The Road Condition Warning thread

magicbastarder · 28-02-2018 9:41pm

my father in law was - as of 4pm today - planning to drive to westport tomorrow, in a RWD mercedes estate.

Wishbone Ash · 28-02-2018 9:47pm

magicbastarder wrote: »

my father in law was - as of 4pm today - planning to drive to westport tomorrow, in a RWD mercedes estate.

During the snow of 2010, I had 10 concrete blocks in the boot of my beamer. Didn't get stuck anywhere. :pac:

detones · 28-02-2018 9:49pm

Did 30k each way into town from North County Dublin on cyclocross bike today. I felt it would be ok as snow was fresh and still sift. Few hairy moments but grip on muck tyres was surprisingly good. I'm an average enough cx racer and no expert technically but experience on correcting front wheel slip saved me twice today. Very similar to wet thick muck. If you haven't done it before you'd be on your ear before you know it. Tomorrow, today's soft snow will be compacted and hard and frozen solid. I wouldn't risk goung out. On my way home today i was far more concerned getting clipped by a car than loosing control myself. Parks tomorrow and off road with right gear will be grand but roads lethal. Take care all.

magicbastarder · 28-02-2018 9:51pm

yeah, my brother in law had four bags of gravel he used to have to put in the back of his car. now he's driving a boxster, which at least has more weight over the rear axle.

John_Rambo · 28-02-2018 9:54pm

I drove today and had to do a bit of running around as I'm the only one in work and family that has a traditional 4x4 designed for this weather. So I was on the road a good bit dropping people and stuff off around the North bay area of Dublin.

Came across four capable cyclists with capable tyres, capable abilities, capable clothing, capable lighting and gear cycling on the roads today, all avoiding dedicated cycling lanes that were unusable. All four (two were together) got blown off the road by motorists and two were punished passed.

The roads were empty, acres of room. In one case the road was clear of sludge but the driver drove chose to drive through the sludge instead of the naturally cleared part of the road to close pass the pair of cyclists (coast road heading from Raheny to Clontarf).

In this case, it's clear the problem isn't with the cyclists.

Johann. · 28-02-2018 10:03pm

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

During the snow of 2010, I had 10 concrete blocks in the boot of my beamer. Didn't get stuck anywhere. :pac:

I've a 3 series & I found it really, really bad. Saw loads of people online suggesting adding weight to the boot!

John_Rambo · 28-02-2018 10:06pm

Letting a bit of air out of your tyres (cars and bikes) can afford a bit more grip in these conditions. Only a small bit with the low profile tyres on 3 series BMW ones though!! Some of them are more a veneer than tyre!

Rogue-Trooper · 01-03-2018 1:18am

LennoxR wrote: »

Did people who cycled today cycle home too? Genuinely curious.

I did. Was on the hardtail with Schwalbe Marathon Winter studded tyres. The conditions at 5pm had changed and the snow was turning icy on the Clontarf cycle path. Had reduced pressure in the tyres and they gripped well. The wind was an absolute pig though!

Met a girl walking her hybrid (on regular tyres) along the cycle path. She told me she had just creamed herself on the main road which was starting to look very glassy. She was ok but very shaken.

Unless you have studs and no skills (like me) or CX tyres (with reduced pressure) and skills to go with them, give it a miss.

eeeee · 01-03-2018 1:25am

The Rock road is icy and slippy now, very unsafe come the morning I'd say.

C3PO · 01-03-2018 9:05am

nee wrote: »

The Rock road is icy and slippy now, very unsafe come the morning I'd say.

Came in on the MTB again (Shankill to Ballsbridge) - actually not to bad at all! Left home at 5.45am and hardly saw a car the whole way in. The edges of the road are a bit dodgy with lumps of frozen ice but fine apart from that! My hands have never been so cold though despite winter gloves + liners! Followed bicycle tyre tracks most of the way in ... narrow road tyres ... not sure when brave ends and stupid starts!!

