The wind has gone, but the temperature has been around zero for12 hours.
At least MMW has been salted.
Take care.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Commuting
"Severe weather warning"
(7461 posts)-
Posted 11 years ago #
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About to do Saughton Park>Roseburn again this morning. Wish me luck, or alternatively wish for me that I should have gotten studded tyres by now....
Posted 11 years ago # -
I headed cautiously along the canal from the lifting bridge to Riccarton this morning and found that nearly all was fine apart from patches of ice across the path in Wester Hailes around the area where the canal turns to head North around the city bypass. I rolled straight over most of these without too much worry, but decided to get off and just push my bike over the grass at the right-left bit near the pedestrian bridge. I think I'll just bypass that entire section on the road later on...
Posted 11 years ago # -
As @chdot says, MMW was well gritted, but not most of the adjacent paths, which are supposed to have same priority.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I gave NMW a miss this morning after hearing about the tree yesteday, so I just went straight down MMW, which seemed fine, then around Melville Drive. Sounds like I will probably retrace that route later this evening if there's a risk of ice and tree debris to contend with.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Saughton park was a bit iffy this morning, few bits of ice lurking around corners, I was also assuming that all the frosty piles of leaves might be concealing all manner of slipperiness so I stayed clear. Roads fine and the Russel road terminus of the NEPN was salted.
Currently there is frozen water beginning to fall from the sky. Unheard of for December ;)
Posted 11 years ago # -
Started out yesterday as the day was still. Then saw patches of ice. Stuff that - not in the daylight but on my return home at night, especially as it was so cold that it wouldn't thaw. Went back home again and got the bus. Was rather late but colleagues said I was sensible.
Posted 11 years ago # -
And on Windy Thursday a colleague saw a woman blown off her cycle on Fountainbridge, which is breezy at the best of times. Frankly, I thought cycling in that was insane. I was once blown sideways from a blast through a wind tunnel and broke my wrist. There was a mass of debris blowing about the roads - bits of metal signs and bollards.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Funny rain sleet stuff last night when I was cycling back from the Churchill theatre about 11pm it was just rain but with enough frozen material that it lay in a fine dusting in some nooks and crannies.
Think I might have caught a cold, second night in a row I have done that late night trip and now not very well and requiring hot toddy for very sore muscles.
First night ninja boys, o lights, NE on road did have orangish onesy which showed up not too bad, just pedalled on by
Posted 11 years ago # -
@Rosie
I often have colleagues advising me not to cycle for one reason or another. Mostly car driving fatties, and I just about hold my lounge from quoting heart disease stats back at them.
Re last Thursday, I won't tell you when to cycle if you don't tell me when not to. I don't see what gives you the right to call others insane. Matter of personal choice to balance risks. In any case, cycling is basically safe, and we shouldn't give in to the attitude that its all to dangerous and only for the reckless.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I approached my Thursday morning commute as if it was an extreme sports event rather than just getting to t'office. Compared to my usual half-asleep trundling to work, the level of thought that went into clothing, route, bike choice and preparation before I left home was unrecognisable, let alone the extra and constant attention paid to keeping my balance once I was rolling.
Like many other extreme sports persons, I take 'insane' as a compliment, since even with hindsight I think my risk controls were adequate.
I wouldn't call anyone who stayed off the bike lazy or cowardly(and it's hard not to read that accusation into your post, apologies if I am mistaken in doing so) because they in all probability haven't got a nice stable disc-braked bike, my dense build and previous experience of windy conditions. It would be insane for a person without them to have gone out, just as it would have been for me to flouce out in my civvies on the daily beater like I normally do.
Posted 11 years ago # -
@rosie - wind definitely dangerous. ice harder to judge - you know your route etc.
i'm much happier now we have our spikey tyre on (thanks Dave!)
Posted 11 years ago # -
And this week is to be practically tropical too !
Posted 11 years ago # -
I'm with Uberuce here. I know plenty of people who are 100% fair weather cyclists and it would be crazy for them to venture out in 30mph+ gusts, battering rain and slipperiness everywhere. I can cope with horrendous conditions but I'm under no illusions that they are anywhere close to being as easy, safe and carefree as a lazy summers day.
Today was a good example - I fancied a ride down to Newhaven, and had the choice of 2 bikes. First was my road bike with narrow drop bars, narrow tyres, rim brakes and high gearing. I've ridden it in light rain and winds and never found it confidence inspiring to say the least. Second choice is a hardtail mtb with wide slicks, hydraulic discs, low gearing and a very wide flat bar. Vastly more stable in wind, rain and on mulchy, slidy surfaces. Heck every time I ride discs in the wet it's such a shock to go back to how appalling and pant-wetting rim brakes can be. On top of this, I'm also dressed entirely in wool and synthetics, and was packing heavy waterproofs in the pannier.
As well as having the right bike and clothing for the task I also have years of experience dealing with these sorts of conditions. Now of course a bit of light rain and a stiff breeze isn't nearly as bad as what we've had recently but the principle is the same: If people who don't have the desire or confidence to venture out then they should not be made to feel they've made a mistake; likewise for those of us who feel we are prepared to go out even in 'insane' conditions.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Yeah, another +1 for Uberuce's post. The main reason I got on my bike on Thursday morning was the challenge, and being able to say I'd done it. Various people at work said I was mental for doing it; goal achieved.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I can't deny enjoying the mystique that seems to go along with not using a car and not immediately dying.
