CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
Aye I had to do a fair bit of running around doing central errands today. Seemed fairly sensible out there apart from a few dodgy bits around Innocent Railway tunnel.
Positively enjoyed being out and about Although the number of pavement cyclists in the already constricted space of the west end was fairly depressing. Had a word with one or two but felt a bit pointless.
They were gritting the Royal Mile pavements again this morning...
No ice to report on my main road commute today. Expecting some tomorrow though if the last weather forecast I saw is correct.
A light dusting of sticky frost on the ground. Broomhouse Path was fine, apart from the unseasonal and rather unexplained narrowing of the Stenhouse End over the weekend.
Covered a cross-country run down near Hartlepool on Saturday on the ambulance bikes. I'd always assumed cross-country took place on school fields and such. Was not expecting quite so much up/down/thick mud. Blimey.
Anyway, my colleague lost it on ice. Panniers and handlebars took most of the impact, with his shoulder+hip following close behind. Looked painful.
@Darksider - that's my neck of the woods originally - Where was it exactly?
My CX race was cancelled because of thick ice under muddy puddle water.
Summerhill Park. Great fun to ride round.
Ahhh you were but 2-3 minutes ride from my ancestral home just down the road. I\'ll be back there at christmas - had good fun in the summer riding my CX bike around the park and on the BMX track! Fantastic.
We were tempted to give the bmx track a whirl, but were a little concerned we'd damage ourselves! The ambulance bikes aren't designed to launch into the air...
What's the path out along the A8 to the airport like? I plan on heading out that way tomorrow morning and just wondering if it's gritted or not? Icy? Not too bad?
Status report would be most welcome...
duncans posted on the previous page that the A8 path was badly iced over, so I assume ungritted.
I only go to the Gyle, but I'll report a little before 7am when I get into t'office.
@Uberuce, I'm preuming that will have thawed by now, given today and yesterday were quite mild. I'm wondering what current conditions are like though.
Basically, I've scheduled a 100k DIY audax ride tomorrow and face a choice: faster bike, shod with Marathon Pluses, or slower hybrid, shod with spiky Snow Stud tyres? I'm not sure I can sustain audax speeds on the hybrid with spiky tyres, but I don't want to come off at speed on an icy path or a steep descent!
Dilemma time...
Ah, I see that I didn't actually say what I was thinking.
I should have said: duncans post suggests the A8 path, like the Broomhouse path, is not on the Cooncil's gritlist, so whatever I see tomorrow morning is probably going to be mirrored on the A8.
That said, if you're not riding before dawn the way I do, it'd make more sense to listen to someone who is.
Yes, a lot depends on how much frost there is tonight. Then again, as I'm heading inland I daresay the ice will be thicker the further west I go...
@crowriver - A8 path not gritted, excepting a short section courtesy RBS to their bus-stop.
How icy - depends. Airport roundabout with north-facing sheltered spots and runoff from fields is biggest hazard. Westbound, come off Gogarstone Road and go round roundabout on road to avoid worst of it.
As you say, further west, thicker ice.
One night last week I passed someone who eventually caught up with me in Kirkliston. He expressed considerable surprise that I'd been able to stay upright at the airport roundabout section. Winter Marathons just the ticket!
@duncans, thanks for the advice. Much appreciated!
I suspect I may be facing a new challenge tomorrow: audaxing on a heavy-ish hybrid with spiky tyres! Basically a 29-er with knobblies. Could be my first 'out of time' on a 100k...
Have faith, Mr River. I was out on my Croix(did I mention I have a Croix de Fer? It's a Croix de Fer. That means it's a de Fer of the Croix type. It's got clever geary shifty things and stoppy things I wasn't used to until I bought it and, best of all, it's a Croix de Fer. There are much better bikes available but they're not as good) yesterday after having been on almost nothing but wintersaurus for weeks and although I'd be lying if I said I didn't notice the difference between 35mm studlies and 25mm 120psi slicks, it's wasn't a crazy difference.
Just eat more. Right now. Shoo! Get off this not-food forum and eat something.
@Uberuce, I'm confused (not about the food, pasta is on): are you saying go with the touring tyres or stick with spiky ones as they're not much slower? Yesterday was pretty mild, no frost so you could get away with 25mm slicks.
KB is now down to zero -
http://www.geos.ed.ac.uk/abs/Weathercam/station/24hours.html
It's currently -0.7 degC at Fairmilehead and I'm wearing two fleeces indoors.
Hmm.
Looking at tomorrow's forecast for West Lothian, Clacks and Fife. Due to stay below zero all day, despite sunshine.
Not sure that I want to be doing the descent from Beecraigs to Linlithgow in those conditions! Never mind the no doubt icy railway path from Clacks to Dunfermline...
May be a DNS rather than an OOT. Might just wait until later in the week, when temperatures are supposed to be a bit more balmy: 4/5 centigrade, albeit with rain forecast.
There was one point on my ride yesterday where I was completely fingers-crossed, because there was nothing for it* but roll over some packed snow and hope for the best. Mild as it was yesterday and Saturday, there is still frozen dihydrogen monoxide lurking in the shadows along wooded lanes.
*Or if I was doing it again: braking to a halt and walking over it.
It's feckin' freezing tonight. Coming back from the shops I saw two canoeists grumpily abandoning their evening's training because the canal had frozen over since they'd last looked.
As I walked across the car park I was picking the frozen exhalation out my beard.
It was so dry overnight that it's just a thin hard frost along the Broomhouse and side roads, but any standing water can reasonably be assumed as ice.
If anyone's coming in from the west, wunderground.com says about the airport "-5C, feels like -10C". Brrr! Apparently it's warmer in the city though.
Mini road sweeper has gone over the FRB clearing the path of grit & stones etc... Its left a wet streek up the length of the path, which is at risk of freezing! Path looked dry where the st sweeper hadn't swept....
I had a glass of Irn Bru lastnight whilst watching tv. It was chilled straight from the kitchen cupboard. brrrr heating went on at that point.
It's currently -2.9 degC here, but the roads seem grippy.
brrrr heating went on
Cold? this isn't cold! its balmy!
At least, I'm trying to convince myself that, while aclimatising for a daunting ten day camp in northern Norway next month.
-4.4 degrees when I left home. Some of the roads had a worrying shimmer on them - I don't think that they had been gritted. My fingers were quickly painfully cold - with two layers of gloves on :( Must be getting old! It felt warmer around KB (at the weather station it's -1.1 degrees).
Leamington walk and MMW in pretty good shape.
Main roads from the east were dry to begin with, though as Uberuce says, any standing water safely assumed to be ice and avoided. Something like -2 at the house when I left. Went with the winter windproof, but down to one layer underneath otherwise it gets too toasty!
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