Road Conditions - Dublin

ROK ON

Just to let folks know.

Road in Castleknock is dodgy.
Cyclepath in the park is fine. A lot of people using it this morning.
Quays are very wet, but otherwise fine.
Apart from Castleknock, I did not encounter ice/slippy surfaces.

Nice one ROK ON.

I was on the (grand) canal for a small stretch, it seems grand. Went through some estates which was a bit hairy. Merrion Road was all grand, but Herbert Park was a bit dodgy. A lot of footpaths looked quite dodgy so while you probably won't be using them (and shouldn't) beware of slipping pedestrians.

Damn hailstones were blinding me though.

TinyExplosions

Hailstones are annoying, roads are wet and gritty, but ok from Dublin 8 - Phibsboro. Road markings and manhole covers are very slippy (nearly came off)

Take it handy out there folks!

Jebus, was just outside and it's like a blizzard.

Caroline_ie

D15 was ok on the main roads. A bit of mush. I didn't cycle in as my estate was all snowy, i had no idea the main roads were fine... fecking snow!

LDB

I stuck to the main roads and it was ok. Didn't dare use most of the cycle tracks though, especially the ones that share with a footpath.
They are saying that tomorrow is to be worse...

I only saw a handful of people on their bikes this morning compared to the usual hords.

Caroline_ie

LDB wrote: »

They are saying that tomorrow is to be worse...

Eeeerrrrr No .. I disagree ... if we strike against that sort of weather ... would it get better?

Raam

Grand all in the way in on the coast

LDB

Caroline_ie wrote: »

Eeeerrrrr No .. I disagree ... if we strike against that sort of weather ... would it get better?

Yes good plan. lets organise a strike against it later!

Caroline_ie

Today
Bitterly cold. Snow accumulations. Highs 1 to 3 degrees. Fresh northeast winds.

Tonight
Very cold. Widespread snow, heavy in places. Lows 0 to 2 degrees. Fresh north to northeast wind.

Tomorrow
Another bitterly cold day. Highs 1 to 3 degrees. Further snow showers, heavy in places. Fresh easterly winds.

Trojan

*really* looking forward to summer, getting tired of cold cycling.

blorg

It's not that bad

AstraMonti

In Sandyford everything is white! The streets are covered with snow so i didn't risk it and came to work with Luas.. and i think it was a wise decision because it was even slippery walking! But its so nice out there!

Blorg you are crazy

Raam

blorg wrote: »

It's not that bad

It's like we are cycling in two different parts of the world, country, county... oh wait...

Chips Lovell

blorg wrote: »

It's not that bad

Hmmm, wants to get boards spins postponed for an hour because there might be frost. Then cycles to work in the snow.

Gavin

Wayhey Snow !! *remains at home in the warmth looking at the nice snow*

xz

Theres only one thing for it today, I'm going to use bad language here...................here goes..............Today....I will be taking...................the CAR, but luckily for me, I'm not in work until 3, so thaw baby thaw

Raam

xz wrote: »

Theres only one thing for it today, I'm going to use bad language here...................here goes..............Today....I will be taking...................the CAR, but luckily for me, I'm not in work until 3, so thaw baby thaw

UNCLEAN!

LDB

xz wrote: »

Theres only one thing for it today, I'm going to use bad language here...................here goes..............Today....I will be taking...................the CAR, but luckily for me, I'm not in work until 3, so thaw baby thaw

It's not that bad!!

rp

el tonto wrote: »

Hmmm, wants to get boards spins postponed for an hour because there might be frost. Then cycles to work in the snow.

Dead right: I much prefer the snow over ice, great ride in this morning, just didn't use the brake once. The slicks seem to cut their own railway tacks through the snow -- look back and the tyre marks are a dark black compared to car tracks. Bring it on!

petethedrummer

Fine from Artane to City centre. A bit hairy on the Nangor/Ninth lock road from Clondalkin to Grang Castle. Couldn't even use the bus lane. Nice fresh weather for cycling, better than fupping rain.

neilled

Yeah it was slippy on the auld armadillos on the way in UCD today. I came off the bike up in rathfarnham, like a bottle so it was!

Ghost Rider

The only slippy bit on my commute into town was when I mounted the footpath briefly (briefly!) near Ranelagh. Footpaths don't get gritted, obviously, and are a lot less "travelled" over than city roads or bike tracks, so they're much more treacherous.

Both the Sally Gap and the Wicklow Gap are impassable.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0202/breaking15.htm

Just in case someone was thinking about it.

liamo

neilled wrote: »

I came off the bike up in rathfarnham, like a bottle so it was!

Agreed. I live in Rathfarnham and I left the bike at home and drove to Parkwest this morning.

While I didn't particularly want to risk an injury from coming off the bike, I was more concerned with motorists not being able to avoid me following a spill given the road conditions.

Additionally, the inability of some motorists to adjust their driving to match the conditions made my mind up. I didn't want to get flattened on a roundabout because some idiot fishtailed into me.

Roads are expected to freeze later. Be careful out there!

ROK ON

Myth wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0202/breaking15.htm

Just in case someone was thinking about it.

Bah to that.
Have a look at a book of photgraphs by the cycling photographer Robert L Chapman. He lived in the early part of the last century.
There are pictures of him cycling around the Saly Gap and Wicklow Gap in snow blizzards dressed in his finest tweeds.
Folk were hardier back in the day.

Caroline_ie

ROK ON wrote: »

Bah to that.
Have a look at a book of photgraphs by the cycling photographer Robert L Chapman. He lived in the early part of the last century.
There are pictures of him cycling around the Saly Gap and Wicklow Gap in snow blizzards dressed in his finest tweeds.
Folk were hardier back in the day.

