Are you going to ride in snow?

indianajo said:
We've had Wed AM 1 cm sleet over 5 mm freezing rain. I'm afraid to walk out there, without a strap on helmet. Don't own any crampons or spiked shoes. Now it is 18 deg F headed for 8 tomorrow night. Treadable on grass, but all pavement is an ice rink. No biking on knobby tires, of course. I'm afraid of cars turning corner, crashing into my parked car 3 m off pavement. Was a video on NBC of tractor trailers plowing into each other W of Ft Worth yesterday - killed 6. Fed Ex tractor launched 2 m in the air over a car piled up against previous.
Fortunately my house heat is all gas, no electricity required. thousands without as ice took down lines.
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Another issue with all this snow is that rooftop solar dosen't work under a foot of snow. This is what my inverters have shown for weeks ... 0 kwh per day and per week. 20201223_145759.jpg
 
Art Deco said:
Another issue with all this snow is that rooftop solar dosen't work under a foot of snow. This is what my inverters have shown for weeks ... 0 kwh per day and per week.
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As solar panels only gain interest in Poland (because of EU subventions), I was wondering how the solar panels worked during snowfall (on one of my recent rides).
 
Stefan Mikes said:
As solar panels only gain interest in Poland (because of EU subventions), I was wondering how the solar panels worked during snowfall (on one of my recent rides).
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There are some young and crazy people who climb onto their steep and icy roofs to clean off their panels, but for most of us ... 0 kwh is what we get in snow. But it's never been snow covered for more than a few days before.
 
Stefan Mikes said:
What you say Steve is true for regular (even wide) tyres. I had already had a crash like that -- precisely as you described it -- instant and face down. That's why I changed to Ice Spiker Pro. The studded tyres I'm using now just love having ice beneath them. It is because they get full traction just on ice. (Full suspension helps as well, as it ensures both wheels maintaining contact with the ground at all times).

I'm just back from a short grocery shopping at -14 C (wind chill factor -23 C). As Randall and PD said before, the properties of snow are much variable. My Monster rode on frozen packed snow just fantastically this morning! I actually was choosing ice patches for riding wherever they have been. I could watch front wheels of a car slipping at an intersection; Monster crossed the same junction just majestically :)
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Yes I know, I owned Ice Spiker pros for 2 years but I have now sold them as they were just hanging in my garage. They work great and if you are going to ride in that stuff you need studs absolutely! But they are so freakin noisy on dry pavement and we do not get much harsh weather around here. I found that as soon as I needed to put them on the bike it was almost Spring and time to take them off again. I decided to leave a pair of Schwalbe studded Winter tires on my acoustic bike all year round. When we get the few nasty weather days I ride that bike and stay close to home. And those Winter studs are smaller and not so absurdly noisy so I can ride them on dry pavement. Also because I use the Tannus inserts which become deformed from usage , I think it is best to replace the inserts when changing tires , adding to the hassle of changing back and forth. I suppose the better solution would be to keep a spare set of wheels ready to go, which I would do if I lived in a harsher Winter climate. Stefan, I look forward to pics from your Ice Spiker adventures (-:
 
steve mercier said:
Stefan, I look forward to pics from your Ice Spiker adventures.
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Trance E+ in snowstorm... I had that bad fall on off-road tyres when approaching the very same shopping mall several days before.

Yes, the Ice Spiker Pro are noisy. It is the sign you are safe. When they get silent -- BEWARE -- traction is jeopardized!

Vado during blizzard:

Schwalbe Marathon Winter Plus are equipped with little studs and are almost silent. How good are they on ice? Haven't tried yet!
 
As much as i enjoy being able to bring some value in regards to discussions about snow and ice, I'd very much prefer to be discussing the merits of Sunscreen and other beach subjects!

But, when we are riding in progressively colder temperatures, we can add layers. And although I will admit that due to geographical realities i have only limited experience, but cycling at +30C and hotter must have its own challenges. I don't think I've ridden in temps hotter than +34C and that was not very pleasant.

Now back to the subject. Forecast is improving, so next Monday looks feasible at -9, but Tuesday and Wednesday are better at -4 & -2. Those numbers will change of course, since they always do, but it's encouraging and I do really need to get out and do some cycling!
 
Stefan, I just watched a PBS show where the Polish wildlife service people are really proud they have re-introduced wolves. Wolves go 25 mph in winter snow to jump bison. You ever afraid of being jumped from behind by a wolf? I'm glad those wildlife idiots have not gotten east of Wyoming in our country. Not everybody rides in an SUV. Bikers & joggers have been harvested by Mountain Lions in Vancouver. I have enough trouble with packs of dogs out in the country, but they are after my ankle, not my neck.
The program was bragging about how the wolves have moved themselves to Germany, Belgium, & Denmark. I'd see that as a threat to bikers & hikers everywhere. At least all we have here are brown bears.
 
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RandallS said:
As much as i enjoy being able to bring some value in regards to discussions about snow and ice, I'd very much prefer to be discussing the merits of Sunscreen and other beach subjects!

But, when we are riding in progressively colder temperatures, we can add layers. And although I will admit that due to geographical realities i have only limited experience, but cycling at +30C and hotter must have its own challenges. I don't think I've ridden in temps hotter than +34C and that was not very pleasant.

