a.twiddler
Veteran
8/1/25
Tiny ride Today (1)
Brompton Ride After Dropping off Car for Repairs
A thorough defrost of the car was needed. It was very icy today. Brompton in boot, car thermometer showing “only”-1. I think there might have been freezing rain earlier. The roads had ice patches, the pavements were even worse. Slipping about in the garage car park, unloading the bike.
It was a hairy ride back, and I walked a few of the more dubious stretches. Once I got going it was not so bad, though the edges of the roads remained iffy and a short stretch of on road cycle path was almost unusable. I used a roadside path on Dene Drive to get up the hill from the town centre. The Brompton bag with my stuff in helped to weight the front wheel though the back wheel lost grip a couple of times. I wouldn’t like to come that way downhill in these conditions. There was a constant crackling and crunching underwheel from ice and hoar frost.
I felt a bit more confident about riding in these conditions on the Brompton with its tiny wheels by the time I’d got most of the way home. It’s surprising what you can adapt to. In spite of that, I hoped things might have thawed out a bit by the time I had to go and collect the car. Still, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.
When I got to my back gate the lock was frozen so I walked the bike down the pavement and along a path round to the front, in our close.
Distance 2.77 miles. Max Speed 15.5 mph. Average 6.2 mph. According to Garmin.
Ascent 83 ft. According to Bikehike. It feels like a lot more than that.
8/1/25
Tiny Ride Today (2)
Brompton Ride to pick up Car after Repairs
The call came to collect the car after repairs. I’d thawed out the back gate lock earlier though it might have thawed itself by now. Once outside there was a lot of general dripping and wetness about. I stayed alert, as there was probably still ice around to catch out the unwary.
Mostly downhill on the way to the garage so I stuck to the road since it would have been gritted. It was pretty uneventful. No photos today.
I coughed up for the repairs, folded the bike and bunged it in the boot. The car park was still slippery, so I took care.
Distance 2.56 miles. Max speed 16.9 mph. Average 14.6 mph. According to Garmin. Ascent 23 ft. According to Bikehike.
Tiny ride Today (1)
Brompton Ride After Dropping off Car for Repairs
A thorough defrost of the car was needed. It was very icy today. Brompton in boot, car thermometer showing “only”-1. I think there might have been freezing rain earlier. The roads had ice patches, the pavements were even worse. Slipping about in the garage car park, unloading the bike.
It was a hairy ride back, and I walked a few of the more dubious stretches. Once I got going it was not so bad, though the edges of the roads remained iffy and a short stretch of on road cycle path was almost unusable. I used a roadside path on Dene Drive to get up the hill from the town centre. The Brompton bag with my stuff in helped to weight the front wheel though the back wheel lost grip a couple of times. I wouldn’t like to come that way downhill in these conditions. There was a constant crackling and crunching underwheel from ice and hoar frost.
I felt a bit more confident about riding in these conditions on the Brompton with its tiny wheels by the time I’d got most of the way home. It’s surprising what you can adapt to. In spite of that, I hoped things might have thawed out a bit by the time I had to go and collect the car. Still, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.
When I got to my back gate the lock was frozen so I walked the bike down the pavement and along a path round to the front, in our close.
Distance 2.77 miles. Max Speed 15.5 mph. Average 6.2 mph. According to Garmin.
Ascent 83 ft. According to Bikehike. It feels like a lot more than that.
8/1/25
Tiny Ride Today (2)
Brompton Ride to pick up Car after Repairs
The call came to collect the car after repairs. I’d thawed out the back gate lock earlier though it might have thawed itself by now. Once outside there was a lot of general dripping and wetness about. I stayed alert, as there was probably still ice around to catch out the unwary.
Mostly downhill on the way to the garage so I stuck to the road since it would have been gritted. It was pretty uneventful. No photos today.
I coughed up for the repairs, folded the bike and bunged it in the boot. The car park was still slippery, so I took care.
Distance 2.56 miles. Max speed 16.9 mph. Average 14.6 mph. According to Garmin. Ascent 23 ft. According to Bikehike.
