CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Commuting

"Severe weather warning"

(7379 posts)

  1. Ed1
    Member

    Just home long dalmahoy road icy ,worse than expected think it's because few cars to break the ice, heat the road on Sunday evening. The path I use through heriot watt has a barrier up saying icy had to go around it on verge, was not that bad.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  2. ARobComp
    Member

    I were in shorts today and yesterday. Mainly to avoid being uncomfortably warm when I enter shops/cafes houses etc which are usually cranked up unbearably warm the second there is a twinkle of frost on the car windscreens.

    I'm riding to the station at 6:30am tomorrow and getting a bit nervous. Mainroads for me I think.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  3. jdanielp
    Member

    Any canal towpath updates would be appreciated.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  4. gembo
    Member

    Last night was icy in patches, dry for long stretches

    Posted 6 years ago #
  5. SRD
    Moderator

    Query from @edintravel re NEPN. Has it been gritted?

    Posted 6 years ago #
  6. On the bus this morning - but from what I could see of the Broomhouse / Stenhouse / Bankhead section of the off-road path, it wasn't gritted.

    (In previous years, when that hasn't been gritted it's usually a good indication that other busy commuter routes on the NEPN haven't been gritted either).

    Posted 6 years ago #
  7. fimm
    Member

    Bloody cold in Livingston (and my office could be warmer, but I expect the heating hasn't been on over the weekend so I hope it will improve).
    Can't comment on paths round here as I avoid them when it is icy as I don't think many are cleared or gritted.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  8. Stickman
    Member

    Saw someone saying the Leith Walk lanes haven't been gritted.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  9. amir
    Member

    Not cycling in today - am having to work from home to deal with frozen pipes (insulation too good?)

    Posted 6 years ago #
  10. wingpig
    Member

    NEPN has smatterings of grit at Five Ways and Drylaw. Big icy puddle under Queensferry Road with a cone in it. No grit or ice or frost between Lindsay Road and Five Ways. @edintravel telt on the Twitters.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  11. unhurt
    Member

    Not slippy on way in from friends place in Corstorphine but stayed on the road till Russell Road just in case. Moe importantly, put on all the layers as it was so cold, arrived a sweaty mess, except toes, which are still frozen. Hmm. Need to find some way to transfer heat to extremities.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  12. amir
    Member

    Not sure that the kb weather station is usesful in this weather. It's reading 0.9 degrees whereas it's over 5 degrees cooler in Eskbank

    Posted 6 years ago #
  13. rider73
    Member

    -5.5 in dalgety bay today - i decided to drive in, but saw 2 people on bikes on the cycle path next to A90 as you go into Edinburgh.
    paths look ok there. hope they got in ok!

    Posted 6 years ago #
  14. HankChief
    Member

    Frosty rather than icy in the West of the city. Nae bother* but then I do have studs.

    *couldn't find my pass and had to ransack my various panniers in the cold trying to find it before giving in and submitting to the lycra walk of shame into reception.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  15. jdanielp
    Member

    The towpath was very frosty in places with patches of ice here and there, but clear in other places. On the whole it was quite manageable without winter tyres, although I did dismount to cross the Slateford Aqueduct again and I would say that the sketchiest part that I cycled on was the west end of the Scott Russell Aqueduct. In my umming and erring about whether or not to cycle and what to wear, I managed not to pack my work pass so, like HankChief, I arrived via reception in my cycling gear for the first time in ages...

    Posted 6 years ago #
  16. dessert rat
    Member

    bracing - i should be warm enough by about 4pm when its time to repeat. Plus no water in office - argh.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  17. dougal
    Member

    "Need to find some way to transfer heat to extremities."

    I was trying to establish from online researches if stuffing the toe box of my shoes with cotton wool would help at all. SPDs are too well ventilated.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  18. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    "Need to find some way to transfer heat to extremities."

