icy roads

paul a newman

Anyone heading into Nth Co Dublin this am, please be v careful, roads around St Margarets are very icy and dangerous.

fat bloke

Yeah we left Firhouse morning and very quickly (but very carefully) turned back for home.
That shower of rain last night before the freeze was the killer combination.

Beasty

Bleedin' weather - if this is what 2017's going to be like can't wait to see in next year.....


:pac:

Bambaata

Got 90k done in NCD, did 1 lap of the Park and the first ice i saw was in the Phoenix Park itself! Lovely morning, went out past Blakes cross as that road was dry and then back in via Rush/Lusk as that gave time for any ice that might have been to be gone

nilhg

Did 64km Rathangan, Edenderry,Portarlington, Rathangan, roads OK except for the odd spot in deep shade that had a big puddle left over from the rain the other night.

Chuchote

The borderlands of Dublin and Wicklow are also slippery today - rain has frozen into nasty little patches of ice.

Whatwicklow

Mountain biking in roundwood was surprisingly ice free!

Alek

Featherbeds mainly ice-free, but keep near the middle of the road. Avoid Cunard, especially descending - ice patches across the whole width this morning.

Chuchote

Advice on cycling technique for icy roads, please, especially on descents. I tried to keep my centre of gravity as low and broad as possible, and to brake slowly and steadily, but is this right?

Alek

Avoid ice. If you can't, go straight through the icy patch, don't brake, don't pedal and don't turn, even small bit.

If there's mostly ice, or temperature is below 0 and the road looks greasy (black ice), turn back home and put on some studded tyres.

Chuchote

Alek wrote: »

Avoid ice. If you can't, go straight through the icy patch, don't brake, don't pedal and don't turn, even small bit.

If there's mostly ice, or temperature is below 0 and the road looks greasy (black ice), turn back home and put on some studded tyres.

Unfortunately, sometimes the ice is on the way back home

smacl

Alek wrote: »

Featherbeds mainly ice-free, but keep near the middle of the road. Avoid Cunard, especially descending - ice patches across the whole width this morning.

Cheers Alek. Was thinking of heading up that way at lunch, may give it a miss and do some turbo this evening instead. Rest of the week looks a bit warmer.

tomasrojo

Chuchote wrote: »

Advice on cycling technique for icy roads, please, especially on descents.

If you have to brake on what you know or suspect is ice, use the rear brake. And don't steer, as said already, go straight.

billyhead

smacl wrote: »

Cheers Alek. Was thinking of heading up that way at lunch, may give it a miss and do some turbo this evening instead. Rest of the week looks a bit warmer.

Simple answer if there is a risk of ice either leave the bike at home or take an ice free route ie gritted road.

magicbastarder

and remember to wash your bike after using a gritted road.

smacl

billyhead wrote: »

Simple answer if there is a risk of ice either leave the bike at home or take an ice free route ie gritted road.

May just stick the studded tyres on this evening and get used to the sound of cycling through a bowl of rice crispies again for the next couple of months

Really should pick up a spare set of wheels for this purpose, but haven't seen much in the way of bargains in terms of CX wheels with disc brakes and thru axles out there. (~€240 without discs or cassette)

Alek

There used to be a nice bargain for 3T wheels around a hundred.... :P How about a cheap pair of Shimano MTB 29" wheels? http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/shimano-mt15-mtb-wheelset/rp-prod121439

I'm not sure what's your thru axle configuration though...