No No ... you're mistaking .. that was actually Blorg on his lunch break.

sgross75

neilled wrote: »

Yeah it was slippy on the auld armadillos on the way in UCD today. I came off the bike up in rathfarnham, like a bottle so it was!

Yeah, Butterfield Avenue was a tad slippy this morning ! I had to land up walking from Kilmacud rd to Sandyford Ind. Est. as it got too bad...

Needed traction control on the bike .

DirkVoodoo

All around me is blanketed in snow and the roads are slush. Would be mad to take a bike out on it. Which is why I am spending the day at home.

Caroline_ie

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

All around me is blanketed in snow and the roads are slush. Would be mad to take a bike out on it. Which is why I am spending the day at home.

The schools are still opened you know :P

Trojan

This thread reminded me of the Today's Commute thread over on BF.net. There's loads of one-upmanship going on about how cold their commute was, then in comes the guy in Alaska with his -40C.

fletch

After a 2 hour bus journey which I normally cover on the bike in 35mins or so, I really want to take the bike tomorrow, reckon it will be safe enough people?

mmclo

Cycled home throgh Phoenix Park and C'nock

Generally was fine, certainly the surface was fine, found myself on the outside of the cars all the time which were trailed back practically all the way (another one up for the bike!) there was a nice lane of snow between the two lanes with a few motorbike tracks to follow. In all it was quite exhilarating, was on a MTB I suppose. Maybe less practical if it freezes but snow biking is great so far.

ROK ON

I doubt it very much. Cycled in and home today. In was fine.
Home was treacherous - used cycle lane in park. Got very little traction - back wheel kep slipping.

I saw a crazy amount of cars sliding all over the road.
It is worse now than it was earlier on - and it is supposed to freeze later.

Chips Lovell

Didn't Lumen buy crazy snow tyres a while back? Bet he's laughing now.

mmclo

Need to watch the weather and the freeze

Worst day was about 2-3 weeks ago, black ice etc. found the snow much easier, as indicated what's the alternative apart form train any road based transport will be a disaster. Even dead slow cycling will be quicker than the alternatives. If main roads are clear worth a look

72hundred

News report - "Stay off the road if possible".

Train for me tomorrow.
(Hate it, everyone smells :rolleyes:)

Caroline_ie

I walked home from the gym at about 7pm. D15 was jammed, the N3 was at a stand still. I was walking home in the snow ... motorists asking me to give them a few snow balls so they could fight with the car stopped in front of them. That was fun ... I did give away my basket ball sized snow ball ... it took me a few year in the canadian snowy winters to aquire a skill such as snow ball making ...

I would not cycle in that tomorrow morning ...

petethedrummer

I'm cycling tomorrow. On the way home, Grange Castle to Inchicore was snowy but the traffic barely moved. The rest of the way was just slush.

I had continental contacts on the road bike (http://www.rei.com/product/731367). I let a load of air out and it was grand. Only problem was I didn't want to clip my feet in, so I had to cycle with my heels. I'll probably put flat pedals on and cycle in work boots tomorrow. -9999999 euro points.

I'm going to check it out in the morning but at the moment I'm more inclined to give the bike a miss.

May just walk in, would just be an hour. Don't really want to take the bus. Would like to be snowed in tonight though to miss work tomorrow!

DirkVoodoo

Tempted to cycle tomorrow, nice and slow at any rate.

Vélo

Are mtb's netter for cycling in the snow or is it much of a muchness?

blorg

To be honest I found walking to get my lunch today slippier than cycling, I reckon I would fall over if I tried to walk any distance, I'm not too used to it I guess. Have the knobblies back on the cross bike at 50 PSI which really seemed to have a lot of traction on the way home, or alternatively my MTB which I have just cleaned. By lots of traction I mean the bike would stay put on sections where my foot would slide about. There wasn't a hardened layer of ice under the snow today though which there may well be tomorrow.

blorg

Aquinas73 wrote: »

Are mtb's netter for cycling in the snow or is it much of a muchness?

It would generally be considered that they are a hell of a lot better. Basically you want tyres as wide and low pressure as you can get them. Studs are a bonus.

Vélo

blorg wrote: »

It would generally be considered that they are a hell of a lot better. Basically you want tyres as wide and low pressure as you can get them. Studs are a bonus.

Yeah I thought it was a stupid question alright but I've been surpised a few times with answers I've been given before.

NeilMcEoigheann

sgross75 wrote: »

Yeah, Butterfield Avenue was a tad slippy this morning ! I had to land up walking from Kilmacud rd to Sandyford Ind. Est. as it got too bad...

Needed traction control on the bike .

its called fixed gear

petethedrummer

blorg wrote: »

There wasn't a hardened layer of ice under the snow today though which there may well be tomorrow.

Yup that would be my one worry tomorrow. The roads are very wet tonight.

Lumen

el tonto wrote: »

Didn't Lumen buy crazy snow tyres a while back? Bet he's laughing now.

Yes, the ice fixie cometh.

I may suffer from "first telephone" syndrome today. I have a meeting in town but there's feck all chance of anyone else making it in.

These conditions are mad. Even the 4x4 drivers are no better off, since they get stuck in the jams behind everyone else.

It took the guy I work with over 4 hours to get from Dublin city centre to Lucan last night by bus.

I didn't go out on the bike last night, as I knackered myself out running 5km back from the creche with a double buggy after abandoning the car.

The biggest risk today will be getting wiped out by a sliding car. :eek:

eta: Pah, looks pretty slushy out there now.

Lovely morning for a cycle! Miss the snow though.

I had a snow refugee on my couch last night (they were heading to Lucan).

RobFowl

I feel cheated here. No snow no ice just cold wet routine winters day

mmclo

All a bit of a false alarm, plenty slushy sleety but no ice and very little traffic!