Ice Tyres

I finally got to try my ice tyres, Schwalbe Marathon Winter.  The forecast for the second half of the week was for sub zero overnight temps.  Wednesday morning there was ice on the cars.  I decided to go on the Pompino with the ice tyres.  There were a couple of spots were it was a bit icy, but nothing to tax the tyres.  Same for Thursday and Friday.

But by Friday evening, coming back from the pub, it was noticeably colder.  We had arranged to go riding on Saturday but I got a call from Alison saying that Ian and Simon had got to their house and reported that the roads were quite icy in places.  So instead of coming out to me and heading for the hills, I would ride to them and we’d go along the coast a bit.  Riding out of Kirkham was quite hairy.  There was a strip of ice alongside the rows of parked cars.  Coming through Wrea Green the pond was frozen over and there was a big stretch of ice on road out of the village.  I met up with the others and we gingerly headed into Lytham.  There was some ice, but not too bad.  We headed down the bike path to St Anne’s then on to Blackpool, Cleveleys and almost to Fleetwood.  Apart from a short stretch from St Anne’s to South Shore it was bike path all the way, along side the sea.  It was a bit slow through Blackpool and we were funnelled down into a couple of busy spots.  Out by Rossall School the surface wasn’t great, pot holed and washed over with pebbles and sand from the beach, but on the whole quite a nice ride.  We tend to forget we live near the sea.

So, did the ice tyres work?  Its difficult to tell.  I didn’t slip over, but neither did any of the others.  I think I was a bit more casual about riding and there were a couple of stretches where I ploughed through while the others tended to pick their way with a bit more care.  It’s going to be cold all week so I may get chance again to try them out, although I’m in Bristol for most of next week.

Miles for week – 133

Running total - 197