Studded Tyre Miles Count Double

Did I mention snow in yesterday's post? Well, somebody must have heard me, because we awoke this morning to this: 

Barely Dawn.

Since I needed to go into Harpenden today and the forecast suggests temperatures are going to drop below freezing the next several nights, meaning potentially icy conditions for the morning commute, it was obviously the right time to put the studded tyres on the Cross Check. 

Somewhat to my amusement (because this is nothing unusual), it transpired that my ready-to-go spare winter wheelset had, erm, been cannabalised in various ways for other projects. There was in fact no "winter wheelset" but there were two studded Marathon tyres available. So Adam paid penance by wrestling the everyday Marathon Plus tyres off, and wrangling the new studded tyres into their place. 

Soon we were on the road. The streets in our village were largely free of snow by 11am but all the surfaces were wet and the temperature wasn't much above freezing, so it was very nice to not have that "will I slip or won't I?" question in my mind as I went around each curve and corner. 

Studded tyres make surprisingly little difference to the feel of the road or to your speed or perceived effort. The bicycle rolls along quite nicely.

The only downside was the noise! The crackle of studs on asphalt is only to be expected.

But there was more:

...the rumbling vibratory noice of metal striking one side of the front mudguard put me in mind of an old two-stroke engine. 

...and a disc brake caliper that hasn't been adjusted quite right when the wheel was re-seated can sound like wine glass 'singing'. 

Thirty minutes of noise and vibration like that was not exactly pleasant for someone who is suffers from tinnitus (without any extra help, thank you) and a heightened sensitivity to vibrations!

While I studied for my exam, Adam sorted the brake caliper and, once we got home, the mudguard too.

Forecast is for more snow tonight. We're ready!