I found myself wishing I was on a device like Darkerside's fixed 29er project shod with knobbly spikes today.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » General Edinburgh
Snow(?)
(369 posts)-
Posted 12 years ago #
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Slightly odd snow.
I went along my 'grit-guide' road this afternoon. If Blackford Road is free of ice/snow or has been gritted, I know that all roads will be fine.
I always go slowly. I've seen pedestrians fall over on the roadway.
Today there were no frozen slush ridges just a very nice smooth squashed snow surface - much nicer than the underlying tarmac.
I stopped to have a look and realised it was very shiny. I resumed cycling even more carefully...
Posted 12 years ago # -
How was the Innocent this evening? And route 1 up to Bingham? Considering my route for tomorrow.
Ta
Posted 12 years ago # -
Having played in it with my kids, the snow is very dry and powdery, and mixed with hailstones. Makes very good snowballs that keep their shape easily. Doesn't form ridges like wetter snow, it seems.
Posted 12 years ago # -
"mixed with hailstones"
Ah yes, it had a curious tapioca-like look to it.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Canal tonight was sheet ice/neve from Wester Hailes along to Fountainbridge. Really not recommended for the morning unless you have the rice krispies fitted. Even then.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Canal itself now frozen as well.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Brutal cycle to work - rock hard ice all over the place.
Had to use the road rather than broomhouse path as it was untreated / ploughed (unlike paths in edinburgh park which are perfect).
Winter tyres were excellent on the ice, but the 'castor sugar snow' on top of ice was disconcerting.
Some loonies out there on skinnies - :-o
First time ever I have wished I didnt take the bike. Not looking forward to home time.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Main roads clear (keep out of gutter). Side roads / pavements avoid.
Posted 12 years ago # -
I found it okay today on my skinnies but a little bit chilly (-5 degs). I went on the main roads and kept clear of margin/ It's amazing how quickly clear surfaces have dried.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Amazingly for once, the cycle paths are better than the roads!!! Leamington walk has a narrow strip for mostly its length which is cyclable. between Whitehouse loan and Melville Drive it is actually freshly gritted. Middle meadow walk is clear and dry.
However, the end of Leamington Walk between whitehouse Loan and Bruntsfield Place is not great, and the slope down to the Toucan crossing at B'field Place is treacherous for both pedestrians and cyclists.
Posted 12 years ago # -
The NCN route over Leamington lift bridge and along Lower Gilmore Place, and again along Valleyfield Street (and Tarvit Street I assume, I didn't go that way) had not been touched and were horrendous with thick ice last night.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Roseburn & Telford Paths are icy rutted messes (in many parts). Clearly the grit yesterday has made it all melt but not enough to clear the path, leaving slush which has now frozen. Lots of horrible surface and not many cyclists today. Hope that it warms up today and the path clears before I head home.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Rode in from Ingliston P&R to city center. Used the path/pavement at first, which was a mistake, hard packed and ridged ice from a re-freeze. Dodgy and slow, hence very cold. Went on to the road when I could and it was much better. Some icy bits though and frankly not looking fwd to return ride. Was on standard road tyres.
-stevePosted 12 years ago # -
Fishwives' Causeway was a little skibbery on the way home last night with a number of wheel-ruts and some deep boot-prints which had re-frozen. A car was poking its nose in from Telferton but gave up and skidded back out. The cycle path around the park this morning was generally still covered in ice with a grippy layer of polystyrene on the top except between Dumbiedykes and the bit in the shade of the trees where it must have all melted yesterday.
Posted 12 years ago # -
the charlotte st lane through to glenfinlas st/charlotte square is deadly with ice, not cycleable at all, as is the bishops walk roadway and path beside palmerston place cathedral, nearly went flying on both, managed to get a foot down and "footroll" the bike through both times. Scary biscuits.
R
Posted 12 years ago # -
I don't recommend the cyclist semi-permeable access between Viewforth & Montpelier. the access itself is okay, but the road beyond is sheer and slick with packed snow/ice. Would probably be okay with studded tyres, except for risk of pedestrians/kids. hate to see what happens when one of the clueless drivers tries their usual 3-5-7 point turns. Just hope they don't skid into anyone.
Posted 12 years ago # -
I don't recommend any footpath or pavement that has more than a 1 or 2 degree incline on it. It's bl**dy treacherous in the centre of town, with high footfal areas like junctions and crossings just sheets of compacted ice.
Broomhouse Path extremely slow going, not much more than walking speed. Compacted snow over ice, with the crossing points (on helpful gradients) compacted into ice, with banks of frozen slush from road plowing to cross as well.
