CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure

Ice

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  1. Instography
    Member

    @wingpig
    Those were the tiniest, sharpest hail stones ever.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  2. lionfish
    Member

    re gritting: Earlier today I did see the cycle path from Bruntsfield diagonally across to the bottom of Marchmont Road being gritted - don't know if they did all of it.

    Minimoth is wondering whether to cycle tomorrow - it all depends on whether the NEPN has been gritted. I wish that they'd admit if it hasn't been - that would be safer than saying it's priority one and gritted, then having people turn up and then fall over. :/

    I was looking online to see if a gritter exists that could go on a trailer on the back of a bicycle/tricycle - anyone know if such a thing exists?
    I don't know how many kgs of grit you need per mile so whether such an idea is feasible: I found I was able to lightly do a thin stripe down 100m of pavement with only a few scoops of grit (maybe 3kg?). So I guess it might be about 1kg = 10m of cycle path? 7000m of path = 700kg. hmm, it would definitely be a half-day's worth of work (thinking it's more than the time the CCE crew spent chopping trees). Maybe if someone had a 50kg crate of grit on the back of uberuce's trailer and sat on the back and sprinkled as someone cycled them slowly down the path? :D might have to borrow a trike from somewhere too though.

    Anyway, g'night all!

    Posted 11 years ago #
  3. SRD
    Moderator

    @lionfish - that's Leamington walk (i think?)

    Posted 11 years ago #
  4. Instography
    Member

    I was thinking the same about a trailer-based gritting machine but then I thought, 'screw that'. But it does mean that the Council is not in the least bit serious.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  5. wee folding bike
    Member

    Tried to persuade the memsahib that I hadn't been out riding around on the ice for fun…

    She has known me for a number of years and didn't seem convinced.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  6. Popped round to the desolate wasteland that is Asda after 11pm in the car tonight and their car park is really starting to ice over. Ice tyres the morra!

    Posted 11 years ago #
  7. ruggtomcat
    Member

    Actually walked round arthurs seat tonight, pushing the bike :( it was ok in fact but when I got to my road it was icy enough to make walking up it difficult. Also saw a ped fall on their arse on totally flat pavement. Really dont want to injure myse;f again as a lot of work coming up this month.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  8. Smudge
    Member

    Hard packed snow and ice all over the Polmont area, still to see what Edinburgh is like, go careful out there everyone!

    Posted 11 years ago #
  9. Darkerside
    Member

    I reckon a hand pushed seed scattering thing could be effectively combined with a trailer to create a cycle-drawn gritter.

    As mentioned though, this would be entertaining for a small whole, but in the end you're just doing the council's job for them...

    Posted 11 years ago #
  10. Smudge
    Member

    Ok, west Edinburgh is treacherous with large amounts of ice on almost all srfaces (including the edges of the over-gritted bus routes). Unless you have spikies and/or Danny Mac level skillz I couldn't recommend riding in this morning :-(

    Otoh, if you have either of the above it's a lovely crisp (bloomin' cold!) morning :-)

    Posted 11 years ago #
  11. SRD
    Moderator

    King's buildings weather station reporting below freezing since midnight.

    Canal frozen again.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  12. SRD
    Moderator

    Just spottd two cyclists making slow but steading progress alongthe canalpath.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  13. chdot
    Admin

    BBC R4 weather - "hard frost across UK tonight".

    Posted 11 years ago #
  14. Uberuce
    Member

    Tyre track numbers on Broomhouse suggest most gave up after yesterday morning and either took to the road.

    Chesser Road, which is a 35 bus route, looked untreated to me this morning, a bit of a worry.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  15. Instography
    Member

    Not joking, I seriously thought that the NEPN had been gritted and that it would be reasonably OK. So, having avoided the stretch between the golf courses at Barnton (which I had been told wouldn't be gritted) and gone around Davidson's Mains and on down to Crewe Toll, I thought I'd hop up onto the (gritted) path and come back in to Haymarket. Should have turned back when I saw how icy the access ramps were but pressed on in the 18th century spirit of adventure.

    Very icy, ranging from patches of sheet ice to a coating of crunchy ice krispies. Occasional patches where rutted slush has solidified. I came back off again at Blackhall. The roads are safer and I reckon when you're deciding that the roads are safer #itsnotacyclepath

    Posted 11 years ago #
  16. Dave
    Member

    ... but it's a priority one route! Do you mean to say that when it comes to cycle routes, "priority one" really means "priority none" after all? </shocked!>

    Posted 11 years ago #
  17. chdot
    Admin

    KB now 'shot up' to 1 degree

    http://www.geos.ed.ac.uk/abs/Weathercam/station/24hours.html

    Don't expect path thaw any time soon though!