LennoxR · 01-03-2018 12:21pm

C3PO wrote: »

Came in on the MTB again (Shankill to Ballsbridge) - actually not to bad at all! Left home at 5.45am and hardly saw a car the whole way in. The edges of the road are a bit dodgy with lumps of frozen ice but fine apart from that! My hands have never been so cold though despite winter gloves + liners! Followed bicycle tyre tracks most of the way in ... narrow road tyres ... not sure when brave ends and stupid starts!!

Do you not have the day off? I thought everything was shut today.

Fair play to you and all, but make sure you get home before the actual storm starts at 4pm or so. My mate has taken his cyclocross bike to the local park. I declined his offer to join him!

mvt · 01-03-2018 1:40pm

Out on mtb around inchicore/kilmainham earlier.
Not too bad,very little traffic but wind starting to pick up now so happy to be off it.
Wouldn't fancy it later.

Wishbone Ash · 01-03-2018 1:43pm

LennoxR wrote: »

Do you not have the day off? I thought everything was shut today...

Hundreds of thousands of people work in essential services. Mrs WA battled her way across 3 counties early this morning. Kudos to the lad in a 4x4 who towed her for 12k. I'm on annual leave but I'm expecting to be asked to come in this evening to cover a night shift. We had to get the defence forces to bring some of our staff to work in isolated areas.

Annie get your Run · 01-03-2018 2:03pm

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Hundreds of thousands of people work in essential services. Mrs WA battled her way across 3 counties early this morning. Kudos to the lad in a 4x4 who towed her for 12k. I'm on annual leave but I'm expecting to be asked to come in this evening to cover a night shift. We had to get the defence forces to bring some of our staff to work in isolated areas.

I've no idea what she does but Kudos to Mrs WA and probably a thank you deserved too if she's essential services.

Wishbone Ash · 01-03-2018 2:09pm

Annie get your Run wrote: »

I've no idea what she does but Kudos to Mrs WA and probably a thank you deserved too if she's essential services.

Thanks Annie. She's a senior manager in the HSE. She wanted to show solidarity with the front line staff who also experienced great difficulty getting to and from work. She also has an overnight bag with her as she expects to be spending the night in her office.

C3PO · 01-03-2018 3:20pm

I’m not in the Essential Services but rather Financial Services ... apparently just as important!!! But the ISE announced that they were closing at 12.00pm so I’m home now!! Much harder work in a strong wind but not nearly as cold as this morning! Very little traffic and didn’t feel that I was in any more danger than usual!
Hopefully it’ll blow over tonight and can get up the hills tomorrow - always great fun on the MTB in fresh snow!

LennoxR · 01-03-2018 3:23pm

C3PO wrote: »

I’m not in the Essential Services but rather Financial Services ... apparently just as important!!! But the ISE announced that they were closing at 12.00pm so I’m home now!! Much harder work in a strong wind but not nearly as cold as this morning! Very little traffic and didn’t feel that I was in any more danger than usual!
Hopefully it’ll blow over tonight and can get up the hills tomorrow - always great fun on the MTB in fresh snow!

Fair play to you. I don't have an mtb so I'll be on foot until this blows over.

Mr. Grieves · 01-03-2018 3:28pm

I went out on the mountain bike earlier. With fat knobbly tyres there's really plenty of grip, except where wind has removed the softer snow sitting on top of compacted ice in places. The riding position of a MTB is confidence inspiring too.

Anyway this article has me convinced that winter cycling is not so extreme with the right preparation/precautions.

At least cyclists are not posing any risk to others. I saw two or 3 rear wheel drive cars looking fairly out of control yesterday, and one (front wheel drive) car do a 180 degree spin today.

mloc123 · 02-03-2018 3:39pm

Anyone been out on a CX bike? Thinking I'll get out later for a look

RobFowl · 02-03-2018 4:14pm

mloc123 wrote: »

Anyone been out on a CX bike? Thinking I'll get out later for a look

Been out yesterday and today on the Cx bike, off road fine but some cars making the road a bit sketchy..

guanciale · 02-03-2018 4:17pm

^
Tried to go out earlier and had to turn back after 5 mins. Snow drifts where I am are too deep - up to the BB. Just couldnt go forward so went for a hike instead. That was fun but a tough workout.
I was out yesterday and Wednesday. Today is relatively mild weather wise but for me not cyclable.

