Snow on the Way!

Apparently there is a Chinese saying (curse) that goes something along the lines of "be careful of what you wish for - you might get it". Well as I have mentioned a few times I like cycling on snow and the weather forecasts started predicting it here in the flatlands of East Anglia. When I went out for a cycle ride on Sunday afternoon snow flurries had already started. Certainly it was cold - I ended up with a t-shirt, cycling shirt, fleece and my fluorescent cycling jacket, cycling shorts and longs, thin socks and thick waterproof socks, two layers of gloves, headband, bobble-less bobble hat , buff (tube for head/neck) and waterproof cycling boots. What happens is I get way too hot - except for my toes - they freeze.

As I cycled round the weather alternated between sunny blue skies and almost horizontal snow whipping along. When it was really bad I pulled up the buff ( if you want to see one - www.evanscycles.com/products/buff/headwear-scarf-ec002038) around my mouth and nose and pulled my hat down to just above my eyes - even then I get kept snow in my eyes. With all my gear I had forgotten my sunglasses - which have replaceable lenses - blue, clear, yellow).

When the wind stopped I took a few pictures of the wintry scenes, the advantage of two-layer gloves is it is possible to take pictures while wearing the inner glove.

Here the sun almost obscured by the fast moving clouds, although it looks darker in the picture than it was in real life.

Later on the blue skies were back with a few wispy clouds.

Ten minutes later it started snowing again, in fact when I looked at this picture later, on my computer, I was horrified as it has lots of blobs which look as if the lens has gotten really dirty. I could not work out how it had become dirty so quickly. My biggest concern was that dust had got inside the camera and on the sensor.

This happened to me on a previous camera and after searching the web I could only find instructions to dismantle a previous model. To get the camera cleaned would have cost as much as the camera cost to buy but I did see some advice that suggested using a vacuum cleaner with the nozzle over the lens to draw air through the camera. I tried it out with the vacuum cleaner on and was horrified when, as the nozzle got closer to the camera, which was lying on the table, the camera shot up to jam against the nozzle. Fortunately no damage was done and it had removed all of the dust in the camera.

As you might have already guessed the blobs were really falling snowflakes in the picture, although it is not so easy to see when the picture has been uploaded to the blog on a larger screen they look terrible.

The next day we had quite a lot of snow and as I was meeting a friend for lunch at a pub in a nearby village I decided to cycle the long way, 48Km/30miles vs 8Km/5miles is no contest for me. Around here several centimetres/inches of snow had fallen but there were not many cars on the roads. Where lots of cars had been there was a clear track in the road, where no cars had been it was crunchy snow, either are ok for cycling on . The worst roads were where a few cars had compacted the snow and left ruts in it. I did take my helmet and I unclipped my feet from the pedals on the really slippery roads and although I had a few moments where the front wheel started sliding away from me I managed to stay on. I had to give some of the shared use cycle/pedestrian paths a miss though - they are the last thing that gets salted around here. For once the few cars and vans on the roads gave me plenty of clearance when overtaking.

On my way through to White Fen, which is a no through road for cars I got to cycle on untouched snow. This road is actually quite uneven and damaged but the snow seemed to cushion the worst of it.

Here it is in the other direction, the best approach is to cycle down the middle as the edge of the road is not that clear. It was not very slippery but the snow did clog up my brakes, in fact they were virtually useless for a 100m/100yards. Which is fine on the flat but can be a little unsettling on even the small hills around here.

Here is my track down the middle of the road.

Once out on White Fen the snow blanketed the fields and the only tracks in the snow were made by birds and animals. I was amazed at how many deer tracks I saw, there must be loads of deer in the area, no wonder they are considered a nuisance.

This sort of track sharpens my bike handling skills as the snow hides all the potholes and rocks, it transforms the ride from a well-known path to a "new" challenge though.

The main problem I had was cycling, for me anyway, on slow is much much slower. By slower I was going at half speed, so the first bit of the journey took and hour versus the usual half hour. Fortunately after cycling through the Wicken Fen the back roads to the pub were not too bad and I was able to pick up the pace and managed to get there on time. I did see this interesting snow person though.

By the time I got to the pub I was boiling - the coldest bit of the journey was the last bit from the pub to home. By then I had cooled down and could not get up enough speed to keep my extremities warm.