To Ride Or Not To Ride? Slippy Snow Commute?

i don't because where i live has a lot of small roads which don't get gritted. but in a city i would, usually well looked after roads.

Heh, my Mtb came into its own today. 2.3" tyres made the quiet snowy roads a breeze. Slammed the berms on the canal path and rode up the snowy Col Du brockley footpath. Went for an evening spin in the park too. It was ace.

My commute is still pretty shit, though.

23mm gators were fine for me both on slushy main roads and snowy back streets. Its when the frost gets to it tonight that I'll be wishing that I had a frame that could take larger than 23mm.

1.5" mtb slicks were not fine on back streets..!

fuck salt

Man up and go!
29" knobblies work a treat.

Decision between riding and public transport isn't even a consideration.

Even deciding between driving and riding is pretty easy:

Which is cheaper to fix if I crash it in the snow?
Which will do less damage to others if I crash it in the snow?
Will driving or riding make me seem more like Ray Mears/Bear Grylls/Scott of the Antarctic to everyone else at work, who have probably all driven?

Exactly, when people saw me turn up looking like a boss today I could see a clear split between those who thought I was mental and those filled with admiration :P
Managed a decent average speed to, yes I strava'd it to see how it stackep up to s normal commute.

Man up and ride, if you come off the slide down the road with shave off some of the impact so it won't hurt as much.

Mega skidz

/// alternatively just use the main road and go in tyre tracks. safe. also cars are shitscared so they don't do (as many) dangerous manouvres.

Euston to Staines was great. Roads were deserted. There were a few cars that has not cleared their side windows and pulled out onto main roads at 2 mph and couldn't understand why I tapped on their windows asking if they could see me.

I apologise for the big tailback on Goldhawk Road, but I don't think the excuse 'you shouldn't be there' should have been used by a driver who was unable to see in any direction apart from directly ahead. And sorry for the dents in your shitty hatchback - don't know what it was due to all the snow covering it....

Just changed tyres to the Schwalbe Marathon Dureme 35mm semi slick, will run them at the lower end of the pressure scale tomorrow when i ride across town to work.

How well gritted/salted are the streets of london's famous london? Am hoping to take main roads on my commute in the morning, am assuming they will have been liberally treated.

All the main roads on my commute (NW/W) were, some of the side streets were icy as fuck.
I was riding 2.1 knobbly tyres though.
Hope you got mudguards though as especially on the main roads the slush was horrible, all dirty and got everywhere.

commuto-x thread, full mudguards as this is the workhorse/hack/winter trainer bike

the aim is to avoid side streets where possible

My commute - Bethnal Green To Blackheath - was fine tonight. Hardly any cars on the road so overall it actually felt less 'dangerous' than usual.
A couple of obviously slippier sections were taken at low speed but no worries even on thinner tyres.
Might be a different story after icing over tonight though.

So my commute from leicester sq to leytonstone ended up being fun more than anything else. But was riding in the tyre tracks and off the slush by the curb and a lovely fellow in a motorcar decided to tailgate me and hoot 50m from a redlight because I was slowing down. (Dropped bike and did terminator walk to him. He apologised) but other than a little altercation and a few hairy slides it was alright. Ps. Spesh armadillos are awesome.

#vikingbiking http://web.stagram.com/tag/vikingbiking/

How well gritted/salted are the streets of london's famous london?

Can only comment on London's famous Shebu and Chiswank...mains all slushy, sides aldente with a compact layer of 'snice'

dlr today, not because of the snow as it started after i left for work but because today was hell and i wanted to save the fun of the snow for tomorrow, defo commuting via fixed tmw :)

I came off this morning on Highgate hill. Pancaked my
back wheel and gave the right side of my body a gravel exfoliation. Skinny wheels are not the way in this weather. I'll be on my Mtb on Monday I think...

Went for a little roll around SE1 this afternoon, on 23mm Gatorskins. Main roads not too bad, side roads generally okay under the snow.

Fewer cars today I thought. Quite nice really. Probably because they don't understand "HTFU, it's a wee bit cold" (outside your metal box)

Half an hour to go... concerned about a few ice patches along the bike path on the way in.. fingers crossed