Aaaaaargh - ICE!

Phil Bixby said:

Morals? (i) Never ever panic and (ii) if the weather forecast is for a daytime high of -1c maybe
just maybe don't be a wally and get the bike out!

Once you're moving fast on the ice there's little you can do other than to let the bike carry on
rolling and do as little as possible in the way of braking or steering to upset it. If a crash is
inevitable bail out early.

--
Dave...

Phil Bixby said:

Happy New Year everyone :o) Phil B York, UK

Whoa way to go Phil as they'd say Stateside !

Yes I bottled out of the cycle commute early this week after sliding in my
car in the Homebase car park. I resumed as normal today with the warmer and
wetter weather.
Alan
"Phil Bixby" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Decided yesterday that the seasonal chocolate intake needed burning off

and

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so wrapped up well and set off from York to Malton. Took the fairly-well-used backroad but the
veeeeery cold wind and damp road was slippy in places - enough for me to decide that, much as I
hate main

roads,

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it was safer to return on the A64. Set off back, keeping as near as

possible

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to the edge of the road as 70mph traffic whisked past, but noted with

unease

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that there were a lot of frozen puddles. Doesn't road-salting do away with them??

All was okay-ish until the start of the big hill down from Whitwell-on-the-Hill - yes the fast
dual carriageway bit, for those who

know

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the area. Decided to moderate speed as edge of road had frost and ice on

it.

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Touch of rear brake brought on instant fishtailing; touch of front brake unstuck the front, and
off we went on a two-wheeled slide.... all very exhilerating except there was about half a mile of
increasingly steep,

dual

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carriageway, well-trafficked hill still to go.

After a couple of seconds pondering heading onto the verge for a cut-your-losses crash, I decided
to take my chances and somehow eased the by-now shimmying bike out into the left-hand lane, hoping
for more grip

and

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a bit of chance with the brakes. Instant slide again, but of course now doing 30-odd and
accelerating. At this point I decided to repeat to myself

a

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reassuring mantra, leave the brakes well alone, and hang on. The sliding continued on and off for
a 40-odd mph terrifying descent of the hill... ...but I eventually found myself at the bottom,
still upright, with the tyres apparently now gripping the road and with speed decreasing. "Thank
you"'s were said, and the rest of the journey taken with great caution.

Morals? (i) Never ever panic and (ii) if the weather forecast is for a daytime high of -1c maybe
just maybe don't be a wally and get the bike

out!

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Happy New Year everyone :o) Phil B York, UK

Dave Kahn said:

Phil Bixby said:

Morals? (i) Never ever panic and (ii) if the weather forecast is for a daytime high of -1c maybe
just maybe don't be a wally and get the bike out!

Once you're moving fast on the ice there's little you can do other than to let the bike carry on
rolling and do as little as possible in the way of braking or steering to upset it. If a crash is
inevitable bail out early.

For some reason, crashing on ice tends to result in being dumped on my stomach as the front wheel
washes out. It's never damaged me but it certainly knocks the wind out.

On Thu, 01 Jan 2004 21:56:55 +0000, Zog The Undeniable <[email hidden]>

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For some reason, crashing on ice tends to result in being dumped on my stomach as the front wheel
washes out. It's never damaged me but it certainly knocks the wind out.

Last time it happened to me I landed on my ribs at a spot halfway between my side and my back. In
judo the ice would have scored waza-ari. I was still holding the bars when I landed. The spot that
hit the ice wasn't hurt, but the front of the ribcage was very sore for a few days. The ribs must
have pushed forward and torn some inter-costal muscle. :-)

--
Dave...

Well done Phil. With bottle like that you should get a job as the next England cricket coach! I was impressed by your will power in avoiding touching the brakes. Were you on a road bike or a wider tyred machine?

"Phil Bixby" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

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slippy in places - enough for me to decide that, much as I hate main

roads,

Quoted message said:

it was safer to return on the A64. Set off back, keeping as near as

possible

Quoted message said:

to the edge of the road as 70mph traffic whisked past, but noted with

unease

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that there were a lot of frozen puddles. Doesn't road-salting do away with them??

When riding on a highway with high-speed trafic, I think its is safer not to ride "as near as
possible to the edge of the road" because the car drivers seem to neglect you totally often driving
so close that dangerous situations arise. I usually ride on one of the "car wheel tracks" in the
rode lane since the cars then tend to yield more and essentially treat you as other slower moving
two-wheelers, motorcycles or scooters. A srong rear light is mandatory (and optionally a reflective
vest ). You may have to leran to neglect some honking horns, though.

Gravel, glass and other debris also tend to accumulate on the edge of the road shoulder incraesing
the risk for damaging your tyres, while the car wheel tracks are continously kept clean by the high-
speed viechels. And, finally to the question you rise, the ice prblem is smaller.

Regards Erik, Trondheim, Norway (Who uses studded tyres during the winter months. I do not think
that is a cost effective option in the central UK, I assume you have few days with really icy roads)

Alan said:

Yes I bottled out of the cycle commute early this week after sliding in my car in the Homebase car
park. I resumed as normal today with the warmer and wetter weather.

Well, I couldn't get the garage door open so couldn't get the bike out. When life thaws out a little
I'll stick the studded tyres on the MTB and go for a spin.

..d

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Last time it happened to me I landed on my ribs at a spot halfway
between my side and my back. In judo the ice would have scored
waza-ari. I was still holding the bars when I landed. The spot that
hit the ice wasn't hurt, but the front of the ribcage was very sore
for a few days. The ribs must have pushed forward and torn some
inter-costal muscle. :-)

Fell off 1st Jan a few years ago on black ice. I was on the ground on my side really fast; before I
had a chance to put hand/arm out, which may have prevented broken wrist &/or clavicle. The ice &
ground wore thru' 3 of the 4 layers on my hip, but no gravel rash, just a huge bruise.