I do feel a bit dishonest about it though. Apart from putting on a waterproof because it was raining, I don't take any special precautions or make any special plans.
I don't truthfully understand why people get so cranked up over cycling in mild extremes of our super-temperate climate. If you ride a bike in Edinburgh you're daily being driven at by texting cereal-eating drunk taxi drivers who've slipped behind the wheel of an HGV which constantly wants to turn left and they can't find the indicator stalk. To say nothing of the bad drivers!
Posted 11 years ago # -
I walked my toddler to nursery in a pushchair for the first time in 2 years.
Was slightly taken aback to see a dad there with a childseat as we arrived, but hey, they seem to have survived, meanwhile I have to convince my boy that buggies are only for bad storms, otherwise it is daddy's bike or balance bike...
Posted 11 years ago # -
It would be interesting to see whether modal change due to weather events leads to more casualties than the weather itself. Post 9/11 the modal shift from air to driving apparently led to over 500 extra deaths a year (so 12,000 now, versus the 250 on the planes that were hijacked).
I'm not sure that would work for riding though since the mortality per journey is practically the highest for our mode as it is (unless people switch en-mass to motorbikes!)
Posted 11 years ago # -
I don't truthfully understand why people get so cranked up over cycling in mild extremes of our super-temperate climate.
Probably to take our minds off being driven at by texting cereal-eating drunk taxi drivers!
When I was at university we had quite a few exchange students from Scandinavia and Canada. They'd arrive in sunny Glasgow in September and feel quite confident they could cope with whatever our relatively mild winter could conjure. Was interesting speaking to them again in Spring, the most frequent thing I heard was they actually thought -5C in Glasgow felt far worse than -35C in Stockholm or wherever - apparently ours is a 'wet' cold that gets under the clothes and chills you to the bone, whereas the winters they were used to had dry air that was more easily coped with.
Also reminds me of IIRC Ray Mears or some similar program in which the guy was dropped into the middle of the Scottish Highlands in winter. He concluded that our weather is more than the sum of it's parts; by the raw numbers of wind and temperature it wouldn't seem to be all that bad; but he found there was this relentless brutality about it that combined with the constant variability made it much tougher than he was expecting.
Still it would be nice if we could calmly explain to our journalists and newspapers that this 'winter' thing tends to come around yearly and doesn't always herald the apocalypse etc.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Also - better insulated houses. Central heating, and warmer winter clothes?
(What I still don't get here is people walking around withouth mittens or gloves in freezing weather. Or worse, pushing their kids in buggies in bitter weather with no mittens on.)
The first two years it was on, the fireworks at Watsons were striking for people with kids in party dresses etc. you could spot the foreigners with kids in thermals and snow suits. This year I saw fewer innappropriately dressed. Maybe people do learn?
Posted 11 years ago # -
I did some local cycling on Thursday then into office after wind had abated. Bike park under the building normally 100+ bikes down to maybe 15 bikes.
You should make a judgement call based on weather conditions. For example I will opt to use the valley of the WoL Path to avoid wind, usually on return. Sometimes leads to climbing over fallen trees.
when I was younger I would take more risks
I can cycle in most conditions but I will always weigh up the options. However, I would not generalise from my behaviour to anyone else.
Last Thursday those who cycled were in the minority even of the regular cyclists?
Posted 11 years ago # -
If the winds gone past 9 or 10 on the Beafort Scale as it did for a while last thursday morning, it is foolish to cycle.
Not because the cycling itself is dangerous, but the entire environment becomes so unpredictable and hazardous.
Naturally thats a charged environment of sufficient challenge to many a young thrill seeker !
Posted 11 years ago # -
"The Christmas from HELL: Biggest winter storm EVER to wreck holidays for millions in UK"
One day this "forecaster", Jonathan Powell, is going to get a forecast right. He's probably doing quite well if the Express is paying for all his forecasts that they have been regularly splashing with.
Posted 11 years ago # -
"If the winds gone past 9 or 10 on the Beafort Scale as it did for a while last thursday morning, it is foolish to cycle.
Not because the cycling itself is dangerous, but the entire environment becomes so unpredictable and hazardous."
Surely that applies equally to walking though? And the walks to and from the bus stop at either end, as well as standing waiting, I'm probbaly as exposed to the elements for longer than I would be on the bike...
Posted 11 years ago # -
Surely that applies equally to walking though? And the walks to and from the bus stop at either end, as well as standing waiting, I'm probbaly as exposed to the elements for longer than I would be on the bike...
Having seen the debris around the New Town after some of there storms, I'd say yes. Best to just stay home. :-)
Posted 11 years ago # -
agreed, yeah.
another one due on saturday around 4-5pm by the look of it
http://www.yr.no/place/United_Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/hour_by_hour.html
Posted 11 years ago # -
"The Christmas from HELL: Biggest winter storm EVER to wreck holidays for millions in UK"
OMG, We're aww DOOMED!!
Posted 11 years ago # -
Posted 11 years ago #
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Distinct lack of extreme winter wx just now, just over an hour ago I rode my Brompton down to Haymarket wearing collar, tie + blazer, and with no hat or gloves was quite comfortable. Very nice it was too! :-)
Posted 11 years ago #
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