February 2015 Trail Conditions

[GB]

I thought you might be following that hashtag.

[dkel]

I saved myself some time this morning and kept the CX tires on instead of mounting the studs, and then rode the W&OD from Falls Church (just before Shreve) to Hunter Mill Rd in Reston. The slick patches in all the places reported earlier today are still there, but they have likely already diminished from earlier, as I found them generally easy to avoid. There were a couple of places I took the gravelly margin (also icy, but much less slick) because it was easier than choosing a line, and I could ride the gravel easily on the tires I had. Here’s to hoping it will be even more clear this evening.

[dkel]

@Rockford10 107985 wrote:

At the time the sliding seemed almost peaceful. Like when things go in slow motion before the zombies eat you.

The slow motion part was after the zombie bit that guy. Didn’t you listen at all when I gleefully described every detail of that Walking Dead episode that you weren’t interested in watching??? :rolleyes:

[Powerful Pete]

Well, Trollheim this morning before 8AM was very icy and slippery. Saw a less than cautious rider go down pretty hard (he was ok), so being the brave man that I am, I walked it.

Here’s to hoping that there is no ice this evening.

[dasgeh]

@Powerful Pete 107999 wrote:

Well, Trollheim this morning before 8AM was very icy and slippery. Saw a less than cautious rider go down pretty hard (he was ok), so being the brave man that I am, I walked it.

Here’s to hoping that there is no ice this evening.

There was no ice on the tr bridge straight away at 845a, so I’m guessing you’ll be fine.

On another note, I’ve been happily planning the garden for the spring/summer and have been enjoying that arlington is an entire zone warmer than Fairfax. Today seemed to prove that.

[hozn]

@dkel 107997 wrote:

There were a couple of places I took the gravelly margin (also icy, but much less slick) because it was easier than choosing a line, and I could ride the gravel easily on the tires I had.

Yeah, I just rode on the gravel through Vienna, didn’t want to risk falling (or slow down to a safer speed). Riding the gravel works fine on 28c slicks too!

[GB]

For all my morning smuggness, my tire just blew out in the office. I guess it wasn’t happy with the temperature change. Has this happened to anyone else?

[vern]

@dasgeh 108002 wrote:

There was no ice on the tr bridge straight away at 845a, so I’m guessing you’ll be fine.

On another note, I’ve been happily planning the garden for the spring/summer and have been enjoying that arlington is an entire zone warmer than Fairfax. Today seemed to prove that.

Not today. I didn’t experience ice in Western Fairfax County (Reston), but did from Vienna on in, including in Arlington, at least on the bridges. Maybe there was some later precipitation in Arlington creating that ice that didn’t occur further west.

[bobco85]

@GB 108009 wrote:

For all my morning smuggness, my tire just blew out in the office. I guess it wasn’t happy with the temperature change. Has this happened to anyone else?

So THAT is what made that sound! From my desk a floor down from you, it sounded like a light bulb had popped in its socket.

[ShawnoftheDread]

@dasgeh 108002 wrote:

There was no ice on the tr bridge straight away at 845a, so I’m guessing you’ll be fine.

On another note, I’ve been happily planning the garden for the spring/summer and have been enjoying that arlington is an entire zone warmer than Fairfax. Today seemed to prove that.

Yeah, well we’ll have our revenge come August.

[dasgeh]

@ShawnoftheDread 108020 wrote:

Yeah, well we’ll have our revenge come August.

Whatevs. By then I’ll have my tomatoes!

[hozn]

@GB 108009 wrote:

For all my morning smuggness, my tire just blew out in the office. I guess it wasn’t happy with the temperature change. Has this happened to anyone else?

On a mountain bike? This seems surprising (what was it pumped up to?). I’ve heard stories about people’s tires popping attributed to temp changes, but I’ve also read (and believe, because science) that pressure changes due to temperature are very small — like a few % — which seems really hard to use as an explanation for tires popping. I have had tubeless tires blow off the rim, but later learned that I really had just way over inflated them. If it was a tire blowing off the rim, might need to check the pressure specs for rim? Some Stans rims have lower psi maximums than may be called for by tubed studded tires; probably true for other rims too. (If in doubt 35 psi is probably a good bet, and I would probably be very careful about exceeding 50psi on a MTB rim.)

[DismalScientist]

Assuming air is an ideal gas (After all, the ideal gas law is PV=nrT), and the tire volume doesn’t increase with the rise in temperature (and pressure), a rise in temperature from 32 F to 72 F will increase pressure by a little more than 8%.

The result is obviously different if one inflates tire with nitrogen as that gas is not ideal.:rolleyes:

[Tim Kelley]

Someone once told that one Bar is about the equivalent of one Atmosphere, and that one Bar is about the same as 14 PSI, so if you took your bike from sea level to the moon, the most you could lose was 14 psi. I stopped worrying about changes in temperature and over inflating my tires after that.

Can anyone more science-y confirm that I’m fine riding my bike on the surface of the moon?

[dkel]

@Tim Kelley 108027 wrote:

Someone once told that one Bar is about the equivalent of one Atmosphere, and that one Bar is about the same as 14 PSI, so if you took your bike from sea level to the moon, the most you could lose was 14 psi. I stopped worrying about changes in temperature and over inflating my tires after that.

Can anyone more science-y confirm that I’m fine riding my bike on the surface of the moon?

Seems like whatever pressure you have would try to escape with a vengeance into the vacuum around the moon, and I doubt the tubes and tires would stop it. Good news, though: because there’s no air, you wouldn’t hear them burst.

[Author]

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