Ice! Ice! Baby

[jon avery]

Well we had an eventfull ride! I went out with Steve B's group, after we had left Reigate and passed the golf course,Steve B hit some ice and all of the group with the exceptions of Mark and myself (Phew) went down, i think Geoff came off worse ripping every item of clothing and what looked like a ping pong ball on his elbow, Steve W broke his helmet,and several others had ripped new clothing But the hardcore lot we are we turned around and went on the main roads and dual carridge way to the cafe, had a brew and cake then back to Coulsdon where Steve W and i stopped for another coffee in Nero, at the end it was a good ride, i struggled in parts but finished quite strong,hope everyone got home ok, we lost a guy (sorry dont know your name) on a white bike, and i hope you are all not to sore

[Amy]

And there was some expensive cycle kit on some people - namely Steve B

Well done you lot for trying the lanes anyway. Hope you're not too battered and bruised and no damage done other than bumps, bruises and torn clothing.

[Steve B]

"You should have stayed on the main roads" is what people will be saying, and ultimately thats what we should have done. I obviously take responsibilty for deciding to take the normal route, and it was me that went down first, leaving nowhere for anybody to go, except down . But in my defense, this could have happened on any road, and it wasn't 'because we went down the lanes' that we had the crash. The roads were fine and mostly dry with no signs of ice except a couple of icey puddles in the gutters. Anyway, just past Reigate golf course, there was (what we found out afterwards by the lady whos house we crashed outside) a burst water main and cars had been picking up this water from the kerb and and dumping further up where it froze, leaving a patch about 2 feet wide and 20m long . I saw the water and thought "well thats not frozen, alls going to be alrig.......", and I was on the floor Then I stopped someones wheel with my face, then another with my side, I think. All hell had broken loose, but thankfully no one was hurt badly. 5 out of seven went down and some nice new christmas prezzies were torn or scuffed. I hope everyone is ok.

AS Jon said, we all got back on, hit the A24 and ended up at the cafe with an extra 10 miles on the clock. We lost Grant (sorry I'm really not sure if thats your name, apologies) on the Holmwood 10 course, stopped to wait for him and went back to find him, but he wasn't anywhere to be seen. I hope you got back ok.

Those extra 10 miles certainly took their tole in the cold weather and everyone was glad to be nearing home. Mark totally ran out of energy and wanted to leave his bike on the pavement and get a lift home. Every muscle in his legs were cramping up, and my thighs joined in. I had to get off the bike a mile from home, to stretch. I couldn't pedal anymore. On the plus side, my broken toe was frozen so couldn't feel it

Steve

[Antloony]

Sounds like you were a tad unlucky then Steve. Hope no ones injuries are to bad, colthes can be replaced, though its a bit annoying if they're new, if they're old its a great excuse to buy some new gear

ps stick to the main roads

[Amy]

Definitely unlucky, Steve.

We had some water flowing down the side of the main road at one point which had formed a nice icy edge but we could ride wide enough to avoid it. Worried in case it flowed across the road though...

Then again, people who did my ride up and over from Hooley back whenever found the roads ok even though the ice was patchy in places.

[Andrew G]

[quote="Steve B"]"You should have stayed on the main roads" is what people will be saying, and ultimately thats what we should have done. I obviously take responsibilty for deciding to take the normal route

[Will]

Ouch... I hope everyone is ok!

I wiped out on some ice over near Cobham the other day - similarly I passed a patch of water and thought "phew" then went down

I have some nice bruises & cuts to show for it, plus some ripped Assos leggings

[jon avery]

May i just say no one in the group blamed Steve, we all knew what the route was and all agreed to do it, it was just one of those unfortunate mishaps.

[CaroleH]

Ouch!!!!! Hope you're all okay? Always said cycling in the winter is a liability!!!! That's why I always choose to stay in bed!!!!!....................or have babies!!!!!!

Carole H

[Marcus]

[quote="CaroleH"]That's why I always choose to stay in bed!!!!!....................or have babies!!!!!!

Carole H

[Steve B]

Jeff, how's the elbow? And why were you hiding a ping pong ball up your sleeve anyway?
I've pm'd you

Steve

[Marek]

As I have said in the past, going down the lanes you are much more likely to hit ice. Today I cycled down to Ditchling going down only main roads and had a great ride with no issues, there were some icy patches on the sides of the road but were very avoidable. I cannot believe anyone went out on the lanes today, utter madness, how many times has this happened now . This is becoming all too common a thread when we get to winter and the temperatures drop. That road between Reigate and Newdigate has been the cause of a significant amount of ACC crashes. Again, I suggested it in the past that VC's should announce to all groups in these types of temps to not go down the lanes.

Remember this one:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8536

And there are more going back over the years. Do not take to the lanes when it is as cold as it has been over night as it is dangerous, especially so in a large group where when one goes you are more than likely to knock others over. Guess GB's will be laughing with all the repairs, if your quick though you might still catch the sales.

Cheers

Marek....

[mlocke]

I was in this group thigh the legs were left at home. I replaced these with an extra belly

we allknew the risk, noone was forced to ride this route and steve was definately not to blame. We are all grown ups and we will ride where we want.

In the end the ride was good but v. Hard.

Thanks for the bottle loan ben and the company everyone else

[Marek]

mlocke, the point is that some people in that group may not have known about experiences that other members may have had down that exact road in the past due to icy conditions. If they had known then maybe they would not have blindly followed the more experienced riders that do know the risks on that road. And why you would want to take that risk in the first place seems a bit strange to me. There are other roads that lead to the cafe which have a much lower ice risk. Which is why Andrew Green and Paul Hones groups both stayed upright. Why risk an injury and a possible messed up season and a broken bike

How about this scenario, you are new to the club, you go on the club run and you fall off due to ice. You then find out that in the last few years there have been accidents on the same road in cold icy conditions, I reckon you might be a bit annoyed about the route your club took you down. Fine if you know the risk, but how many people blindly follow the leader on the club run, probably a fair few. This is about being safe and not taking people into high risk situations, which is what you did today. It sounded like you were lucky no one was badly injured like last year.

DON''T GO DOWN THAT ROAD IN THESE CONDITIONS

[George]

Sorry to hear that you guys got yourselfs into a bit of a pickle earlier in the lanes, pm me for DR LASER's details if needed
I blame Steve [url=http://www.smileyhut.com][img]http://www.smileyhut.com/laughing/rofl.gif[/img][/url]

Anyhow in the Incredibles group we had a great sunny winters morning training group ride down the A25 to the pines Charlwood via the DC with some hard through and off where I was suffering and missing turns.

Ben F is really starting to get quite strong, Paul, Ant and Rob were all very fast today there looking forward to Hillingdon next week, well done to Nick for refusing to give up and digging deep.

Paul T was at the cafe selling Dinner tickets to all 8 or 9 of us who actually made the cafe stop[img]http://www.buddy-icons.info/img/smile/1706.gif[/img] Enjoyable ride back and another muggo at Neros' for a perfect morning I'd say, well for us lot that used our loafs