Anyway, time to go out again shortly on my knobbly bike thru' all the super gloopy mud here in the
Chilterns; did the 30 mile road bit yesterday, weight almost back to pre-Xmas levels!

Niv. (Chas Roberts, Hodsworth, Marin [mtb] & Honda CB500 [easier up hills!]).

...and I thought this was a complaint about in-car entertainment...ah well ;-) Funnily enough, all
my 'accidents' have occurred when I've braked and consequently lost control of the bike, usually off-
road MTB-ing though. Don't think it's happened yet on-road (except for twice on motor-bikes
:-( )...
who knows, maybe lesson 3. is 'Never ever (under any circumstances), use the brakes!! ' Dave.

"Spider1977" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Well done Phil. With bottle like that you should get a job as the next England cricket coach! I
was impressed by your will power in avoiding touching the brakes. Were you on a road bike or a
wider tyred machine?

It was me road bike on 23mm tyres - I've always been a nervous bugger on fast hills so in a way
being forced to keep off the brakes was probably a good thing. Attempting the same trick on a nice
dry ice-free hill should be childs play - roll on spring!

Phil B York, UK

"Niv" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Fell off 1st Jan a few years ago on black ice. I was on the ground on my side really fast; before
I had a chance to put hand/arm out, which may have prevented broken wrist &/or clavicle. The ice
& ground

wore

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thru' 3 of the 4 layers on my hip, but no gravel rash, just a huge bruise.

Most of my falling off over the years has been done on motorcycles while wearing leathers - I don't
have too much faith in lycra keeping me in one piece.... ...tho I suppose the good thing about icy
roads is they're none too abrasive!

Phil B York, UK

Phil Bixby <[email hidden]> wrote:
: Decided yesterday that the seasonal chocolate intake needed burning off and so wrapped up well and
: set off from York to Malton. Took the

Scary stuff. Dave Belcher, ex of this group, once had a bad speed shimmy coming down that hill and
bailed out onto the lorry gravel trap. He said he stopped very quickly but the landing was
reasonably soft!

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune clune.orgclune.orgOpen ↗ "Technolibertarians make a philosophy out of a personality defect"
- Paulina Borsook

"Arthur Clune" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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..and bailed out onto the lorry gravel trap. He said he stopped very quickly but the landing was
reasonably soft!

Arthur

My other half suggested this as a solution but to be honest I was so frozen with fear on the way
down that I didn't even notice there WAS one!

Have taken my own advice this morning re rides when the forecast is for sleet and minus one degrees
- Saturday morning training ride swapped for saturday morning shopping walk!

Phil

Phil Bixby said:

Have taken my own advice this morning re rides when the forecast is for sleet and minus one
degrees - Saturday morning training ride swapped for saturday morning shopping walk!

Phil

Mrs MSeries is trying to persuade me to yomp to Morrisons now that I have abandoned hope of cycling
today :-(. Going to be too busy tomorrow with the bike sale in Leeds and then going to Cov. in the
afternoon. No cycling this weekend, hope Tuesday & Wednesday evenings are good enough

"MSeries" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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. No cycling this weekend, hope Tuesday & Wednesday evenings are good

enough

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I'm lucky in being self-employed, and also having site visits to do which are cycling distance.
Hence I can get out and nearly kill myself during the day if the weather's bad enough! How you
fellas who have to keep office hours manage to keep riding through winter amazes me - I'm sure I'd
be right back to square one fitness-wise by April

Phil B York, UK

MSeries <[email hidden]> wrote:
: Phil Bixby wrote:

:> Have taken my own advice this morning re rides when the forecast is for sleet and minus one
:> degrees

: Mrs MSeries is trying to persuade me to yomp to Morrisons now that I have abandoned hope of
: cycling today :-(.

Yeah. Not nice in York was it this morning. I stuck with a short turbo session then spent the
afternoon very productivly cleaning bikes and resucing my fixie from a friends shed where it has
been for the past 6 months.

: hope Tuesday & Wednesday evenings are good enough

So do I. I'm hoping to get a ride in on the way home from work on either tuesday or wednesday

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune clune.orgclune.orgOpen ↗ "Technolibertarians make a philosophy out of a personality defect"
- Paulina Borsook

Arthur Clune said:

MSeries <[email hidden]> wrote:
: Phil Bixby wrote:

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:> Have taken my own advice this morning re rides when the forecast is for sleet and minus one
:> degrees

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: Mrs MSeries is trying to persuade me to yomp to Morrisons now that I have abandoned hope of
: cycling today :-(.

I settled for doing some serious concrete smashing instead of a ride. Lots of calories burnt off,
far too many to go.

I'll stick the fancy tyres on the bike tomorrow and head up the local hill (was too icy to take the
visitors to the top of the Law yesterday evening).

..d

Arthur Clune said:

MSeries said:

Phil Bixby wrote:

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Have taken my own advice this morning re rides when the forecast is for sleet and minus one
degrees

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Mrs MSeries is trying to persuade me to yomp to Morrisons now that I have abandoned hope of
cycling today :-(.

Yeah. Not nice in York was it this morning. I stuck with a short turbo session then spent the
afternoon very productivly cleaning bikes and resucing my fixie from a friends shed where it has
been for the past 6 months.

I'm in Morley near Leeds, work in York during the week at the Science Park.

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So do I. I'm hoping to get a ride in on the way home from work on either tuesday or wednesday

The wife is at college Tuesday & Wednesday evening so I can do an hour or so. Got my new front lamp
(EL-300) to try out this week :-)

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Arthur