy roads than Raam and El Tonto last Saturday when I was running lower pressures than them. It didn't stop me from crashing the week before though.

On my rear at least, I was running a very low pressure as I'd punctured on the way to Dundrum that morning and I'd used a mini-pump on it.

Danbo!

I pumped up the tyres to 110psi on sunday night, monday morning wasnt the most comfortable experience. They're at about 75 now, have to take it handy over the unavoidable potholes, but the bike seems more solid on the road.

Have also been using the road as opposed to the "on-path" type cycle lane, as it's still covered in frost whereas the road has thawed out. If you are cycling on the road make sure you're very visible. A lot of people will drive in the cold with only a small patch of their windscreen de-misted for the first mile or two from home.

blorg

When I came off the previous weekend, it was also Gatorskins, 700x25c at around 90-95 PSI I reckon.

Quigs Snr

Gatorskins must be rubbish lads. I went down hard on a set of them a couple of weekends ago also.. didn't touch the brake, the front wheel went whilst cruising at about 40kph on a main road, slid straight out into the middle of the road on my back, was lucky nothing was coming.

My advice, don't bother when it's icy, get on the turbo instead or wait till it clears up.

Chips Lovell

Quigs Snr wrote: »

My advice, don't bother when it's icy, get on the turbo instead or wait till it clears up.

I've caved and ordered rollers.

TinyExplosions

el tonto wrote: »

I've caved and ordered rollers.

Another name for the wimp list...

BostonB

Quigs Snr wrote: »

...get on the turbo instead or wait till it clears up.

el tonto wrote: »

I've caved and ordered rollers.

Up whats a turbo and rollers?

Well it was ok today, I made it in. I'm on a mountain bike with slicks, 26x1.5 very little frost or ice this am. Cycle path in the Phoenix park looked/felt slippy, so I used the walking path for a bit. No-one on it. I'm only getting over the whiplash from the last off. So I could do without falling.

Raam

el tonto wrote: »

I've caved and ordered rollers.

I did 45 minutes on them last night. Building up to the magical hour.

Chips Lovell

Raam wrote: »

I did 45 minutes on them last night. Building up to the magical hour.

I'm getting the same ones as you. I've a plan that I might try and do sessions on them before going into work in the morning.

BostonB

ah trainers...

Hungrycol

Why are the road soo slimy? We really need a good raining to wash the roads. That mucky slimy icy stuff it lethal. My bike is caked with the stuff which is really sandy when it dries on the bike.

BostonB

Thanks, its now cold dark, slippy AND raining. :eek:

billyhead

Sorry folks for resurrecting this thread but I have been heading out for 1.5 hour spins on the road bike every morning since I've been working from home. I head out around 7am. I see that tomorrow morning it's going to be 1 degrees. Can ice form on the road at this temperature or does it have to be sub zero? Sorry if it's a silly question. The tyres I use are 23 inch do not much traction. This morning was grand although very cold in the fog.

velo.2010

billyhead wrote: »

Sorry folks for resurrecting this thread but I have been heading out for 1.5 hour spins on the road bike every morning since I've been working from home. I head out around 7am. I see that tomorrow morning it's going to be 1 degrees. Can ice form on the road at this temperature or does it have to be sub zero? Sorry if it's a silly question. The tyres I use are 23 inch do not much traction. This morning was grand although very cold in the fog.

The ground can be several degrees cooler than the air above in winter time. Radiative cooling at night and evaporative cooling by day can cause (black) ice to form even when the air temp is several degrees above 0. Its a case of reading the roads and the local conditions. Main routes tend to be clear of ice from the volume of traffic and heat produced from tyres and exhausts.

Macy0161

It can still change at that time of the day. Part of my routine heading out to the shed to turbo is to check the missus' car to see if it's frozen - yesterday at 6.50 is was, when she was heading to work at 8, it had frozen over.

Main roads around me are gritted, but then they're the roads I'd be looking to avoid if I was heading out for a spin at commuting times.

marvin80

A handy link to check road and air temperatures across Ireland: https://www.tiitraffic.ie/weather/