Road Conditions (Terenure, Dublin) - Don't Cycle

Hey,

Just putting this up in case anyone is considering cycling in today in Dublin. I went out to try to cycle to work but with the amount of snow on the ground I was sliding all over the place (ice was fine for me though). I made it to the Terenure cross-roads thinking the main roads might be better but no, very bad as well.

So basically, don't cycle today unless maybe you have one of these, it is quite unsafe out there.

Eros_Panties

Strange my new bike has been running much better with the snow. It really seemed to struggle up till now.

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km991148

I just came from the police stn in terenure to Milltown luas - at 7-7:20 the roads were already clearing. Ter Rd west was particularly bad tho - I guess its the same all over - take it one street at a time and go handy!

good luck!

seamus

Hit the road at 7.30. Bit hairy coming down from Ballycullen, OK though once you stay out of the gutter and don't brake. Made the mistake of going via Harold's Cross. The entire road from Templeogue bridge to Leonard's Corner is just a sheet of ice and the traffic was bumper-to-bumper, so very little overtaking for me 80 minutes to go 13km.

Best to avoid that route at all today, take the N81 if you're cycling, apparently it's "OK", read: You can ride in the traffic lane safely enough (on cross/MTB tyres, obviously!)

Jawgap

Your only man.......



it evens comes with a built in anti-wheel sucking device!

RobFowl

Tut tut
No H*lm*t

Jawgap wrote: »

Your only man.......



it evens comes with a built in anti-wheel sucking device!

kumate_champ07

was cycling down harolds cross road from terenure this morning, it is very bad indeed. parts are just solid ice. its fun tho, except for the danger of getting run down by a car if you slip in front of them. got cable ties on my rear wheel and they do improve traction but Im rolling on 28c tyres , tryin to get a mtb built asap with snow/ice tyres

mtbireland

Ballyboden to the Green via Terenure and Harolds cross around 8:30 this morning.... No problem on the MTB...!!! only a minute or two slower than other days... The satisfaction going past all the cars going nowhere..!!

rp

kumate_champ07 wrote: »

tryin to get a mtb built asap with snow/ice tyres

Walkinstown to Terenure was horrible this morning, the slush on top of ice was no fun at all. The Schwalbe Snow Stud tyres kept me upright, but the "slide/grip" fishtailing that happens (the studs only contact when the bike leans) took some getting used to : after about the 100th time though, you get confident that you're not going to come off and can start to enjoy it a bit more - in fact, if you pedal when you start to slide, they seem to bite in better.

seamus

mtbireland wrote: »

Ballyboden to the Green via Terenure and Harolds cross around 8:30 this morning.... No problem on the MTB...!!! only a minute or two slower than other days... The satisfaction going past all the cars going nowhere..!!

I clearly took the wrong route so. I had a point where I saw the insane traffic, thought, "Will I go across the estates and take another route? Nah, sure it'll be the same everywhere".

Typical.

Ice covered in a slushy-watery thing is not pleasant. Got even worse after sundrive cross, instead of sheets of ice, it was now nicely interpersed with holes and bumps which made you fishtail on each one.

penexpers

Tried to cycle a bit on the Brompton. No dice, Chicago.

kumate_champ07

rp wrote: »

Walkinstown to Terenure was horrible this morning, the slush on top of ice was no fun at all. The Schwalbe Snow Stud tyres kept me upright, but the "slide/grip" fishtailing that happens (the studs only contact when the bike leans) took some getting used to : after about the 100th time though, you get confident that you're not going to come off and can start to enjoy it a bit more - in fact, if you pedal when you start to slide, they seem to bite in better.

can you lower the pressure at all? theres a tyre with about 350 studs but its 70euro! most places are out of stock of the schwalbe snow stud except for german ebay sellers/german online stores, found a kenda snow tyre that has more studs than the schwalbe and costs slightly less

kumate_champ07

had some fun tonite, going into a skid then balancing and getting straight/gaining control again is addictive! only on empty roads tho, one road was solid ice for most parts. havent lost any cable ties from my back wheel so I have them on perfect now.

mtbireland

about to hit the road home.... I hope it's frozen and not slushy....

bike2wkr

Anyone brave cycling on N11 today? was thinking of cycling to work tmro.

tomasrojo

penexpers wrote: »

Tried to cycle a bit on the Brompton. No dice, Chicago.

AT six o'clock I cycled with the Brompton and guitar backpack from Kilmainham to Drumcondra via the quays, Church St. and Dorset St. It was quite ok. Just cycled a long way out from the side of the road, but there wasn't too much traffic around.

I reckoned it might have been starting to freeze on the way home, so I just cycled to town and got the Luas.

Have to go out again tomorrow but earlier. Not sure whether I'll try the Brompton again.

seamus

Big thaw started on the roads about 9 o'clock last night, meant that conditions were very nice for going in this morning. Even cycle lanes were OK with about 1cm of fresh snow on them.

Couple of patches of ice coming through Terenure/Rathgar, but overall a very pleasant trip in today, mostly riding on soft compacted snow to Rathmines, then clearish road all the way in. Much less traffic about, which probably helped. Also took about 10psi out of my tyres before the trip home last night, which helped massively on the ice.

Is it just me or have Taxis and busses turned into complete assholes in this weather? They all seem to be driving right up your arse - I know I'm going slowly, but your ability to stop is even worse than mine, back the fnck up!

tomasrojo

I thought they were being impatient too. I was much further from the side of the road than I normally would be, but for obvious reasons.

