Cycling on frosty mornings

DoctorBoo

Well, tomorrow is due to be a frosty one. This is my first winter cycling. I read somewhere that cycling on frosty roads is a no - no. Is this true? Will I have to make other plans for the morning?

alan partridge aha

Definitely not worth it, skinny little tyres you could fall very easy and do a lot of damage to yourself.

CJhaughey

Fall under a truck or car and you won't have to worry about anything.
Two wheels and ice is not recommended.

listermint

Tbh I've done it for years only slipped twice nothing serious and always on a corner at speed.

Really depends on the route tbh.

Ruling it out 100% isnt really easy for anyone to call on the internet. Cold doesn't mean ice can be dry and cold too.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Depends on a lot of things, are you city commuting?. What kind of tyres are you riding on etc?.

I ride a 20km commute to work winter and summer and tbh the only thing I won't do in winter is ride my road bike with its skinny slick tyres (but I have done too).

Most tires fitted to hybrid bikes will be completely fine for the small bit of ice we'll have tomorrow. Its really only when snow gets compacted that you're looking at special winter tires.

You'll often find the roads in housing estates are far worse than the busier main roads, that being the case and you're still feeling nervous then walk your bike out to the main road, I'd be very surprised if you'll experience much ice on the busier main roads.

JBokeh

I'd be avoiding it on a road bike on 23 tyres, very little margin for error, and really hard to correct a slip. I locked up my motorbike for the winter a few weeks back because it is a bit hairy on a cold road.

An MTB with around 28psi in the tyres should get you around fine on frost, It does it for me, but only on frost, on ice it is a day for the sofa

DoctorBoo

Thanks for all the comments. I have a clunky old mountain bike and will be cycling in Dublin City centre around 8 am. My feeling is that it will be ok. Roads should be gritted and my tyres are thick. Am I mad?

arybvtcw0eolkf

DoctorBoo wrote: »

Thanks for all the comments. I have a clunky old mountain bike and will be cycling in Dublin City centre around 8 am. My feeling is that it will be ok. Roads should be gritted and my tyres are thick. Am I mad?

Well a lot of people will say you're mad for commuting in Dublin city centre any time of the year :P

Realistically you're not mad. You'll be grand. I'd be very surprised if you encounter icy roads in the city centre at 8am.

My commute is through the city too.

Btw, if you're going to continue to ride through the winter then threaded tires will give you better grip over knobbly mountain bike tyres!.

Wishbone Ash

I have hit the deck a few times at a fair speed on patches of black ice which are very difficult to differentiate from what looks like a wet road. All it takes is one piece on a sheltered spot and before you know it, you're sliding across the road on your arse. Ironically, I've crawled along on days where I've been expecting ice and nothing has happened. My main disadvantage is that I live right at the sea so when I leave home the roads look grand until I get a few kms inland.

One consolation of coming off on ice is that there's very little chance of suffering road rash as the surface is 'lubricated' and you'll be well wrapped up. Coming off in summer with shorts and short sleeves is not pleasant by comparison.

Canis Lupus

roverrules

Same advice I'd give to people commuting by car, leave earlier, leave a bigger gap, brake gentley, steer gentley, accelerate gentley and watch for the other nutters.

07Lapierre

roverrules wrote: »

Same advice I'd give to people commuting by car, leave earlier, leave a bigger gap, brake gentley, steer gentley, accelerate gentley and watch for the other nutters.

Pretty good advise if your in a car, but if your cycling, I'd say leave a bit later if you can... The later you can leave, the more likely the frost/ice will have melted.

MudSkipper

Remember those two bad winters we had couple of years ago? Cycled on those snowy roads no problem, was safer than walking to bus stop on sidewalks with snow compacted to ice!

Did swap the hybrid for mountain bike and lowered tire pressure for max surface contact :-)

Just take it a bit slower, don't make sharp turns, brake gently and avoid slippy surfaces like man covers, painted lines and luas tracks.

Beasty

Dark mornings make ice even more difficult to spot. Roads tend to Improve rapidly as car tyres help melt any ice, but often it will linger towards the edge of the road. Once the sun is up it often clears quickly, but even then the frost can rapidly descend once it goes dark again (as I found out to my cost a few years ago when I came off and broke a wrist and suffered quite bad roadrash)

I used to risk it when temperatures were well below zero if the roads were dry, but won't nowadays, particularly if there's ice on the car windscreen (There are occasions when there is ice around where I live but a couple of hundred metres down the road it's all clear - I'm quite close to the coast and ice tends not to be to bad at the coast, but I'm maybe 50m above sea level which can make quite a difference)

Wishbone Ash

roverrules wrote: »

Same advice I'd give to people commuting by car...

But one doesn't fall over when a car loses grip. The vast majority of cyclists who hit the deck because of ice, do so when they are not expecting it as the roads otherwise appear fine. Braking gently, steering gently or accelerating gently won't make any difference on black ice - when you're gone, you're gone.

jfrmbray

Just got four fresh stitches in my hand on Friday so it looks I'll be giving my proper bike commute a miss just in case I do take a spill and burst 'em. I'll probably be grand with one of the coke city bikes going through town at around 8.45 in the morning though, right?

