We had freezing rain

[james_davis_nicoll]

Was out walking, enjoying the pretty post freezing rain icicles, nearly got knocked down by a bicyclist. Who bicycles in weather like this?

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

"Who bicycles in weather like this?"

Keith Lynch?

[connactic.livejournal.com]

It was payback for a post you made on r.a.sf.w. back in 1997.

[graydon saunders (from livejournal.com)]

I would expect someone who has no other way to get where they need to go.

[thornsilver]

Elsa

[(Anonymous)]

I did, but in my defense:

(1) I came out of the north side of the building, and it was not evident that any precipitation had fallen.

(2) I was in south Texas, after all.

(3) I only did it for a couple of meters.

One broken shoulder later, certain assumptions had to be reevaluated.

It was the strongest high pressure system ever seen - people died of hypothermia in central America. A later acquaintance said he felt the chill on the Amazon.

William Hyde

[ironyoxide.livejournal.com]

>Who bicycles in weather like this?

Cyclists, mostly.

[bruce munro (from livejournal.com)]

After an ice storm? People with remarkably good balance, and the spawn of Ithaqua. Did you note if they have glowing eyes or webbed feet?

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

Every other person in Eugene, seems like.

[seth ellis (from livejournal.com)]

We had a grad student in Michigan who cycled to campus the whole year round. This included the coldest year in decades. I don't know why she did it—I think she owned a car—but nothing seemed to slow her down.

[felila.livejournal.com]

Bad pun revenge brigade, cyclist division.

[janciega.livejournal.com]

I cycled 14 miles in wet snow, in Georgia (US), a couple of years ago. Not by choice -- I had to get somewhere, and that was the only transport I had. Having wet snow accumulate under my fenders and on my rims made braking a little problematic. But most of my route home was on multiuse paths.

The drivers on the roads I had to use were remarkably patient. Probably assumed I was a suicidal maniac or something.

I was glad to get home that day.

Bike Twitter is replete with tales of folks riding in all kinds of weather. I'm too old for that s$#t anymore, though. Luckily I live in Georgia, where snow is uncommon.

[bunsen-h.livejournal.com]

Do you think the pedestrians are going to knock themselves over?

Well, with freezing rain, some, probably. But still.

[laetitia-apis.livejournal.com]

"Who bicycles in weather like this?"

It *should* be someone with more sense than to ride on a sidewalk. (Sidewalks, particularly sidewalks endorsed by the League Against Bicycling, are not designed for wheeled traffic and are extremely unsafe.)

When I was younger, I frequently came home with icicles hanging from my fenders (partly because I was careful not to knock them off at rest stops!), but at that time I lived on a very important road in a state where you are much more likely to skid on salt than on ice. (The salt did terrible things to my respiratory system every time I was overtaken.)

[(Anonymous)]

I recommend these for dealing with the ice:
http://www.leevalley.com/en/Wood/page.aspx?p=40911&cat=2,51676&ap=1

I was out taking photographs this morning, and I have no problems walking up a steep path covered with sheer ice.


And for the cyclists, something like this:
http://www.reliks.com/merchant.ihtml?pid=2330

As the description states, "Long war hammers were used as walking staffs" so it could replace a cane…