icy severn bridge

going over the severn bridge last night at about 1am, it was below freezing, icy and terrible fog ( a horrible journey ).

Anyway I nearly lost it going over one of the metal strips that connects the road together on the bridge, so dangerous for bikers! There were 6 in total and although after the 1st I was ready for the others, the second the front or back wheel touches them, the bike just felt like it was trying to throw itself on the ground, all over the show.

It doesnt bare thinking about coming off on the severn bridge, they should cover them things up before someone gets hurt!

They are a bit scary. The trick is to run over them at constant speed, but still with the power on, making sure your running straight and true, not so easy on the bridge in the constant cross wind.

I have a cattle grid to cross on the way to work on an uphill section, power has to be on, always a bit of a worry. I always ride in the wheel ruts.

I've had many a nice slip on those metal bands. It also doesn't help that alot of the bits where you go over them the road is curved.

I cross two cattle grids in the morning, both are on a bend. Now that makes you twitch a bit I can tell you.

Thats just one thing the government should be addressing when thinking about road design. Covering those up with an anti slip surface and covering manhole covers would be a good start.

thats the trouble with the goverment its as if we (bikers) dont belong on the roads.

They're expansion joints.

When I was an articled clerk back in 1986 - 1988, the firm I worked for acted for a company that owned and operated bingo halls. Well the landlord of one of these places wanted to get Tesco in a town centre location, so they persuaded the company to do a landswap of their bingo hall for a new hall - the converted ground floor of a multi storey carpark. So the landlord did some work to waterproof the upper decks. They sprayed this plastic stuff onto the deck and the joints. But of course with the expansion and contraction of the joints in the structure, and constant vehicle movemenets, the plastic wore out. And this was a town centre car park (within the M25) and every Friday/Saturday drunks would come out the pubs and go for a pee before they got in the car to go home. And all the rainwater used to go into this place as well.

I had to go do a site inspection, so waited for the rainiest day imaginable. Went in - the smell was just overpowering, water was pouring through the ceiling, the velour seats were encrusted with white crystalline stuff, the electrics were corroded, rainwater and oil was dripping into buckets all over the place, the place was disgusting.

But the funniest thing of all was that the punters weren't put off. No not one bit, they all sat there playing bingo with their umbrellas up.