I <3 Snow Tires!

[MCL1981]

Capital Crescent Trail this morning 😎

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[americancyclo]

I take it they handled well?

[MCL1981]

Like a dream. It was especially satisfying pedaling past people trying to walk (or more like waddle) their bike. Braking action was impressive. I brought it up to about about 12mph and dumped the brakes. The stopping distance was obviously longer than it would have been on dry or wet pavement. But it stayed upright and straight ahead and stopped firmly and predictably in a perfectly acceptable distance. No slipping when pedaling under power. To contrast this, I tried these conditions last year with normal mountain bike tires and I nearly died. Apply the brakes resulted in my ass on the ground and pedaling just spun the wheel.

Now, with bike tire ruts and foot prints in the ice, steering is more like “aiming”. But it was a very controlled aim.

[vvill]

Nice! I took a short ride around in my neighbourhood on Sat morning just to enjoy my Nokians. It was a blast.

[PrintError]

@MCL1981 13441 wrote:

Like a dream. It was especially satisfying pedaling past people trying to walk (or more like waddle) their bike. Braking action was impressive. I brought it up to about about 12mph and dumped the brakes. The stopping distance was obviously longer than it would have been on dry or wet pavement. But it stayed upright and straight ahead and stopped firmly and predictably in a perfectly acceptable distance. No slipping when pedaling under power. To contrast this, I tried these conditions last year with normal mountain bike tires and I nearly died. Apply the brakes resulted in my ass on the ground and pedaling just spun the wheel.

Now, with bike tire ruts and foot prints in the ice, steering is more like “aiming”. But it was a very controlled aim.

Advice for that, instead of looking down, look ahead and “ride loose” in the saddle. Let the bike take the bumps and slips, but don’t focus on correcting for them. Rather let the bike kinda ride over them. Look at professional downhill racers and you’ll see what I mean.

Works pretty good for me! KNOCK ON WOOD!

[MCL1981]

That is exactly what I do. Kinda what I meant by “aiming” rather than steering. Very similar to flying a plane through turbulence. Fighting it will get you nowhere.

[Author]

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