Harrybelafonte · 02-03-2018 7:16pm

Went for a walk this morning. Pretty rough. Anyone near Celbridge or has anyone walked the canal?

Wishbone Ash · 02-03-2018 7:36pm

Harrybelafonte wrote: »

...Anyone near Celbridge or has anyone walked the canal?

:eek: The ice wouldn't be thick enough for that!

magicbastarder · 02-03-2018 7:42pm

kildare seems to have been hammered by all accounts. meath, too:

https://twitter.com/RaymondKeogh/status/969626053034594306

02-03-2018 8:14pm

There has to be what 2 meters of height there? :eek:

magicbastarder · 02-03-2018 8:40pm

a road fairly well known to the NCD crowd - this was taken less than 1km north of the sam dennigan depot on the road to garristown.

it's taken north of the depot, looking south.

mloc123 · 02-03-2018 8:53pm

mloc123 wrote: »

Anyone been out on a CX bike? Thinking I'll get out later for a look

Got out for a very slow 4km. Mostly grand, road is now an inch of compacted ice. Some places churned up, they were easy... The smooth sections not as much.

mloc123 · 02-03-2018 8:55pm

Harrybelafonte wrote: »

Went for a walk this morning. Pretty rough. Anyone near Celbridge or has anyone walked the canal?

Yup. Out the clane road direction. See previous post.

02-03-2018 9:35pm

Cleared our driveway and the footpath outside the house and it actually dried. At least 5cm of fresh snow there now in less than an hour or so.

CramCycle · 02-03-2018 10:25pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Cleared our driveway and the footpath outside the house and it actually dried. At least 5cm of fresh snow there now in less than an hour or so.

Cleared most of ours earlier, started again when I was done and looks no different to the places I didn't clear.

Diet took a break today and cycled down to the local takeaway, good fun. Helped three cars stuck on side roads. Got a bit of practice in on MTB handling, but there was a tailwind on the way back, very weird not having to pedal on a MTB. Like downhill I imagine.

Main roads in Bray are still passable but with caution, side roads vary between compacted ice and fresh powder.

secman · 02-03-2018 11:28pm

No cycling in Dublin 24, got cabin fever tonight, put a few layers and waterproofs on and went for an hour long walk in horizontal snow. Had to walk on near empty roads as paths were full of drifts of snow. Enjoyed it though. Not as good as cycling obviously

.

02-03-2018 11:45pm

It's bloody hard work trudging through isn't it? I love being out in it and so does the dog but walking into the wind with it lashing your face isn't nice and in places it was hard for me to see where a footpath stopped and the road / kerb was. I wore my clear cycling glasses tonight though having been out in it the other night so quick wipe with a gloved hand was all that was needed.

I did work up a bit of a sweat in my layers and when I got home I was down to a tshirt and got a reminder of how cold you can get from cooling sweat and how quickly as I went out to give the dog his dinner, I'd say 30 seconds max I was out to put his bowl down and fill the other with water. **** me

C3PO · 02-03-2018 11:47pm

An issue with a power outage in the office overnight so cycled in to reset a few systems. 28kms round trip on the mtb (Shankill-Ballsbridge). Conditions were terrible as far as Deansgrange on the way in and managed to fall off twice (hurtee knee)! Roads were really wet and slushy on the way home but fairly clear!

Wishbone Ash · 02-03-2018 11:58pm

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Thanks Annie. She's a senior manager in the HSE. She wanted to show solidarity with the front line staff who also experienced great difficulty getting to and from work. She also has an overnight bag with her as she expects to be spending the night in her office.

Mrs WA couldn't get home from work this evening either so is heading into her second night of trying to sleep in her office.

Fighting Tao · 03-03-2018 12:47pm

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Mrs WA couldn't get home from work this evening either so is heading into her second night of trying to sleep in her office.

She is out legending you!

Yes I made up that word.

magicbastarder · 03-03-2018 10:41pm

Anyone been out around NCD today? Wondering how the roads are, if I should try heading out in the morning.

