Safe Speed Forums

sods law strikes again.

tomorrow i have planned my longest bike ride of my winter training.
something around 70 to 80 miles.
the bike is ready, the kit is in the wash and i popped into the bike shop on the way home to stock up on fuel.

driving home in the fog however i really dont feel sure i want to expose myself to that risk for that length of time.

i was hoping to enjoy a ride during the day time for a change.. free of the hi vis & lights. not very sure the lights & hi vis are terribly effective in this weather anyway.

am i just being a big girl's blouse?
should i or shouldn't i?

Better bored and disappointed than dead I reckon.

One way you can enjoy your training ride another day, and one way you can't.

My guess is that riding a bike out of town in heavy fog is about as dangerous as it gets. It would only take one idiot to wipe you out, and you can't even see him coming. Worse yet is the fact that there are unlikely to be any other bikes about to remind said idiot of the risk.

And the roads are especially dangerous at ths time of year anyway due to drink, huge extra mileages and, er, some less experienced drivers around.

I wouldn't go for a pleasure drive on the last weekday before Christmas, even without the fog.

_________________
Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Depends on your roads and your traffic .Also if you have good lights ,I want a Dinote light theyre supposed to be as bright as a car fog.

I dont enjoy fogriding.

I've got one of the super-bright cateye ones which works well.

I've also adorned my top tube with fairy lights to get into the festive spirit. Short of putting an angel on my head I couldn't look more like a Christmas tree. People have been giving me lots of room

well i can tell you're all sat at home fretting....

....i'm back



78miles (and a half) in the end... with an overly long lunch break bang in the middle.

Delighted to hear you're in one bit. Was it foggy?

I take it you didn't encounter too many christmas numpties?

_________________
Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

ed_m

I'm impressed! 78 miles? What was your average speed, discounting your lunch stop? I'm surprised you had enough daylight, at this time of year.

...and I thought I was being heroic doing a 28 mile around Somerset with a friend last Sunday!

pfft! Anything less than 100 is just a warm-up



I'm impressed he didn't freeze to death at this time of year.


Well done!

well... yes.
fortunately most of the lanes were fairly quiet.

when it was very foggy, motorists were already in super cautious mode so were actually very gentle with me, and the truckers were exemplary.
where it was less bad the lights & hi vis seemed to give them sufficient warning.

one thing i wasnt ready for was the fog collecting on my brake levers and freezing, so when i went for them they were rather slippy.
(same happened on my front light, gps mount, helmet, hi vis stripes & worryingly.. my crotch!)

as per the metcheck forecast it actually mostly cleared between 12 & 3.. mostly when i was having lunch!

the return journey once the sun had gone down got to eyes-on-stalks mode even trying to follow the road. i was actually happier at this point being in traffic where other cars seemed to help pick me out and make me more visible.

just when i thought i was mostly home & dry i realised i had to the m-way junction to get over... didnt fancy that so hobbled round on foot.

the first 40 was a little under 3hrs which is something over 13mph, including numerous navigation stops to check the map.

the last 38 was a little over 3hours (found some hills at the beggining which ripped my legs off).

and i didn't have enough daylight !
well i might have if i hadnt wasted the best part of 2 and a half hours at lunch time.

i know i know
the centuries will come altho maybe not too many till june.
this is training for ironman UK in august.



see above.... frozen bits.

now you're just showing off.

best wait and see what (if) the time is before you decide that.

Hehe, I don't race. I'm just happy to reach the destination!

I dunno, just doing it at all would be a pretty big achievement.

entries are still available...

I may be mad but I'm not crazy!