Potholes and ice

Went out for the first ride of the year this afternoon

Lovely to start with, cold but crisp, went through Ruyton down to the A5, stretched the Daytona's legs on the A5, went to a coffee stop at Bayley's Island (big roundabout, junction of A5 and A49 on the south side of Shrewsbury, many will know it, it's where we usually meet up on BP rides), nearly came off on a pothole into the services - grrr. Huge it was, I reckon a foot wide and four inches deep. They had resurfaced some of the road but not all - why??? - I saw it but as I turned right into the fuel station the back wheel caught the damn thing on the lean. Horrible wobble, thought it was going, saved it Told the clerk in the Esso what I thought, he just looked blank and said 'write to head office'

Was expecting to see a few bikes, in fact I saw only one other, a police bike, exchanged nods

Came back up the A49, thinking I'd go through Myddle and then the lane back home. Was having such a nice time that I forgot that the A49 doesn't go to Myddle, so was going north rather than north west, by now the sun gone down, not that it has ever really got that high today, took a left down the lanes through Sansaw (have I lost you yet), came round a bend and - oh holy ****, a sheet of f*@$!*&g ice. Bike continued going sideways, 'throttle neutral, don''t touch the brakes' was all I could think of, heart jumped into mouth as the bike went crazy, just D/K how I kept it upright. Was only doing about 15 around the corner too, it's a blind bend. The rest of the lane to the A528 was much the same, the A528 getting icy, the lane from Myddle to Baschurch also icy and my rear wheel going all over. Crawled along at 10mph and held up a few cars, I didn't care, the usual 5 min trip from Myddle took 20 - 25.

Ice is the one thing I won't ride on. But needs had to, I was never so pleased to get the bike home. Bike is not coming out again till all the ice has gone.

It's just not worth it.

[maviczap]

Agreed Ed

Even though the ice has long gone from round here, I saw a massive pothole around a drain cover in the middle of the road. The gap was so wide it'd swallow a front wheel easy

There's loads of others that haven't been fixed

Same down south, bleedin' BBC forecast was well adrift! Black ice in the back lanes took ages to get home, queue of cars behind me too! Roll on summer..

forecast gave me the peace of mind to ride to work on Friday, snow wasnt expected around here until late evening... they were about 10hours out. Arrived at work and the snow started, I was due on site in the earlier afternoon so headed off to site via home hoping to change to the car... got within half a mile of home before I had my off caused by your favorite friends ed.. Pot holes. Glad you had more success than I did - stay safe, ignore the forcasts.

I know when I rode my bike to work last week, by the time I got it back home again, it was completely covered in cack. I mean totally covered. Bike is now back under the cover where it shall stay for an unspecified duration. And yes, potholes everywhere. But then I ride quite a few back roads on part of my route to work.

[Stu]

Was out for a good ride today.
Plenty of ice & plenty of potholes. - makes it fun

Did a bit of drifting unintensionaly was still fun

[garynortheast]

Blimey Ed, you're a braver man than I! It's been terrible on our lane - four miles of refrozen snow melt, car has been all over the road.

Hoping the forecast is right about the rain and milder weather to come this week. Should see off the last of the snow and ice and wash the salt off the roads.

[Bluepete]

I was out on a job bike today, but not far enough south to nod at you Ed!

Slush on the roads in some areas, otherwise, a lovely day was had.

And those potholes?

They won't be getting fixed in a hurry, if at all.

Pete

What's really annoying is that if you trip over a loose paving stone on the pavement the council are responsible and you can take legal action (albiet most claims will be fakes)... I bet its not the same for pot holes and we have to pay road tax (some of us 2 or 3 lots of it too for the benefit of potentially getting killed The roads near us are terrible after the ice... its like some one has taken a pick axe to clear the snow.

Grumble grumble grumble!