Riding On Thin Ice
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The weather here’s been properly wintry over the last few days. It started off with a cold & clear weekend of heavy frosts and bright skies, and then descended into freezing rain, hail, sleet and all that jazz from Monday lunch time.
I was supposed to be on the BikeAbility instructors’ course from Monday to Thursday, but this involves a lot of teacher practice, outside on the roads. Our instructors decided that it was one thing for us to choose for ourselves that we were going to ride to the training sessions, but quite another for us to go out cycling under their instruction and responsibility for our safety. So the course was abandoned on Tuesday afternoon, and we’ll cover the outdoor work some time in late February, when the weather should be a little better.
But I’d arranged a meeting with a couple of prospective clients to take place yesterday morning before the training course. Finding a venue for an 8 a.m. meeting, that was close to where I’d planned to spend the rest of the day wasn’t so easy though, and I ended up suggesting the McDonalds at Silverlink. Yeah, I know - great way to impress prospective clients.
Not.
It had rained heavily on Tuesday night at around midnight, and then the sky had cleared again, and the temperature dropped. The perfect recipe for black ice.
So it was with a little trepidation that I set off for my meeting - cycling of course. I planned a route on main roads, and more specifically, bus routes, as I knew these would have been gritted & salted. Provided that I kept well out from the kerb, this worked pretty well, and I had clear tarmac to ride on. Some of the side roads I passed looked distinctly scary though, even in the pre-dawn light, you could see the sheen of ice right across them.
The last hundred yards or so were off the gritted roads - basically its the entrance to the Silverlink retail park that’s opposite the Menzies hotel, and then the turning into McDonalds itself. It wasn’t quite fully light, but I could see that the road wasn’t clear - it looked kinda slushy at best. First gear, nice and slow, cycling like I’m on tip-toes, and no problems at all though. When I got off my bike though, I started to slide sideways while just standing there. Hmmmm.
Then while I was locking Wilf up, I watched two cars come into the car park. Both turned their wheels, and went straight on. Hmmmmm.
After the meeting, it was fully light, and while I was unlocking my bike, I got a good look at the road surface. It was just one big sheet of ice, mirror smooth, and with the added bonus of a slope to it. And I’d cycled across this 90 minutes earlier. Gulp!
I decided that discretion really is the better part of valour (or that there’s no point being a damned fool about this cycling everywhere thing), and timidly pushed Wilf back out and onto the main road before getting back on and riding off to the next meeting I’d scheduled.
Filed under: Bike Culture, Bike Security, Bike to Work, Newcastle, Road Safety, Weather, Whitley Bay
It’s surprising what can be ridden over, especially on a mountain bike with fat tyres at relatively low pressures. A few times in the last week, I’ve rolled to a stop and only realised how slippy the surface was when I’ve put a foot down!
I find it is easier to cycle on such stuff if you don’t realise it is there until afterwards:-)
Mike - fat tyres: Check! Low pressure: Um, not quite. 80psi for road use. D’Oh! btw - did you recognise either of the BikeAbility instructors - they work for your council.
Steve - Amen to that. Of course, once I’d seen how icy it was, there was just no way I was going to attempt it. Seems we have nothing to fear, except fear itself. And falling over onto hard surfaces.
Hi Karl
Did you have to take the photo while I had a mouthfull of bagel?
Clive
Yes - the Devil made me do it!
When I lived in the UK I often had the same problem. Minor roads would become dangerous by bike, and even the main roads could be difficult with the ice (and out of control cars). However, this seemed normal.
Over here, they grit everything. The city has a couple of bike path sized gritters which go along _all_ the bike paths every night, and a couple of full sized gritters which do _all_ the roads. They even come down the culdesac we live in.
Last Sunday I rode well over 90 km in quiet cold conditions, there was ice on the ground, but generally not on the cycle paths, even very rural ones, unless they were recreational gravel paths which they expect people only to bother using in the summer.
The result is much better safety for all in winter, fewer hospital admissions, and very importantly that people can cycle through the winter without being pushed off their normal routes (this video is from last winter: http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=gw3XSHygRpk). Nothing is cancelled until February. All the children keep on cycling to school ( http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=2n_znwWroGM ).
Why doesn’t the UK doesn’t do the same thing ?
Note in the videos that there are still no helmets. Rather, the real sources of danger are controlled.
I generally run my tyres very soft. My commute is on’y 5.5 miles a day, so a low pressure fat tyres on a singlespeed MTB gets me the most fitness benefit. I have managed to rip the valve off my front tyre twive in the last term though, so might have to rethink that
Now you mention it, I recognize both the instuctors. *waves*