    Posted 11 years ago #
  18. Dave
    Member

    For those who use NEPN connected to Ocean Drive by the recently reopened crossing / ramp, I spent five minutes this morning removing the collapsed railings from the path, so it's not like riding a skinny at Glentress any more.

    Also took the opportunity to 'optimise' the railing line at the bend, so it's less of a needless double hairpin.

    VERY icy though. A good opportunity for me to ride around on studs on pure ice, but other than that, not so much fun.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  19. chdot
    Admin

    Meanwhile in Copenhagen -

    http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=161#post-1327

    Posted 11 years ago #
  20. SRD
    Moderator

    Leamington walk is ice from one end to the other (except under pile of grit presumably). I was okay with studs. saw one or two other cyclists (including one on gatorskins!). When I tried putting my foot down, it was way to slippery for walking.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  21. thebikechain
    Member

    I equipped the might HD with Spike Claws and manned it out this morning and yesterday.

    Leaving the house and rolling down into the Dell was interesting. Many cars can't get up such is the ice so i felt quite smug.

    Woods patchy but not bad.

    Canal suprisingly grippy.

    Town fine.

    Crack on!

    Posted 11 years ago #
  22. wingpig
    Member

    The path alongside the road from the Scotsman roundabout to the Pollock roundabout is untreated and frosty but usable. Scotsman roundabout slightly icy towards the centre island. Ice in the potholes/gaps/trenches along Grange/Strathearn Roads and Church Hill has frost all over it except where a fair few tyres have rolled. Townwards along Morningside Road/Bruntsfield Place OK.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  23. steveo
    Member

    Tyre track numbers on Broomhouse suggest most gave up after yesterday morning and either took to the road.

    Chesser Road, which is a 35 bus route, looked untreated to me this morning, a bit of a worry

    Seen plenty folk trying the path when I went passed... Rather them than me, looked treacherous.

    Ahhh, Chesser Avenue! I was trying to work out where Chesser Road was...

    No weather related issues this morning, one moron in a beemer and there is something "not right" with my bike but thats going ot.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  24. kaputnik
    Moderator

    I took main roads and avoided all side streets. Was largely clear, except the gutters, around road works and at junctions with side streets where ice had collected.

    Broomhouse Path largely abandoned and tyre-track free, as were the bike racks in the office. Previous years there were a couple of routes I could have taken, but thanks to the ongoing Haymarket closure, I'm pretty much down to 2 options, which are along Slateford Road or along Gorgie Road. Only real option for getting into the Gyle itself is main road at South Gyle Access, which couldn't be more hostile for cyclists if they tried (well, maybe it could have one of those Leith Walk cyclist blenders)

    Posted 11 years ago #
  25. Saw it was dry this morning and revised my studded commute plan - but then I stuck to the main roads, so I don't know what the Innocent is like. In the spirit of seeing if it's received the same priority treatment as the NEPN I'll take it tomorrow I think.

    What I think needs to be got across to the council folk isn't that the cyclepaths need gritted at the same time as the roads, but that the cyclepaths actually ice up earlier, and for longer, and so while their predictions might be saying 'cold but not too icy' meaning they don't send the gritters out, out on the cyclepaths things might be different - what would be really helpful is for them to have someone involved in the gritting-decision process to have one cycle contact who frequents places like this or Twitter or rides the paths themselves who can report and say 'yes, the roads are clear, but could you stick the wee tractor gritter down the NEPN'.

    In other news there was a wee tractor gritter doing the pavements on the Royal Mile today.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  26. SRD
    Moderator

    "that the cyclepaths actually ice up earlier, and for longer, and so while their predictions might be saying 'cold but not too icy' meaning they don't send the gritters out, out on the cyclepaths things might be different"

    @wc I tried to get this point across last year, but I think it was too complex. this year i'm sticking to 'just grit it pleeease'.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  27. wingpig
    Member

    "In other news there was a wee tractor gritter doing the pavements on the Royal Mile today."

    There yesterday too, going along at two miles an hour two feet behind a completely oblivious (or perhaps dedicatedly obstinate) iPod zombie.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  28. kaputnik
    Moderator

    there was a wee tractor gritter doing the pavements on the Royal Mile today

    I recall observing that in the bad winters 2/3 years ago, there was always a more than liberal coating of salt and grit between George IV Bridge and City Chambers.

    Funny that.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  29. kaputnik
    Moderator

    @wc I tried to get this point across last year, but I think it was too complex. this year i'm sticking to 'just grit it pleeease'.

    And any "we're looking into logistics" response are to be countered with "just send someone out with a shovel and a wheelbarrow full of grit and stop making excuses"

    Posted 11 years ago #
  30. chdot
    Admin

    By email

    "
    Actual canal path fine if you go slow at dips to bridges – no ice on the aquaduct. But all accesses very slippy, and had to walk on the grass instead of the path down from Edinburg Park station.. Will come back on the road

    "

    Posted 11 years ago #

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