1bryan

roads are well gritted in Dublin and it doesn't look like it got as cold as they were predicting.

davidoco

I ve been cycling Dublin heuston to st Stephen green for 7 years every weekday. The only time I ve not gone out is when there is snow on the ground. I use a 15kg mountain bike with 2 " tires. On occasion you may have to find a car wheel track to follow.

Macy0161

I'd say it'd want to be colder than this morning for it to be a real touch and go for cycling, well for me at least. Admittedly, I'm in a rural area in the uplands, but going on car temp readings, this morning wasn't the coldest we've had this autumn/ winter by 3 or 4 degrees.

Fian

Didn't occur to me not to cycle this morning, I have often gone in on much colder days with frost on teh ground.

Snow or strong winds are what make me decide to go for the luas instead of the bike, a bit of frost is fine because the roads in Dublin are all salted anyway.

It would probably be different if i had a rural commute or if i were leaving early in the morning - I leave shortly before nine. I am not clipped in on my commuter which makes a frosty commute less nervy.

laraghrider

Look at the weather before a cold spell. If it hasn't rained then the chances of having icey roads are virtually non existent. This morning was cold but the roads were bone dry and as such fine.

Charlie69

To all the people on here saying they've cycled for years in icy conditions, I can guarantee one bad fall on black ice will hit your confidence and make you think twice about cycling on the very cold mornings ever again.

petethedrummer

If you're going through the phoenix park be careful between these two points.

Macy0161

Charlie69 wrote: »

To all the people on here saying they've cycled for years in icy conditions, I can guarantee one bad fall on black ice will hit your confidence and make you think twice about cycling on the very cold mornings ever again.

I'm not sure that's what anyone was suggesting. Certainly I wasn't - I was suggesting that this morning wasn't that cold! Saturday morning was a dodgier morning out where I live to be honest, if you were on the road early.

listermint

Charlie69 wrote: »

To all the people on here saying they've cycled for years in icy conditions, I can guarantee one bad fall on black ice will hit your confidence and make you think twice about cycling on the very cold mornings ever again.

listermint wrote: »

Tbh I've done it for years only slipped twice nothing serious and always on a corner at speed.

Really depends on the route tbh.

Ruling it out 100% isnt really easy for anyone to call on the internet. Cold doesn't mean ice can be dry and cold too.

I even rolled over a buddy of mine on the bike too.

Confidence can be restored in hours, if you let stuff stop you from doing things then you arent living.

RobertFoster

listermint wrote: »

I even rolled over a buddy of mine on the bike too.

Confidence can be restored in hours, if you let stuff stop you from doing things then you arent living.

That's the spirit! Tis but a scratch...



I have heard of falls resulting in broken hips in a couple of instances, so I'm sure it's more than a lack of confidence that stops some people.

Wishbone Ash

Extra consideration is required if heading out early on weekend mornings as the roads are less likely to be treated and even if they are, there's less traffic to work it into the ice.

aFlabbyPanda

Charlie69 wrote: »

To all the people on here saying they've cycled for years in icy conditions, I can guarantee one bad fall on black ice will hit your confidence and make you think twice about cycling on the very cold mornings ever again.

Can you not say the same about driving then?

benneca1

The_Sub wrote: »

Can you not say the same about driving then?

Best way to deal with ice is to use MTB as is slower so you have time to react.
The best way to learn how to stay upright in any conditions is to do your indoor winter stuff on rollers. Really helps with balance and bike handling.

Deedsie

I came off last year on ice going through Stillorgan. Knocked my confidence a fair bit. If it's going to be icy now I usually wait till later to go in or just get the bus. The bus is painful but so is landing elbow and arse first into hard concrete after slipping on ice.

ThisRegard

1bryan wrote: »

roads are well gritted in Dublin and it doesn't look like it got as cold as they were predicting.

Last night, and the early hours, there was a decent frost out. By 7am it had all but gone in the most sheltered of places.

Lumen

Charlie69 wrote: »

To all the people on here saying they've cycled for years in icy conditions, I can guarantee one bad fall on black ice will hit your confidence and make you think twice about cycling on the very cold mornings ever again.

I have mixed feelings about this.

On the one hand, you're right. People can slip on ice and break bones, and sometimes sustain disabling head injuries. We have jobs to get to and children to go home to! We should just get the bus with the old people who are worried about breaking a hip.

On the other hand, cycling in frosty and icy conditions is just so much fun. You can feel the tyres scrabbling for grip, hear the crisp shattering of thousands of tiny crystals. It's that sort of compelling, exciting danger which makes me feel alive.

Also, this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZUIAiNBjEA

Greenman

A trike is your only man.

Unknown Soldier

Charlie69 wrote: »

To all the people on here saying they've cycled for years in icy conditions, I can guarantee one bad fall on black ice will hit your confidence and make you think twice about cycling on the very cold mornings ever again.

