On the commute today

[benborp]

I was going to suggest the first route citoyen gave. It's a far better roll through Bromley.

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

Roads north of Bramley (Hants) were difficult.  Had to ride v. gingerly for about 4 miles until got past the icy patch.  Temperature was about 3C but that's enough for heat convection on tarmac to turn a thin film of water to ice.  A small flat bed truck had done a 180 on one particular turn, probably just a touch of brakes.  Had one v. low speed off but no damage.  Spotted more black ice on the little ramp by the Elm Tree at Beech Hill and hopped off and walked that section.  Changed route into Reading to avoid more problems.  Will take bigger roads on Thursday as they'll be gritted.  Weather like today is often the ones that catch the local authorities out.

[Ray 6701]

Back on the commute today  after 2 weeks off work being 

[Phil W]

I had ice all the way. Well, intermittently frost covered roads and icy patches. You can surely tell which 'slopes' are north facing.

Snap - I got off and walked one steep section. I was glad I did this after 50 yards in my bike wheels lost traction and slid away from me.  Lower down the hill, past the ice, back on bike and no more frost / ice challenges. On way home ice had not yet reformed. Tomorrow I'm taking mtb and off road route as you then don't get the ice forming like it down on non porous surfaces such as Tarmac.

[L CC]

Today I was resentful for the first couple of kms, thinking I should have got the fixed back out, what with its mudguards and easy rolling.
As it got lighter, I was glad I hadn't. Slush all over the place. Those aren't puddles of water, they're puddles of slush. I'll be sticking to the ice-bike for the foreseeable. Better safe slow than sorry.

[fuzzy]

No ice, a fair representation of sleety slush and ANOTHER fecking visitation on the front wheel That is four in the last couple of weeks. I think it is probably the cut in the tyre. I may have to get a tyre liner as the rest of the tyre is in great condition.

[mcshroom]

Lots of frost and frozen puddles this morning, but the field's must be getting back down to just being saturated now as the field run-off rivulates were far fewer this morning.

There was still enough 'interesting' grip around for the studded tyres to be the correct choice.

[Basil]

I chose a "use main roads as much as possible" route today.  No ice. 

[citoyen]

Came off the Brompton on a patch of black ice on the way to the station. No harm done. Probably would have got away with it if I hadn't been braking at the time. Gah!

d.

[mcshroom]

I chose a "use main roads as much as possible" route today.  No ice. 

I bought the studded tyres to allow me to use the back roads when icy. The cars leave them alone so I get the roads almost to myself

[Butterfly]

sleetsnowsnowsnowSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSNOWSnowSnowtsleetdrizzle

It was a bit epic for my first cycle commute after a fortnight, but I enjoyed it a lot .

Clarion was right, I should have put the mudguards back on the bike .

[Andrij]

As I left home this morning I kept thinking "should have put the winter tyres on the commuter".  Thankfully, the roads were only wet, no ice (or snow - not far enough east), but I would have felt a bit more confident with the other tyres.  Hopefully I get home at a decent time and in decent shape tonite - will swap tyres over.

[GothonaBrompton]

Slippery rails .... FFS its a teeny sprinking of snow for all of 5 mins, sleet for 10 mins, and then it stopped. Got to Feltham station at 07:07 for the 07:11 train, 07:05 was in the platform still, not that unusual.

It was still there at 07:25 after lots of puffing and spitting. Doors locked so we are all still standing there. Was packed though so whatever.

07:11 comes in and leaves at 07:30. Gets as far as Brentford and guard says train is running fast to Waterloo, there is another train behind if you want anything in between. I stay on as that works for me. Half the train gets off.

We creep onwards, stop at Barnes, but don't open the doors as we aren't supposed to stop there (today). Held on signal for so long that guard relents and lets people on. Tells them not stopping till Waterloo. Half of them get back off again.

Eventually leave, pick up a decent bit of speed. Stop in between Wandsworth Town and Clapham Junction. Engine goes off, lights and heating go off. Sit there in the dark for 5 minutes. No announcement. Lights on, engine on, off we go. Finally get to Waterloo 1 hour and 20 minutes after we left. A 35 minute journey.

Coffee at Waterloo most welcome.  Shouldn't have worn the extra layer between Gore thermal jacket and vest top though - I was way too hot 2 miles later.

Currently showing delays on the Reading to Waterloo line of 2 hours!

Looking out the window over Buckingham Palace Gardens, looks like a usual damp London day and the sun is coming out.

[matthew]

Slippery rails .... FFS its a teeny sprinking of snow for all of 5 mins, sleet for 10 mins, and then it stopped. Got to Feltham station at 07:07 for the 07:11 train, 07:05 was in the platform still, not that unusual.

It was still there at 07:25 after lots of puffing and spitting. Doors locked so we are all still standing there. Was packed though so whatever.

07:11 comes in and leaves at 07:30. Gets as far as Brentford and guard says train is running fast to Waterloo, there is another train behind if you want anything in between. I stay on as that works for me. Half the train gets off.

We creep onwards, stop at Barnes, but don't open the doors as we aren't supposed to stop there (today). Held on signal for so long that guard relents and lets people on. Tells them not stopping till Waterloo. Half of them get back off again.

Eventually leave, pick up a decent bit of speed. Stop in between Wandsworth Town and Clapham Junction. Engine goes off, lights and heating go off. Sit there in the dark for 5 minutes. No announcement. Lights on, engine on, off we go. Finally get to Waterloo 1 hour and 20 minutes after we left. A 35 minute journey.

