bpcyclist

Hey, guys. I ride early usually, often departing my place at around 0430 or 0500 or so. Went out yesterday planning to ride the full Springwater Trail plus some additional miles to add up to 60-65 miles, which is, for me, a great workout. I live on the west side of Portland. Got across the rive and maybe, I don't know, three to four miles out, when I suddenly encountered lots and lots of white ice crystals all over the streets and MUP. Air temp. was allegedly 34ish. Zero precip. I rode on, but it just kept getting worse and worse. I was getting nervous, as I have put the bike down once before on black ice, years ago. Don't want to do that again.

The Springwater Trail basically heads toward Mt. Hood and it generally gets colder the further toward the mountain you get. The frost started getting worse and finally after maybe 10 miles or so, I just gave up and turned around--carefully. Took the MUP back home in the dark, frost absolutely everywhere. Very nervous here. Nobody else out. Did not pass a single bike either direction for 7 miles! I guess they knew something I was too dumb to figure out. I knew there was going to be fog, but none of the weather forecasts even mentioned frost. Guess I just missed it.

So, I have a routine before every ride. Right before I go to bed, I check a couple weather forecasts and see what they are saying. Then, about twenty minutes before I leave, I check them again. I am generally looking for four things: either big, big rain (which obviously we rarely get in PDX/Seattle areas); thunderstorms (also rare); big wind (much more common and may lead me to switch my route); and snow/ice (we get more than our fair share of ice, not much snow, of course).

My question is, generally speaking, where you live, what are your major weather-related cycling issues and how do you address them? And second, if you ever see frost where you live, do you ride on it, or do you wait for another day? Thanks and be safe!

Seattle Forrest

I don't know if this extends as far south as you are, we're expecting a foot of snow in the mountains and cold at all elevations for the next week or so.

It soonest never snows in Seattle. But when it gets very cold we get frost, generally in places that are shaded all day long. Cold days are usually sunny days, choosing streets that get sun tends to mean avoiding frost.

I address winter cycling by cross country skiing instead. 🙂 It's fun, beautiful, it keeps you warm, and it's fantastic cross training.

Carbonfiberboy 

It's not quite winter cycling here in Pugetopolis yet. No forecast of lowland snow, yet. No forecast of skiing yet either, at least not that I've heard of.

My practice if it has frozen in my projected ride area is to not ride until the temperature there is above 40°. I go by predicted freezing levels and in general, try to stay well below them. I never ride on possibly icy roads nor in the snow. Sometimes it snows and then the weather turns to rain or sun and melts the snow on the roadways, in which case I'll ride, but staying at low elevation. One injury can ruin my whole season.

CliffordK

I've been trying to avoid the frost as much as possible. But, FOG is also a concern. And, of course, that liquid sunshine.

rzldzl

On Dec.10 2017 I left the house midday with the thermometer reading 44 degrees. An hour later I was descending Little River Rd. (Port Angeles), hit some black ice, almost got it back, and then hit some more. Went down hard on my right side and broke my pelvis in 3 places. It was just a pocket of gloom, maybe a half mile uphill from the Elwha, where no air moved through to remove the overnight cold.

I find the thermometer in modern vehicles to be helpful in tracking potential freezing conditions, but I have had no luck finding a thermometer for the bike, that would be instantaneously accurate enough and visibly readable enough, that I would trust it.

CliffordK

Several bike computers have thermometers. Even really cheap ones. I haven't paid much attention to them, but wind chill does not affect thermometers. Sun does. But, the thermometers should do reasonably well on a bike.

There are battery powered remote sensor bluetooth thermometers that are common for household use. Not necessarily rapid reacting, but it should be fine for many situations. They could be used to calibrate your bike computer.

I go by road conditions, although I don't think I've hit much black ice. I did do the winter McKenzie Pass ride a few years ago. The bad spots were melt runoff/refreeze, and were quite obvious. I wasn't in a hurry, and walked around the worst patches.

Seattle Forrest

I use a Garmin watch, so their Tempe sensor is a natural for me. You can mount it under the BB shell to keep it out of the sun and prevent your body temp from influencing the reading.

Hope you get a quick and complete recovery!

rzldzl

Thanks and I did. Was 2 years ago today as I remembered when on a ride in Sequim today.

Thinking back on it there was an increase in the chill I felt just before falling. Like a lot of things when riding it is just being aware of your surroundings and reacting or just stopping and figuring out what is going on. Reminds me of the time I stepped in quicksand. I remember thinking "this place I am about to step looks just a little bit different from the places I have been stepping."

The Garmin setup sounds like the deal. I had no idea they had remote sensors.