    Perhaps a fluid pumped through a system of tubes running through the liver and circulating out to fingers and toes?

    I'll knock up a prototype for Kickstarter.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  19. paddyirish
    Member

    Tin foil, (shiny side in) between the socks and shoes is supposed to help.

    I think the key thing is to ensure your feet have room to move - being squeezed in too tight by thicker socks than shoes can handle, or extras e.g cotton wool, reduces circulation and makes things worse.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  20. wingpig
    Member

    I experimented with a rare third top layer this morning but had to remove it after ten minutes. Toes slightly cold in Shimano MT-71s.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  21. rider73
    Member

    you can get lithium ion powered heated soles?
    windproof merino socks?
    for toes i find i have to overcompensate on my torso and legs to keep them warm, ie. extra layers so they are "above" normal warmth.

    isnt there a condition where as soon as your extremeties feel cold blood the vessles contract and therefore dont get any warm blood to them very fast? for some people, once that happens your can be hours before they warm up properly.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  22. rider73
    Member

    you can get lithium ion powered heated soles?
    windproof merino socks?
    for toes i find i have to overcompensate on my torso and legs to keep them warm, ie. extra layers so they are "above" normal warmth.

    isnt there a condition where as soon as your extremeties feel cold blood the vessles contract and therefore dont get any warm blood to them very fast? for some people, once that happens your can be hours before they warm up properly.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  23. IanE
    Member

    Cycle path along side the road between Kirkliston and Queensferry was frosty but no ice. Turned right to follow road to Royal Elizabeth Yard and had my only slip of the morning as I turned left onto Standingstane Road.

    Couldn't tell if descent from Dalmeny to A90 was icy, slushy, frosty, or incredibly well gritted. No slips but very cautious. Everything from A90 to Barnton seemed fine except for two big (obvious) patches of water-ice on the descent to Crammond Brig.

    Had a horror moment as I took the s-bend just after the Drylaw 'V' and before the red bridge a little fast and saw a big ice patch on the inside of the bend, and a cyclist coming towards me on the outside of the bend. Managed to thread the needle betwixt the two but will take that corner (even) slower for the next couple of days.

    Lots of crackling from my beard as the water vapour from my breath froze in it, satisfying!

    Posted 6 years ago #
  24. Frenchy
    Member

    @rider73 - I think you're meaning Raynaud's syndrome?

    I liked this sentence from its wikipedia page: "The primary treatment is avoiding the cold."

    Posted 6 years ago #
  25. dougal
    Member

    MY wife's life was totally changed when she was prescribed vasodilators for Reynaud's. She was in so much pain for pretty much all of the non-summer months before that.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  26. amir
    Member

    Not sure that the kb weather station is usesful in this weather. It's reading 0.9 degrees whereas it's over 5 degrees cooler in Eskbank

    Looks like it's broken (again)

    Posted 6 years ago #
  27. Arellcat
    Moderator

    I liked this sentence from its wikipedia page: "The primary treatment is avoiding the cold."

    Hiding from the cold is a big reason for me buying the torpedo. Like rider73, on a regular bike I have to be uncomfortably warm around my torso in order to carry enough body heat around my extremities. Gloves make very little difference if my middle isn't warm. I can manage for an hour or two with cold feet, but my fingers go white very easily, and the torpedo was a total game-changer for me.

    This morning I was wearing a t-shirt and a merino wool long-sleeved top, bike shorts and lycra legwarmers, woolly hat and a merino Buff, and my summer cycling gloves. I did add the foam spraydeck to the machine but would've been OK without it.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  28. rider73
    Member

    whats this .... "torpedo" ? dare i ask!?

    Posted 6 years ago #
  29. Frenchy
    Member

    whats this .... "torpedo" ? dare i ask!?

    You'll know it when you see it! You'll only see it briefly though, because it disappears from view very quickly.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  30. HankChief
    Member

    torpedo

    Posted 6 years ago #

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