CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure

Ice

(7 posts)
  • Started 9 years ago by UtrechtCyclist
  • Latest reply from threefromleith

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  1. UtrechtCyclist
    Member

    When I came off my bike in the ice this winter I was pretty surprised. I realised I don't actually know much about when I should be worried about ice and I'm now paranoid.

    Two questions really. Can I assume that, unless it gets down to -2 or -3 overnight or it gets below freezing for more than 24 hours, I don't have to worry about ice?

    Also, presumably the innocent tunnel is warmer than outside during cold weather, so I don't have to worry about ice in there?

    Will be heading down from the meadows to an excellent yet recently controversial community running event in Figgate park this morning.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  2. gembo
    Member

    Ice can come in many forms, I had some on my saddle last night about midnight outside the bowling club in Balerno. The pavements had been gritted. I saw no other ice but was very careful as I had a large bottle of highland park whisky shoved inside the waistband of my jeans.

    Now black ice that is a tricky phenomenon and can be treacherous if rain falls and then the temp dips. You cannot see this. Also dependent on timing of gritting and raining. Grit after rain being better I think than grit before rain?

    None of this helps. The innocent is warmer than outside in winter and colder than outside in summer. I was coming up the tunnel the other evening with a strong easterly wind and it was not windy at all. The prevailing south westerly can be noticeable in the tunnel as you cycle up it.

    Obviously cycling on ice is not the big thing, it is braking, so if you go slow enough you are safer. But then I watched a guy take a corner at murrayfield one winter and followed him round and fell off because he had spikes and I did not.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  3. wee folding bike
    Member

    Took the spikes off a couple of weeks ago.

    Airdrie main roads were gritted last night so they must have expected ice.

    Utrecht, it depends on the road a bit too. Busy roads are less likely to have ice than quieter ones. You might still get it in the shuch.

    Longstaff keeps the spikes on all year because I don't use it much these days.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  4. acsimpson
    Member

    Some spots are also more prone to freezing than others. Crammond Brig can often have frost when the temperature is above freezing.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  5. UtrechtCyclist
    Member

    Thanks all! So I'll conclude 'you can't really know and shouldn't really be reassured by it being half a degree over freezing but shoudn't be unduly worried about the innocent'.

    Black Ice really scares me. But I'm going to cling to the hope that it has to be really cold for this to happen.

    There wasn't a touch of ice around on the innocent this morning, we had a lovely cycle down to Parkrun. Hope everyone had fun on the cycle to Ratho.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  6. wee folding bike
    Member

    If the road has been gritted it can be well below 0ºC and still be OK.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  7. threefromleith
    Member

    My worst falls on ice have been when the outside temp was showing as 4C!

    Posted 9 years ago #

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