Agreed.

I went out this morning with the knowledge of someone who broke their hip on black ice. Bike just went out from under him when he went OOTS on a hill. Off the bike for months and possibly never the same cyclist again, and he was super into cycling Founder member of a long established Dublin cycling club too.

It's never worth it but if you must do so then change your cycling to suit the weather.

Go slow and straight, No sharp turns and braking etc.

Have tyres on that suit the weather.

Allow more time if you are going to work. Just "tootle" along.

You'll possibly be really sorry if you don't take care of yourself.

Pic from my tootle this morning.

https://www.instagram.com/p/-alyprS8tI/?taken-by=david_r72

DoctorBoo

This morning was grand. Not very frosty at all and all the roads had been gritted. Not sure if I would chance it on a frostier morning but for the moment I'm happy to cycle.

KingBrian2

I tend not to cycle that often but I was wondering in this weather which would be safer cycling in heavy rain or when the ground is icy? I hear this winter will have bad conditions so I don't know if I should hold back until spring before I should continue to cycle.

Wishbone Ash

KingBrian2 wrote: »

...which would be safer cycling in heavy rain or when the ground is icy?

Heavy rain by a country mile!

tomasrojo

Lumen wrote: »

I have mixed feelings about this.

On the one hand, you're right. People can slip on ice and break bones, and sometimes sustain disabling head injuries. We have jobs to get to and children to go home to! We should just get the bus with the old people who are worried about breaking a hip.

On the other hand, cycling in frosty and icy conditions is just so much fun. You can feel the tyres scrabbling for grip, hear the crisp shattering of thousands of tiny crystals. It's that sort of compelling, exciting danger which makes me feel alive.

I really enjoyed cycling in the compacted snow and ice of December 2010 on a Dublin Bike. I'm glad I did it. Had I been injured badly while doing it, I would regret it. I've a funny relationship with risk, as I suspect most people do really. I feel a lot better when I take moderate risks every now and then.

check_six

I switched to the MTB and ran the tyres at a lower pressure in the big ice of 2010 and 2011.

I saw some very weird behaviour in traffic in those winters. Fellas losing traction in their cars and deciding to put the boot down as hard as possible to try to regain grip (and failing!), etc.

One guy was trying to cycle down Merrion Square. There was too much snow in the bus lane so they were cycling in the car tracks in the regular lane, but he was still being careful on the slippy surface. Cue a taxi rolling up behind him and blasting the horn impatiently a number of times. The guy on the bike did what I felt was the right thing and focused on his cycling on the icy road and ignored the lunatic in the taxi. Bear in mind that no one was getting anywhere in a hurry on those snowy icy days. Luckily, we haven't seen anything as tricky as those days this year.

Carawaystick

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Heavy rain by a country mile!

Yeah, the frost will almost always thaw by noon, but it can keep lashing until tomorrow/you've reached your faraway destination....

cdaly_

Carawaystick wrote: »

Yeah, the frost will almost always thaw by noon

Except when you come around a bend by a high hedge on a cold winter day when the frost never melted at all...

RainyDay

check_six wrote: »

I switched to the MTB and ran the tyres at a lower pressure in the big ice of 2010 and 2011.

I saw some very weird behaviour in traffic in those winters. Fellas losing traction in their cars and deciding to put the boot down as hard as possible to try to regain grip (and failing!), etc.

One guy was trying to cycle down Merrion Square. There was too much snow in the bus lane so they were cycling in the car tracks in the regular lane, but he was still being careful on the slippy surface. Cue a taxi rolling up behind him and blasting the horn impatiently a number of times. The guy on the bike did what I felt was the right thing and focused on his cycling on the icy road and ignored the lunatic in the taxi. Bear in mind that no one was getting anywhere in a hurry on those snowy icy days. Luckily, we haven't seen anything as tricky as those days this year.

My MTB was safer than walking once the initial snow had stopped. The paths were still covered in ice and slush for quite a few days, but you could a clear tyre path on almost every road. There were a few eejits around who got frustrated that a cautious cyclist delayed their rush to the back of the next queue of cars all right.

Qualitymark

Watch out for slick manhole covers; there's a nasty one as you come around the turn for Dame Street past Christ Church, it practically licks its shiny lips as cyclists squeak past.

Koobcam

If it's cold, I normally pop out to the car, which is parked on the west side of my house (so no sun in the morning) and check it for ice. If there's no ice on the car, it's grand to ride the bike. If the car resembles the freezer part of my fridge, then I'd give the bike a miss. If the car is still iced over and it's well into the day (say around 9 or 10 am), then it would probably be the weekend, and I'd probably get out the cross bike or MTB and go for a spin on the Curragh. I've had a couple of spills on black ice over the past few years and while I only had minor cuts and bruises, it's really not worth the risk if you have alternative options (trainer, off-road route etc). I've seen enough broken hips from innocuous looking falls to think twice before riding around when it's icy.