Morning road conditions of late?

[Claire]

How have the roads been for the last couple of days? I see lots of blue sky and think "dry roads" but then find sections of frost when I walk the kids to school. Can anyone who's been on the 6am rides provide a road conditions update? I'm REALLY chicken about riding when it's slippery, but I would like to ride early this Fri/Sat, so I either need to reassess or just toughen the f*ck up. But frankly, I'm happy with my current toughness level, so would just prefer dry roads.

[AJ Neale]

Hi Claire,

So now we know you are tough AND wise. The roads are actually pretty good; the air is really dry and the little bit of frost still provides traction. That being said, it would be prudent to ride with caution and maybe even follow an experienced Tripleshotter with good bike handling skills and common sense ..... you never know, one of those might show up! On an unrelated note, I will be out at 6:00 for the Friday ride and will buy coffee.

Andrew

[barton bourassa]

On this page at the top you can find the temperature. Click on the temp and it takes you to Weather Victoria. Click on any of the temperatures and you will see temperature and dew point. if the dew pt is below the temp, little risk of frost on the roads. roads have been pretty dry and clear lately. You need to watch out, just stay home, when the temp is near freezing and the dew pt is close to the air temp.

If anyone has any other info or corrections please post.

Barton

[myboys]

I headed out this morning, and discovered white roads everywhere. Took it vvveeerrrryyy slow to Pareto, along with Eric P. The few riders that did show up were long gone. Victoria Weather showing almost 100-percent humidity. Sunday was relatively dry, but this morning a different story. We both headed back to our respective homes, happily intact. Hope the ride went well this morning for the brave few.

[Claire]

I don't know about the others, but John D and I were white-knuckled the whole time and deemed it "not fun" ... Just hoping against hope that we'd stay upright. We did all manage that much, but it was certainly a cautious pace. I forgot to count, but maybe 8 did the whole ride, and a couple more tacked on toward the end, while others headed home, so we had about 8 for coffee too.

I'm done with these slippy rides!

p.s. I checked the trusty school-based weather site before leaving, and it looked like it wouldn't be that bad - temps all said at least 2 degrees above zero. That's the last time I trust Barton...

[leftcoaster]

I made it about 100 metres down the street, then dismounted and walked home. Too much frost on the road and ice on the cars..........

[myboys]

Just one note on the Victoria weather page, which is excellent. I failed to click on the temperature buttons, but if I had, would have seen the humidity was close to 100 percent for all locations. I thought, "Hey great! It's two degrees, wahoo!", then had a white knuckle ride to Pareto.

[barton bourassa]

I looked at the weather site, saw that the dew pt was a couple degrees lower than air temp. Whahoo! Headed out, turned the corner onto Craigflower and nothing but frost! At least it was visible. Turned around at the Bay St bridge and headed home to walk the dog.

Oh well! What can you do!

[Claire]

Yes, it was a better morning for "stoopid" things like running. I enjoyed my early morning trot around the frosty roads, and was feeling very glad that I'd already come to peace about staying off the bike. Too bad no group rides start at noon. The roads would be nice and dry then!

[Paula]

On the farm team there are some weather guys, professionals, and this is what I have learned.

The site that Barton mentioned measures the temperature up higher and the temperature we are most concerned with is on the ground. When the nights are clear, cold and calm the ground temeperature drops significantly and with no wind to mix the air, it can go even colder just before sunrise and then viola frost on roads that weren't frosty a few minutes earlier.

So, if it is clear, cold and calm and anywhere below 3 degrees, I'm staying home. It might be a bit conservative but it is true, it takes longer to recover the older you get

[wonger]

I can ride at noon!!

[Lund]

Claire — you are 100% right. Running is stoopid, no matter the road conditions.