Now back to the subject. Forecast is improving, so next Monday looks feasible at -9, but Tuesday and Wednesday are better at -4 & -2. Those numbers will change of course, since they always do, but it's encouraging and I do really need to get out and do some cycling!
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I expect a couple more snows this year , but we would be done with winter in a month here in recent years.
 
indianajo said:
Stefan, I just watched a PBS show where the Polish wildlife service people are really proud they have re-introduced wolves. Wolves go 25 mph in winter snow to jump bison. You ever afraid of being jumped from behind by a wolf? I'm glad those wildlife idiots have not gotten east of Wyoming in our country. Not everybody rides in an SUV. Bikers & joggers have been harvested by Mountain Lions in Vancouver. I have enough trouble with packs of dogs out in the country, but they are after my ankle, not my neck.
The program was bragging about how the wolves have moved themselves to Germany, Belgium, & Denmark. I'd see that as a threat to bikers & hikers everywhere. At least all we have here are brown bears.
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There are approximately 2,000 wolves in Poland. These beasts live mostly in sparsely populated areas such as Lubuskie, which is our western province bordering with Germany (near to Cottbus and Berlin). As an expert was explaining, wolves are skittish and avoid people. For these reasons, wolves pose no danger to people in Poland. Trust me: It is more probable to get killed by a thunder than to be attacked by wolves in my country (because a thunder killed my friend with his whole family but there are no reports on anyone being attacked by a wolf here).

Real dangers? Meeting a wild boar. Or, crashing with a large quadruped in a forest. I'm the most afraid to ride onto an unleashed dog though....
 
Stefan Mikes said:
I'm the most afraid to ride onto an unleashed dog though....
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I had to jump off & beat a dog off with the security cable last spring when he outran me up a grade. Battery was low & I was carrying 80 lb. Every time I turned my back he dived at my ankle again. Now I have pepper spray hung from the handlebar. Worked on a pack of 3 last July, sprayed one right in the eye. Didn't get the terrier leader though, just the stupid hound. I had stopped for a 4-way with a car visible & the pack surrounded me.
I don't know how stupid wolves are. Isolated horses back in fields off my route sometimes treat me as another horse. Nod their heads, lift a hoof, turn to follow me with their eyes. Electro-centaur.
 
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Stefan Mikes said:
There are approximately 2,000 wolves in Poland. These beasts live mostly in sparsely populated areas such as Lubuskie, which is our western province bordering with Germany (near to Cottbus and Berlin). As an expert was explaining, wolves are skittish and avoid people. For these reasons, wolves pose no danger to people in Poland. Trust me: It is more probable to get killed by a thunder than to be attacked by wolves in my country (because a thunder killed my friend with his whole family but there are no reports on anyone being attacked by a wolf here).

Real dangers? Meeting a wild boar. Or, crashing with a large quadruped in a forest. I'm the most afraid to ride onto an unleashed dog though....
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Do you mean they were killed by lightning? I have never heard of thunder killing anyone?
 
indianajo said:
Stefan does extremely well for a Polish native speaker. Or did he say Czech? You ought to hear me in Spanish! My German was so bad officers would often exhibit their bad English, which was better than my bad German.
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Yes I know and his writing is usually flawless and that is why I am asking a serious question. It got me considering death by thunder. I imagine the concussion could probably do it , but would you need to be standing on a mountain top or sky diving in order to get close enough? Sky diving in a thunderstorm...hmmm , not for the faint hearted.
 
steve mercier said:
Do you mean they were killed by lightning? I have never heard of thunder killing anyone?
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That was a really sad story, which was well known in our Tatra Mountains area (2012). My close friend from University times Wojtek, his wife, daughter, and daughter's boyfriend went for a hike in Tatra; the younger son stayed in a sanatorium as he didn't want to hike. Wojtek was a very experienced tourist. Yet, the family must have got caught unprepared in the open during a thunderstorm; the whole family was killed by a thunderstruck lightning. The son called Tatra Rescue Service when nobody turned up at the sanatorium by night. The family was found just 500 m away from the sanatorium.

Since 1908 when Tatra Volunteer Search and Rescue was created, thunders lightning killed as many as 25 people in Tatra alone; and we have more mountain ranges and more accidents of the kind (the last in 2019). (Often, people survive the thunder lightning strike).

Now, you may understand there's nothing I'm more scared of than a thunderstorm on my rides. In any case, I'm trying to find a shelter. If no shelter is available, I lay my bike on the ground and lay myself flat to not to become a pole. I also avoid hiding myself under long and low tree branches (the discharge travels to the ground via tree branches).

The most dramatic accident in my own neighbourhood happened several years ago in the summer. A thunder lightning hit a tall tree at an uninhabited homestead on the other side of our street, setting the tree and a summer hut on fire. Luckily, the firemen appeared very fast; it took them many hours to extinguish the fire. Lucky us! The closest neighbourhood (actually whole small town) is all located in a forest... (Later, those neighbours built a proper home at that lot).
 
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Thanks to one of respected Forum members for explaining the difference between thunder and lightning to me. English still holds its mysteries... :)
In Polish, "błyskawica" (lightning) and "piorun" (thunder) have different meaning in the sense it is piorun that holds the discharge.
 
Back to the premise of this thread.
Battery is plugged in, getting charged to 100%, so you may infer that the answer to the question is indeed "yes, i will brave the elements again soon".

Or, Murphy will stick his Law into the equation and the forecast will change again and we stay in our current Arctic conditions. It was -29C yesterday, today it's-18C and Tuesday is above my personal threshold of -12C at -5C. Monday is close to threshold and I maygo for a short spin.
 
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