Walked the 5 miles into work today instead of biking it. Looking at the roads on the way in I was thinking it looked grand to cycle on, bah.

doozerie

I made a failed attempt to get into work this morning. I walked the bike for about 2 miles or so but all that way the road surface was too dodgy for MTB slicks I reckoned (was able to cycle some of those same stretches of road on Monday, was definitely worse today). The snow showers made it even more dodgy by reducing visibility dramatically. Combined with some car drivers that seemed to be making no allowances for the conditions at all, in terms of speed or distance from the traffic ahead, I reckoned that out in the middle of my lane would be a dangerous place to be. What's even more bizarre/stupid is that the drivers of some of the vehicles that seemed best suited to the conditions, such as landrovers and fancier-pants "real" 4-wheeled drives, were driving cautiously while the people in the likes of Fiat Puntos were happily belting along and practically throwing their cars into bends even where a slide of their car on a bend would have pushed them towards footpaths with people walking on them.

I saw one car abandoned on the road (on a side road into an estate), though a few others parked off the road might have been abandoned too. I have a set of studded tyres on order which will help a lot with being able to actually cycle the bike rather than pushing it, but the worst examples of drivers the likes of which I saw this morning are not so easily dealt with unfortunately.

DirkVoodoo

doozerie wrote: »

... while the people in the likes of Fiat Puntos were happily belting along and practically throwing their cars into bends even where a slide of their car on a bend would have pushed them towards footpaths with people walking on them.

It's the italian spirit. Were they leaning out of the driver's window shaking a fist and cursing at the traffic too?

Dundrum/Sandyford exit on the M50 yesterday was bad. Didn't see it myself but the motoring forum said the Gardai were asking people to abandon their cars so it must have been lethal.

I'm with ken, if everyone walked or cycled the roads would be grand, all these heavy vehicles compacting the snow and the refreeze are making it lethal. Could you imagine how awesome it would be if everyone got on a bike in this kind of weather, or skis? Ah, utopia!

Seaswimmer

Cycled in this morning Cabinteely to Santry but was on the point of giving up around Blackrock college. Road from Deansgrange to Tara towers was completely covered in ice and compacted snow however as soon as i got to Tara towers hotel where Dublin city council take over the roads were fiine. so come on DLR council....get gritting/salting..

slavedave

Came off the bike this morning at about 6mph on the road from Huntstown to the Blanchardstown shopping centre. More humiliating than painful but motorists stopped to check all was ok.
Last night on the commute home, when I hit the BSC had to get off and walk for a bit 'cos it was treacherous. Black ice. I suspect this morning the black ice was cunningly concealed by the frozen white ice on top of it dusted with some snow!
Take it handy out there.

Harrybelafonte

Glad so many others are cycling. I got a few "brave" comments today which clearly implied "stupid"

CheGuedara

Harrybelafonte wrote: »

Glad so many others are cycling. I got a few "brave" comments today which clearly implied "stupid"

If you were the guy I saw cycling past James's at lunch my 'fair play' comment was entirely meant genuinely - no way I'd be maintaining verticality with the state of the roads!

Eros_Panties

Anybody else kinda enjoying the nice change in conditions? I've had more spills and crashes in the last three days than I've had all year up till now but, I can't help but go out in it.

I've taken to just cruising throughout the city and suburbs just photographing the snow as I go but I'm

ice

cool like that.

km991148

So anyone been on the ranelagh-rathmines-rathgar-terenure roads recently?

I stupidly parked the wheels at the ranelagh stop (instead of usual milltown) as I had a dentist appointment, which has now been canceled!

Choice is go get the bike or walk from milltown...

doozerie

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

It's the italian spirit. Were they leaning out of the driver's window shaking a fist and cursing at the traffic too?

If they were to lower the window in order to lean out they'd let the cold air in. With the consequence that the steamed up windscreen might actually clear. And half the fun is not being able to see where they are going, not to mention the fact that if they suddenly were able to see out and realised how bad the road conditions really are they'd have to pull over at once and ring their mammies to come collect them!

Run_to_da_hills

Since most of the busses are now out of action you would think that the council would have the decency to salt the cycle lanes.

biomed32

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Since most of the busses are now out of action you would think that the council would have the decency to salt the cycle lanes.

unfortunatly i highly doubt it lol, on another note i decided to stay off the bike and went into town on the bus to meet a friend, what i did find after the fall of snow was how quickly the cars etc had turned it into ice despite supposed gritting. on the way home i found the state of the roads had deteriorated further still

monument

Cycled around a good bit today to get to different places. To DCU, and in and out of town a few times.

Just a bit of common sense needed, stuff like:

• Avoid breaking when you can and use small taps of the breaks rather than tight griping
• Look out for ice
• Get off the bike when you need to
• Cycle as straight as possible
• Don't make sudden turns
• Don't go inside buses etc (unless they're stuck in a traffic jam and going nowhere)
• If you're going to fall use your arms and legs, not your head

superrdave

km991148 wrote: »

So anyone been on the ranelagh-rathmines-rathgar-terenure roads recently?

I stupidly parked the wheels at the ranelagh stop (instead of usual milltown) as I had a dentist appointment, which has now been canceled!

Choice is go get the bike or walk from milltown...

Portobello - Rathgar road is 100%. I mean, there is some solid ice which is bumpy, but the salt means its not too slippy. Generally slushy and wet but not too dangerous. I've been cycling all week, in and out of work, and I've yet to come close to falling off (touches wood). In fact, walking has been far worse and I don't feel safe on the footpaths. Probably down to my slick bottomed shoes, but still.

mtbireland

My commute in this morning.... Big slide in the last few minutes turning off Dawson Street but apart from that no real problems.

http://vimeo.com/17434224