Wishbone Ash · 03-03-2018 11:26pm

magicbastarder wrote: »

Anyone been out around NCD today? Wondering how the roads are, if I should try heading out in the morning.

R127, R128, R132 are fine but down to one lane in places. Not sure about other roads.

CramCycle · 03-03-2018 11:30pm

One of my neighbours hasn't been home in three days as she was worried she wouldn't get back into work (full time residential care, no extra pay for staying the night and working while she does as, well, what else would you do), four of her co workers set up a bed rotation system in a spare room, taking turns getting naps. Another neighbour dug out the entire road on his own, just because, he didn't have to leave home until Monday. I thought it was the council until someone corrected me.

I was feeling all proud of myself for giving another neighbour a dig out, and pushing a few cars, good deed done for the day, when I realise, nothing to be proud of, it should be the minimum provided if your phyiscally capable of it.

Wishbone Ash · 03-03-2018 11:35pm

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

R127, R128, R132 are fine but down to one lane in places. Not sure about other roads.

I should have added that the R122 may be a challenge!

07Lapierre · 03-03-2018 11:39pm

R122 was cleared today with a snow plough. So it's technically "open", but it hasn't been gritted, and it's very narrow in places. I would NOT cycle around NCD until Monday at the earliest!

Wishbone Ash · 03-03-2018 11:42pm

07Lapierre wrote: »

... I would NOT cycle around NCD until Monday at the earliest!

Club ride on tomorrow!

RobFowl · 03-03-2018 11:53pm

VCB going from Balbriggan square at 0930 but up the coast to Drogheda and possibly on to Clogherhead as long as conditions ok. Those roads all clear as of this evening and gritted.
Yis are welcome if ye want.

magicbastarder · 04-03-2018 12:05am

07Lapierre wrote: »

R122 was cleared today with a snow plough. So it's technically "open", but it hasn't been gritted, and it's very narrow in places. I would NOT cycle around NCD until Monday at the earliest!

cheers - there goes my chance to scratch the itch for the next week - haven't been out since sunday and am travelling with work from monday.

04-03-2018 12:31am

RobFowl wrote: »

VCB going from Balbriggan square at 0930 but up the coast to Drogheda and possibly on to Clogherhead as long as conditions ok. Those roads all clear as of this evening and gritted.
Yis are welcome if ye want.

Been a decent thaw on here today in Drogheda and the ploughs and gritters have been out, drove the main road to from Drogheda to Termonfecken earlier and it was grand, but I assume ye will be heading out to Baltray and and onward ?

I've a family member who drives that way, I'll check if they were out that today way and report back if they have.

magicbastarder · 04-03-2018 11:12am

drove my wife to horseriding this morning - piles of snow along sections of the old N2 are six foot deep. road is clear, though, albeit down to one lane in one or two spots.

Raymzor · 04-03-2018 12:08pm

Anyone try howth today?

magicbastarder · 04-03-2018 12:09pm

at least in ireland i've not seen any reports of snoil/snirt:

https://twitter.com/GeorgeMonbiot/status/969611868577959936

Slutmonkey57b · 04-03-2018 12:16pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

It's bloody hard work trudging through isn't it? I love being out in it and so does the dog but walking into the wind with it lashing your face isn't nice and in places it was hard for me to see where a footpath stopped and the road / kerb was. I wore my clear cycling glasses tonight though having been out in it the other night so quick wipe with a gloved hand was all that was needed.

I did work up a bit of a sweat in my layers and when I got home I was down to a tshirt and got a reminder of how cold you can get from cooling sweat and how quickly as I went out to give the dog his dinner, I'd say 30 seconds max I was out to put his bowl down and fill the other with water. **** me

You left your dog outside in that? Unless it's a husky I'd wonder what you were thinking.

Cloudio9 · 04-03-2018 12:39pm

Anyone know if Dublin bikes are back tomorrow?

04-03-2018 12:43pm

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

You left your dog outside in that? Unless it's a husky I'd wonder what you were thinking.

Oh no he's hardy but not that hardy, eats out side then back in to lie and supervise the fire

The Road Condition Warning thread

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