After a couple of days pretending that it was too cold to go out cycling it was time to check out the roads. Last night I had to pick my daughter up from a school trip to London at around midnight - the temperature was -6C but during the day it was going to warm up to around a peak of 1C by midday. So after an early lunch of pasta - for the heat producing carbs I set off into the snowy Fens. I was rather cautious - although we have not had much more snow it has been freezing every night - a recipe for slippery ice. That morning I had seen an ambulance called to Mill Road - it looked as though an older person had slipped over and was being taken to hospital - hopefully only as a precaution.
The main roads are pretty good, they have been cleared of snow and seem to be regularly salted. The minor roads are not so good though and the pavements outside of town (and in town as well) are not at all clear. This is a shared use cycle path between Angelsey Abbey and Swaffham Bulbeck - judging by the footprints/cycle wheel tracks it is well used. When I cycled along it was not too bad - you should not try to stop in a hurry, but the snow on top provides some traction. You can't see what's underneath though which can be a bit off-putting.
Cycling through Lode the road was pretty much covered in snow - when it is fresh but with some car tyre tracks I cycle in the middle on the fresh snow. Today there was not much untouched snow and some of the tyre tracks left ridges that bounced my front wheel around. In the end I cycled along the well used flat tyre tracks. Whenever I saw a car coming I would slow down and pull in without braking. I did have one heart-stopping moment when my front wheel started skidding on what looked like polished ice. I can cope with rear wheel slides - when the front one does it is much harder not to panic and try to brake - which would make the problem much worse. I am not sure what I did but I carried on - probably moved my weight backwards - but I was glad I was going slowly.
Once out on the Fens I cycled along some of the tracks through the fields. The snow disguises the track, and so you have solid earth, slippery snow and every now and then an iced over puddle. The worst bit is when you get stuck in a tractor tyre rut.The rest of the photographs are taken used multiple exposures and my trial copy of Photomatix to produce the final version. Which is why they have the photomatix watermark in them. I must read the tutorial and see how to tweak the output. It looks as if I will buy a copy though. I have bought a copy and replaced the photographs!
Although it was bright when I set out it quickly turned and stayed dull - although no more snow fell. Some interesting skies though as shown hear. I like the way the software has managed to get the sky detail, show the snow and you can see reflections in the dark water.
Cycling down through Wicken Fen was tricky - as I passed the car park on what looked like very slippery snow/ice and with no way to swerve or stop a car pulled up at the exit and braked hard and yes, skidded. A good job he was driving quite slowly. I also saw a lad slip over in the car park - so it was pretty bad. The paths through Wicken Fen were ok though - the snow on top helps to make the ice underneath slightly less slippery.
One problem I did have was that I did not always manage to stay on the path and found myself cycling off onto the verge - well it all looks the same when covered in snow. This is the path that has been recently repaired on the way through Wicken Fen to Burwell.
In the end I had three front wheel slides - one caused me to have an unplanned rapid dismount, I landed on my feet though. Although I am using my waterproof Shimano boots which clip to the pedals I am not clipping in so that it is easier to jump off the bike. When I got home and checked my average speed it was about half what it normally is. My feet were the only bits that suffered from the cold - but they did feel like blocks of ice. despite the slow speed I felt exhausted when I got back - I almost fell asleep in the (lovely hot) bath!
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