This is exactly what I encountered yesterday, Steve: Clear trails, except for pitted, rutted ice on the bridges by DCA. I made it through on my Sam Hillborne's 35mm Delta Cruisers, but it was pretty sketchy in the morning and required a bit of care and skill. By the time I returned in the evening there were clear paths melted through. When those spots under the bridges get black ice, they can be treacherous - just ask my wife, who was a very good sport the first time she rode to my place when we were dating!
My normal snow solution has been to use the aluminum CX bike (Trek XO1) that was my exclusive commuter, pre-Sam, with studded Kenda Klondikes (700x35). My theory was the opposite of NickBull's: because the roads clear up so fast, I got tires without spikes right down the middle, but the two rows do come into play right away as soon as the road or the bike tips a bit. They're still quite noisy on the asphalt. I haven't slipped on smooth ice with the Klondikes, just loose slippery snow and the occasional awkwardly frozen rut/footprint. When I'm on a trail and everything's covered in snow I ride just off to the side where there aren't any footprints. After I got my Sam Hillborne last year, I barely rode my Trek all winter unless I really needed the studs - having my Sam's dynamo lighting in the dark winter nights (I'm often riding from Alexandria to DC after 10pm, and had a 3am a couple of weeks ago) overrode any concerns about riding steel in the snow and salt. Unless Santa brings a dynamo hub for the Trek, It'll likely stay that way. -John (Capitol Hill) On Wednesday, December 11, 2013 2:15:36 PM UTC-5, Steve Palincsar wrote: > > On 12/11/2013 01:51 PM, NickBull wrote: > > Because what happens on the DC area bike paths (none of which are > > plowed to my knowledge) is that during the day, the snow partially > > melts, people ride on it sliding all over and leave ruts that veer > > every which way (not to mention all the walkers with their > > footprints). Then overnight everything refreezes and those ruts are > > like little icy Grand Canyons. If your tires don't have enough studs > > sticking out to the sides to catch on the sidewalls of the ruts then > > they won't be able to climb out of the rut. So then the tire has no > > choice but to slide sideways down the rut while meanwhile your > > momentum continues forward, making it hard to avoid going down. > > Excellent description, lacking only one point: after the first couple of > days, the snow on the trails melts entirely in many places, leaving only > splotches of rutted ice except for areas always in shade or at bridges & > overpasses. In those areas -- for example, on the Mount Vernon trail > headed into DC, you can expect to find ice on the two overpasses at > National Airport and under the bridges crossing the Potomac into the > District -- the rutted ice can sometimes linger for a week or two. > Those areas all together may add up to one, or perhaps two tenths of a > mile on an 8 mile trip from Alexandria into the District. > > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
