Yesterday we had a dump of snow, however it fell on fairly soft unfrozen ground so it wasn't worth going out. Oh, there were 60km/h winds to deal with as well. It froze hard overnight so it was time to get out the fat bikes and go play. It began to snow just as we were about to set off and never really stopped all ride, it put 3cm down at the house by the time we got back.

A bit of road and then the first bridleway:



Higher up it becomes an access track to a couple of houses and was quite icy, complete lack of grip on that so had to walk about 100m until it levelled off.



Some more road led to the next BW.





After this we had a few options and ended up going for the shortest one. In the event this was probably wise. A bit of hoiking the bikes over a gate wrapped with barbed wire (the area got really popular during lockdown plus there's no BWs on it)





The next bit is normally rideable but the snow had drifted in so a bit of hike-a-bike was in order. Given the state of that I wasn't sure if the following bit would also be drifted in as it was in the lee of a stone wall but it was mostly rideable for the climb and level sections then fine on the downhill bit.



At the end of this is a lane that regularly ices up so we walked it. Didn't stop me from falling over, fortunately I landed exactly on my front tyre so a soft landing! The last bit of off-road is legal, it used to be one of those silly BWs that just stopped in the middle of nowhere but the last field has been upgraded from footpath.



A steep climb up the lane in the above shot then left along the track by the wall on the skyline.

I love the fuzzy nature of the pics, reminds me of Raymond Briggs's Snowman.

Happy to report that we've had none. Cold and windy but thankfully no snow

Got jnto the mother of all slides after leaving the inlaws today, wheels locked and just couldn't slow it at all, whizzed through some parallel parked cars without hitting a thing

One bloke clearing his drive stood watching in amazement as I flew past with the ABS crunching and grinding away

Ready for a stiff drink now

Good one Bob, I heard that Tanhill got snowed in and its patrons had to be put up for the night!

Shewie, I've found ABS to be a liability in the ice as it typically results in no braking. Old fashioned cadence braking works much better....

fatbikephil wrote: ↑Sun Nov 28, 2021 5:15 pm Good one Bob, I heard that Tanhill got snowed in and its patrons had to be put up for the night!

Shewie, I've found ABS to be a liability in the ice as it typically results in no braking. Old fashioned cadence braking works much better....

According to the BBC they are there for a second night. Poor buggers!

Just been clearing the lane (well the neighbour did that, I salted it), since it's 25% there's no way to get out without it being cleared. Parked the van at the top of the lane just in case.

As long as the beer doesn't run out!
Mum and Dad in a holiday cottage in Carperby in Wensleydale so look forward to their wintry pics.

Quite a bit here in Calder Valley. Will be interesting to see if I can get to work tomorrow, let alone the students!

No snow here in the Forest of Dean but a huge amount of wind damage. Even though we've experienced stronger winds in the past I can't remember seeing so many trees down before. Maybe the time of year with the sap low or possibly the wind direction, I don't know

Shewie wrote: ↑Sun Nov 28, 2021 4:47 pm Got jnto the mother of all slides after leaving the inlaws today, wheels locked and just couldn't slow it at all, whizzed through some parallel parked cars without hitting a thing

One bloke clearing his drive stood watching in amazement as I flew past with the ABS crunching and grinding away

Ready for a stiff drink now

Totally counter-intuitive but you need to come off the brakes and blip the throttle; you only have control if the wheels are turning Assuming you're in a low enough gear to have some engine braking - if not, you're into serious kick-the-pedal-through-the-floor cadence braking like fatbikephil says. Easier said than done though, neither option comes easy.

psling wrote: ↑Sun Nov 28, 2021 8:40 pm No snow here in the Forest of Dean but a huge amount of wind damage. Even though we've experienced stronger winds in the past I can't remember seeing so many trees down before. Maybe the time of year with the sap low or possibly the wind direction, I don't know

We were discussing this yesterday, storm force north easterlies are rare so many trees that would have happily survived a SW gale will have got clobbered. Mild and damp tomorrow afternoon until Tuesday

Most phased forest felling is designed to protect the crop from South through to west winds. Northerly and easterly winds will more likely find an exposed edge.

A fair amount of snow still here. They're just taking down a big old tree on the green opposite my office window which has been losing a major branch in every big storm. That's been happening for 2 years so not sure if the timing is coincidental or if it's started to lean towards the old mental hospital next to it. Most of the big trees near me are 150 odd years old and were planted when they built the asylum.

whitestone wrote: ↑Sun Nov 28, 2021 5:27 pm

fatbikephil wrote: ↑Sun Nov 28, 2021 5:15 pm Good one Bob, I heard that Tanhill got snowed in and its patrons had to be put up for the night!

Shewie, I've found ABS to be a liability in the ice as it typically results in no braking. Old fashioned cadence braking works much better....

According to the BBC they are there for a second night. Poor buggers!

Imagine being locked in with an Oasis tribute band for 48 hours though

thenorthwind wrote: ↑Mon Nov 29, 2021 11:23 am Imagine being locked in with an Oasis tribute band for 48 hours though

bit ironic that too... snow / oasis.....

RIP wrote: ↑Mon Nov 29, 2021 11:38 am

thenorthwind wrote: ↑Mon Nov 29, 2021 11:23 am Imagine being locked in with an Oasis tribute band for 48 hours though

bit ironic that too... snow / oasis.....

Tenuous, Reg, but still

thenorthwind wrote: ↑Mon Nov 29, 2021 11:23 am
Imagine being locked in with an Oasis tribute band for 48 hours though

Could be worse - could be the actual Oasis

Three nights now - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-59459710

thenorthwind wrote: ↑Mon Nov 29, 2021 11:58 am Tenuous, Reg, but still

My middle name

I thought it was Iolanthe?

Ah. Good point. I thought yours was Landslide .

It wasn't me! You can't prove nuffink!

managed 2 cracking hours earlier, on frozen crunchy snow, and sheet ice patches.

these fat bikes are quite good on the snow and stuff..........

Went for a pre-dawn razz around local Narnia. Crunchy white glitteryness below with purple, salmon pink and baby blue skies above. Ace!

MuddyPete wrote: ↑Mon Nov 29, 2021 7:09 pm white glitteryness below with purple, salmon pink and baby blue skies above. Ace!

Sounds like you've strayed over from that recent "what colour should I paint my bike?" thread Pete

RIP wrote: ↑Mon Nov 29, 2021 7:27 pm

MuddyPete wrote: ↑Mon Nov 29, 2021 7:09 pm white glitteryness below with purple, salmon pink and baby blue skies above. Ace!

Sounds like you've strayed over from that recent "what colour should I paint my bike?" thread Pete

YEAH BABY!!!

Now I just need to find a deep metallic hot rod orange sunset .

Well this thread went weird!

Unfortunately we are now back to the usual November grey