On Thin Ice

Cold Reflections


The ST-owners forum ran a thread about what to look for when scanning for ice. I put my penny’s worth in. I’m quite used to worrying about riding on ice now and my fear of slipping keeps me pretty sensible much of the time. Reversing the bike in the car park at work nearly had be off when my left foot connected with the only icy puddle on the site and I near lost balance but I’ve been pretty lucky else; just the odd “whoops” as the rear steps out.

Looking cool

However, on reading more and more accounts in the forum from those succumbed to black ice the more I reason I am lucky and not skilful. A case in point was on a country road with ice all over it – I was “practicing” my skills while staunchly sticking to a regular short cut avoiding Farnham. I stopped to take a photo of the icy lane when a car driver sped around the junction I had pulled up just short of – she nearly hit me as her speed was well in excess and her attention to detail (in applying a brake) was clearly well off the standard ‘centiles. If I had been riding at that point she’d like as not have had time to read the pain in my eyes as my helmet bounced off her windscreen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Picking up Sherbert

Image
To recap, we'd been awake and travelling to Offenburg, Germany since 2:30 am. Bikemoto's offer of a free coffee felt overwhelmingly generous while we waited for Sherbert's paperwork to be readied. There was a hire agreement to cover our ride back to Ireland, the ownership documentation, Certificate of Compliance, manuals, sales agreements, and more. It all took time. All the time I was taking stock of the enormity of the day and second-guessing the plan. Self doubt I'd not ridden for nearly 5 years since fixing Arod's speedometer sensor and finding his fork seals were leaking. COVID 19 and working from home were little motivation to set things right. Now I am about to ride a new-to-me model of bike I've not ridden before. Sherbert is heavier than an ST1300, a weightier insurance liability, and has a dual clutch transmission (DCT). He's extra expensive to buy and more-so to fix. I'm riding on the right side of the road in Europe and with my wife rid
Read more

28 February - Jammed Screen Blues

Head Trauma The LHS winder for the screen is jammed. I’ve had the screen at a medium-high stetting for the cold and rain but this really gives some buffeting in some conditions – especially at speed on the M-ways. It was so bad on the way to Stoke I had to stop and hand-force the screen all the way down for some relief. It needs either another overhaul (gave it a good oiling when symptoms first appeared) or replacement, which is just so expensive. Even a knackered one from a ‘brakers seems to command an inflated £100+ tag. Daft greedy b’stards. Anyway – the jobs waiting for a quieter moment. Too much going on to rip the plastics off Shadowfax just now. We both have a job to do.
Read more

EZ-bags and Red tape

Image
Ebay Shopping I've ordered some snatty-looking pannier inner bags for Shadowfax; firstly as one of these will help carry my togs in to work, and secondly because they work out pretty reasonable being bought from USA. Others I've researched just don't have the same quality (hard-wearing) look for the price. I was particularly attracted to the option to have embroidered on them anything I might like. Of course, my "design by Pat Godfrey" logo would be great for my id, but as I couldn't send a graphic and it was text they were really offering that was not on. So, "Shadowfax" it'll be. Swish, I think, and Ka will be impressed enough to let me off my spending my pocket money on the bike (again). Possibly. Saddle bag liners from EZ Liners I've also been looking for reflective stickies for the rear of the Pan. I first fancied the swish red and yellow reflective 3M scotchbrite gadgets seen on the back of Police bikes but on consideration, turning Sh
Read more