Coffee at Waterloo most welcome.  Shouldn't have worn the extra layer between Gore thermal jacket and vest top though - I was way too hot 2 miles later.

Currently showing delays on the Reading to Waterloo line of 2 hours!

Looking out the window over Buckingham Palace Gardens, looks like a usual damp London day and the sun is coming out.

Arrived S'dale Station at 7:34 for the 7:37 to Winnersh Triangle, passengers waiting on platform state that as yet the 7:07 has not been seen. Informed that it is stuck on the gradient at Virginia Water, 7:37 is now stuck behind it.

School kids arrive to get the 8:07, suggest they activate alternatives / get lifts with friends parents.

7:07 eventually arrives at 8:30, train crawls into station everyone boards, guard announces train is now fast to Reading almost everyone gets off.

7:37 arrives at 8:40 and we all board, by Martins Heron it's standing room only. Eventually arrive at work at 9:10 should have been in an hour earler and would have been half an hour earlier if I had ridden in but the marathon winters won't arrive till tomorrow and the boroughs have previous for not gritting.

[simonp]

Slush!

[Si_Co]

No ice in the rural bits at all, got to work in town to find the road like a sheet of glass  still kept the slicks rubber side down, just.

Looking at the forecast I'd say it's spikes tomorrow

[simonp]

I'll be fettling tonight I think.

[Nuncio]

I wasn't aware that there was any ice around and got to work fine, oblivious to any danger, then slithered about on foot between the bike shed and the building.  Several colleagues reported skidding on their motor vehicle commutes.

[GothonaBrompton]

Slippery rails .... FFS its a teeny sprinking of snow for all of 5 mins, sleet for 10 mins, and then it stopped. Got to Feltham station at 07:07 for the 07:11 train, 07:05 was in the platform still, not that unusual.

It was still there at 07:25 after lots of puffing and spitting. Doors locked so we are all still standing there. Was packed though so whatever.

07:11 comes in and leaves at 07:30. Gets as far as Brentford and guard says train is running fast to Waterloo, there is another train behind if you want anything in between. I stay on as that works for me. Half the train gets off.

We creep onwards, stop at Barnes, but don't open the doors as we aren't supposed to stop there (today). Held on signal for so long that guard relents and lets people on. Tells them not stopping till Waterloo. Half of them get back off again.

Eventually leave, pick up a decent bit of speed. Stop in between Wandsworth Town and Clapham Junction. Engine goes off, lights and heating go off. Sit there in the dark for 5 minutes. No announcement. Lights on, engine on, off we go. Finally get to Waterloo 1 hour and 20 minutes after we left. A 35 minute journey.

Coffee at Waterloo most welcome.  Shouldn't have worn the extra layer between Gore thermal jacket and vest top though - I was way too hot 2 miles later.

Currently showing delays on the Reading to Waterloo line of 2 hours!

Looking out the window over Buckingham Palace Gardens, looks like a usual damp London day and the sun is coming out.

Arrived S'dale Station at 7:34 for the 7:37 to Winnersh Triangle, passengers waiting on platform state that as yet the 7:07 has not been seen. Informed that it is stuck on the gradient at Virginia Water, 7:37 is now stuck behind it.

School kids arrive to get the 8:07, suggest they activate alternatives / get lifts with friends parents.

7:07 eventually arrives at 8:30, train crawls into station everyone boards, guard announces train is now fast to Reading almost everyone gets off.

7:37 arrives at 8:40 and we all board, by Martins Heron it's standing room only. Eventually arrive at work at 9:10 should have been in an hour earler and would have been half an hour earlier if I had ridden in but the marathon winters won't arrive till tomorrow and the boroughs have previous for not gritting.

matthew

Check the trains before you leave, or leave early if you can.  Currently SWT are running a 'special timetable' with trains running only once an hour from this end.  I'll probably get the tube, and leave early so it is not quite so crowded (hopefully).  The route home from the tube station is actually better than the one from the train station (but getting on a rush hour tube is nigh on impossible at Hyde Park Corner).

[fuzzy]

I have a sneaking suspicion that, statistically speaking, winter has happened every year for at least the last thousand years. probably more.

Why the feck does this countries infrastructure management prepare for this inevitable event by failing to prepare

[matthew]

matthew

Check the trains before you leave, or leave early if you can.  Currently SWT are running a 'special timetable' with trains running only once an hour from this end.  I'll probably get the tube, and leave early so it is not quite so crowded (hopefully).  The route home from the tube station is actually better than the one from the train station (but getting on a rush hour tube is nigh on impossible at Hyde Park Corner).

Thanks for the heads up, the change from 2 trains / hr to 1 is not major but could have been highly annoying.

[TimO]

The snow had started to melt significantly by the time I left the house, there was some on my road, but once I'd turned off of that, it had mostly gone.

By the time I was half way in to central(ish) London, there was virtually no evidence of any snow fall.  Crossing Totting Bec Common there was a little bit of snow on the grass, but after that nothing to be seen.

Putting the Winter Marathons on, combined with a 10 to 15mph headwind, made it relatively hard work cycling in, but there's a fairly consistent forecast of ice tonight, so the studs should solve any problems with that.

[clarion]

I've just been up to Telegraph Track.  There's no ice and very little snow in evidence, but the roads are wet.

[Notsototalnewbie]

The snow never made it as far as Stockwell AFAIK – I awoke to the sound of rain and no snow whatsoever. Funny to think it was snowing only 3 or 4 miles away.

[zigzag]

i wonder if i get away without studded tyres this winter (didn't need them in london before..)