Trike on Ice

[susanstinson]

Everything was glazed with ice today.

The first winter I had the trike, I was nervous about riding in the road, and tried to stick to the sidewalks. Since I had walked everywhere in all seasons before that, I was used to the fact that sidewalks are often poorly shovelled, slippery or not shovelled at all, but, on a trike, that could stop me cold. Riding in the road is so much better, even on a day like today.

But, getting on the bike path was a bit rough. I tried to go as fast as I could to get up the little hill at the entrance, but I found myself still on an incline with my wheels spinning with no traction on totally smooth ice. I tried to get off and walk it, but it was too slippery. The trike slid backwards, just a little, which was worrying, but then I kicked at the ground with my feet and got to a spot where a public works truck must have driven the path and crunched up the ice a little in its very swervy path. The path was flat by then, and, with lots of extra effort, I could keep moving. It's a steep and very icy short hill off, and then the road is unplowed for a ways, so I walked up most of that. The plow came by on the bike path right after me, putting down salt.

On the way home, I had trouble getting back on the path. The short, steep hill (it's like a ramp) was totally glazed with ice. I had to hold onto the posts that are there to keep people from driving onto the path, and skitter to the side where there were leaves in the ice that were frozen in rumply shapes that gave some traction. Once I got there, I was able to push the bike up the hill, and the path was completely clear down to the asphalt, from the salt and rain. The whole ride home was easy, so much of the ice had melted fast.

It cleared my head for writing. Plus, I got milk.

Comments

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

oop, it looks like I'm wrong about the 27" tires -- I haven't managed to find any so far.

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

Yeah, right, I'm pretty sure that I have 27" tires (meant to write that down when I got a flat in the fall), but it's good to know that these studded bike tires exist in other sizes, at least. Makes me feel in good company out there on my icy spots, even if I don't currently have a snow tire option. Thanks for the link. (And very cool about you making it up past the SUVs.)

I took a quick look at the ice biking site, too. Wow. That's serious.

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

They're craaazy.
What my brother does, is he has disc brakes and three sets of wheels that he can interchange (hence the need for disc brakes.) One set of very thin, high-pressure tires, one set of mountain tires for somewhat lousy conditions, and a set of monster studded tires for flat-out sheer black ice conditions. He can swap out tire sets in under a minute.
Much more difficult for you: swapping wheels on a trike is Very Tricky. However, depending on what sort of brakes you have and where they're located, it is possible to get tire chains for bikes -- they're fussy and wear somewhat quickly and don't work as well as the studded snow tires, but they're much more amenable to your hardware. I'll see if I can find some links.

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

However, with all that said, one potential fix would be to build up new wheels around your existing hubs, using modern 700C rims. You'd notice lighter, stronger wheels that would fit modern, inexpensive, widely-available tires with better traction and better durability. However, I assume it'd cost about $100/wheel for parts/labor.

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

The three sets of wheels scenario is fascinating, as is the idea of building up new wheels from my existing hubs. And I googled and read up a little about tire chains for bikes, too. So good to know about them all.

But, truth is, I'm stretching still to get to the very basics of trike maintenance (like I still don't have a very confident grasp on how often to oil my chains, although I'm coming to realize that it's a lot more often than I thought), and really went after the whole dynamo light idea with serious help for months, and didn't pull it off, so the answer probably is to try to stay on the roads and forsake the bike path when it's icy. Although, if you DO run across any 27" studded snow tires, I'd love to hear about it. (I love hearing about all of it, actually. All of the skills people have and those pictures of riding bike right through a snowy field with tires caked with snow -- who knew such a thing was even possible?)

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

My personal feeling on lubricating the chain is: after every ride where it stays wet for more than just a moment. Which, in Colorado, means I go four months in the summer without touching a thing, but when I was in Portland, it meant every night.

I must have missed the dynamo dynamics -- what was the problem? that there isn't a good place to mount a dynamo on a trike? I have half a dozen ideas on how to do that, but every one requires either welding or a machine shop, and most involve both. Hmmmm.