What's good about winter cycling

[gbnz]

Still enjoyed it though.

Hmm...have to admit it's been a ....Christmas. And the five weeks before

But the 25 mile round ride over the moors on Christmas Day, with an inch of snow on the road and a bike not fitted with "full winter kit" , c/w thin, inadequate karrimor gloves, whilst below freezing and £0.99 battery lights standing in for the £80.00 state of the art dynamo lights still in the cupboard? (Nb. Have to admit my bike wasn't "legal", no legal pedals, nor front reflector )

Fantastic ride. Helped on meeting my 79 yr old mother at the end of it, still complaining it's not really winter (Nb. Suppose they used to close school at -26 when I was a kid, but to my mother, it had to be below -30). In the UK they start to panic at 0 . God, they're soft ). They haven't got wolves, never mind bears, it's unreal (Nb. Suppose we had steel trash cans and they were kept indoors in winter, just in case)

[mjr]

Beautiful clear skies and sun on the ride to the local seaside resort and back today, through the rubbish left by the receded floods. Tier 4 meant the roads were clearer than usual and despite the travel restrictions, not many of the townspeople were exercising on the seafront.

[Pebble]

finally a touch of winter today, just a dusting of snow but when its like this it is just a joy to be out


but then there is the scary bits with lots of ice that need to be avoided. esp. at the moment where a trip to hospital for a minor break could be a death sentence and even worse than that, the grinding noise of the rear rim as you try to limit speed to 5mph and only dare touch the rear break

[youtube]xB9Vw2OsGHk[/youtube]

about 12 mile of my ride was like this, just wonderful at times but the concentration levels make it pretty wearing, and the low speeds at -3 can make it tortuously cold.

great day out but 5 hours for 40 miles

[Clouded Leopard]

For me it is that we change from cold rain in winter to warm rain in summer. Something to look forward too anyway.

[GeekDadZoid]

Another winter ride, was around -1 for the whole ride just a couple of hours ride to have a brew in my mum's garden and back home. The country lanea where basically ice rinks with my mum's roads being thick with ice but I took it easy.

Really need to sort out keeping my feet warm.

[Chris56]

Great thread this, I love reading it just to simply admire the amazing photos people are posting.

[roubaixtuesday]

Couple from today's ride

[peetee]

I would really like it if it properly snowed down here. It would make a change to weeks of damp, wet and miserable weather. I also have a pair of studded tyres to try out.

[Mick F]

Photo from March 2018 ........... the last time it snowed here.

Calstock Road out of Gunnislake at Hatches Green.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.51762 ... 312!8i6656

[peetee]

Yeh but your ‘here’ is Up Country. I iz a loooong wayz frum Inglund.

[Traction_man]

All of the above!!
I find riding in Autumn/Winter makes me feel better mentally.
It beats sitting inside any day

That's a good point, for me it's sometimes difficult to get the motivation to head out (esp now doing the same old routes locally) but once I am out and assuming the weather is half-way decent then I always come back feeling pleased with myself, even if it is only a shortish spin.

Plus when the sun does come out and the wind drops it's a real bonus to otherwise dark days and long nights...

strangford lough.jpg

54.35437531860698, -5.528782718747712 ?

pretty close!!

it's actually here--https://goo.gl/maps/rozYjRuD81znudYb6

lovely part of the world

cheers,

Keith

[alexnharvey]

Very nice, I don't think I've ever been right down to the end of the peninsula but sailed by many times.

[Mick F]

Wet sleet earlier, turning to dry sleet. Looks like it's getting wet again now.
Woke up this morning to a thick covering of frost, but that had all gone by 11am.
If the temp drops later, it's going to be treacherous out there as all that damp sleet covering the un-gritted roads will be like ice sheets.

Just looking out of the window.
Wet damp snow now. Looking at it landing on the car, it's thawing as it's landing on it.

If it freezes later, I ain't going out tomorrow morning!

[Mick F]

Photo from near the top of Gunnislake Hill only a few minutes ago. Courtesy of FaceBook and Mrs Mick F's friends. (I don't do FB)
Cycled up that hill more times than I care to think about. Down it too.
You wouldn't get me on the bike today for all the tea in China.
We used to live at the house where the BMW is parked.

[Pneumant]

Ice Tyres! I adapted a pair of old MTB tyres with tiny self-tappers a couple of yrs ago for just such conditions. Cycling on the iced up roads produces a strange feeling of invulnerability, actually best fun I've had on a bike for ages and I found myself searching out ever more treacherous ice flows to conquer If we get an additional layer of snow / ice here tonight will fit them for a New Year ice ride