The sun was quite up as I went along the path and I was under the impression that it was melting the surface into an even worse state.
Posted 12 years ago # -
After last night's icy experience I've stopped cycling and walking for the duration. I got the bus to work today and very dull it was too.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Took the wee man to nursery in the buggy, should've taken the car. Pavements were horrendous round me, in some places the snow had frozen to unpassable (with buggy) divots and ridges in others the buggy was fine but I was sliding all over the place.
Ride to work was uneventful, last nights return was cut short after I realised the "snow" on the road was in fact sheet ice, nicely polished by the cars from the govt building. Got to the side of the road with some soft stuff and bailed.
I have to question the logic, some days, of clearing the major bus routes but leaving the pavements on the council estates they serve so treacherous that people can't get to the bus. Normally I just walk on the road in these situations but the streets I need to use to get out the estate are rat runs in the morning and few seem to regulate their speed for the environment or conditions.
Posted 12 years ago # -
@ Steveo, I agree totally, its accident claims waiting to happen!!
Came of out the flats at Dumbiedykes last night to find the road had frozen and subsequently been polished to a shine Mr Sheen would have been envious of! Luckily(?) was going slow and hopped off the bike as it slid out to the left under me, glad it was dark LOL. RPosted 12 years ago # -
I looked over at the Broomhouse path and decided against it. I was getting commendable amounts of space from drivers anyway, so the road was the better bet.
Posted 12 years ago # -
@steveo/RonnieJ: I just don't think there's enough council capacity to grit all the pavements across the city. I think the grit bins are for us to use though...
A plastic pot makes a good grit scoop: I've realised in the time it takes to post a couple of comments on CCE I can grit ~40 yards of pavement :P
I had a go this morning at the path between Melville Dr and Leven Terrace. Might not quite have got to the end, sorry, but hopefully a narrow path might have been melted through the ice. Also did the bit outside the university chaplaincy this morning as it was an impressive ice rink. It's pretty clear now! Wooo :) Hopefully the sun will clear the ice pretty quick.
Posted 12 years ago # -
It is ridiculous. The roads are either completely useable without any trouble at all, or totally impassable without crampons.
Its enough to make one want to start a blog...
Posted 12 years ago # -
Cycled along the innocent today and through the meadows and was impressed that the paths were so clear, less impressed that the access & exit points to the paths were left untreated. So the bits where your 2 wheels are in a straight line are nice and clear but the bits where you are leaning or turning the front wheel away from the back wheel are treacherous. Nice work!
Posted 12 years ago # -
lionfish, you are of course right, but by the time I got home from work the pavements were already polished and compacted to the point that salt would have little effect. A couple of years ago the good people of my street got together to clear it, we ended up with pickaxes to break the ice up.
Besides that the grit bins round here are invariably full of stuff you don't want to go near let alone put on the street.
Posted 12 years ago # -
I've realised in the time it takes to post a couple of comments on CCE I can grit ~40 yards of pavement
By 6PM yesterday I was chipping through 3/4" of ice on the pavement. I don't think just dropping the limited supply of grit I could muster would have had the desired effect, so felt it best to clear a narrow path on the surface first. I noted this morning that the bits last night that just got a sprinkling of grit were still icy this morning, but the surface was a soft of mush, rather than polished hard and smooth.
It would have taken 15 minutes with a plastic shovel to do what took 90 minutes with a metal spade by night time. By the next day, or even late in the day if it's cold enough, it's too late.
I was a bit miffed that only one business on my street had cleared outside their premises. Again, what would only have taken them 5 or 10 minutes at the time would now take hours instead.
Posted 12 years ago # -
"
East and Midlothian councils said they had not been caught out by the snowfalls, pointing out contractor Bear Scotland was responsible for gritting trunk roads where the worst delays occurred"
Posted 12 years ago # -
I had a remarkably pleasant ride west along the canal this morning. The sun was shining, there was no wind and there weren't many people about. The towpath was very smooth, with a pleasantly squeaky texture much of the way. I was grateful that I'd not got round to taking the studded tyres off, but actually I think it would have been fine most of the way on knobbly mountain bike tyres. It's going to be less pleasant going home, because that smooth squeaky surface will turn to rutted slush that is very hard work.
No evidence of gritting anywhere between Meggetland and the bypass.
Posted 12 years ago # -
Greenroofer, if that was around 9am, you may have overtaken me just before Wester Hailes. Knobblies were mostly ok although the front wheel really needed studs - any bends were causing it to slide out. Very smooth, as you say.
Posted 12 years ago #
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