flyingscot

Depends on a whole load of things, like wind, hills, your fitness. 4.5min per km isn't fast but if you are only getting fit, it is ok esp if you aren't trying to make record time. If you are serious, change to smoother road tyres- even on a rubbish bike, makes a huge difference. I did the M74 thing today- so easy on the way out to Carmyle. Did it in less than 20 mins despite having to fight my way through the crowd, and kids etc., Way back was more difficult- into wind, long slow gradients and the climb from Polmadie up onto the viaduct over the railway was touch going. 25 mins for that 7km, then back to Paisley. All in all a good day and enjoyable ride. Most depressing moment was thinking I was going well, getting 3.5-4km in, 10 mins riding and seeing the club cyclists coming back already! Need to get a new bike though- saving up already to replace the 15 year old plus mount. Went into Decathlon in the Fort and liked the flat bar Fitness road bikes a lot. Just no funds

Use runtastic all the time, think it is quite good, but wish it would realise when you are stopped at lights etc and add that to a waiting or pause time rather than the main time.

Actioned- applied last week. 14km out to Fullerton and back. Be a strange experience but worth a go for £5. Not like I'm going to be able to do it again (legally) any time soon!

Lucky you....

When I say red light I mean traffic. Was in Paisley not Amsterdam! I don't even know where the red light district is in Paisley, I shudder to think what it would look like! Went back out last night, was still windy as hell through, but was passing other cyclists so not the only one struggling along the road. Pace must be OK then, but was dying a bit up hill in the middle of the ride.

I was out last night, (I only have a shitty 15 year old heavy mountain bike with knackered gears but slick tyres!) and it was brutal. Potholes hidden in huge puddles, every red light in town I had to wait at, and the wind right in my face no matter which direction I seemed to take. Hate how in Paisley you can jump in a car and the lights change for you in some sort of sequence- no such luck in a bike, by the time I'm up to speed the next light is changing! Only went out for 30mins and did 10K think it was 3.15mins a km which isn't too bad considering the red lights in Paisley.

<cough> http://www.knowyourmobile.com/blog/880693/android_23_for_htc_incredible_s_and_desire_hd_now_live.html

It is a restricted road and cycles are banned. Don't know what the fine is right enough if they felt inclined. I think it is seen as too dangerous due to traffic speed and volume. Same as the A90 all the way in towards Barnton which cyclists are banned from and the City Bypass too. Heard of one person who got bollocked for the same in the Clyde Tunnel, all lights went to red and given the incline in the tunnel took ages because they had to cycle out and they were waiting at the top. That is more dodgy as there aren't many if any signs prohibiting it and it is very easy to miss the path to the cycle tunnel. Something I need to do more of is cycling, need to get back to it.

Sainsbury's were limiting folk to 3 loafs per customer. Personally if I was trapped in the house I'd be getting more than bread. The met office states that one street over the road has to 'take action', yet I have only to 'be prepared'. Load of nannying pish

Roll out your BMW / Woman Driver stereotypes. http://www.youtube.c...h?v=MNin7QJEOZE I particularly like clearing snow around front wheels of a real wheel drive car and then attempting to stop car by pulling back on it

Winter Tyres however aren't simply for snow- they are for cold below 7c and give better grip in that too. In any case I went and bought All-Season tyres which have proved themselves to be much better in the snow than before, fairly decent choice.

I suspect it is affected as it is temperatures lower than -7c. This makes grit inaffective and when traffic cleared on Monday we got ice. Depends where they measure the snow depth however as some areas of Glasgow will have deeper snow than others- if they measure it at the airport Paisley never gets the same snow as the surrounding areas at Castlemilk pon hills up to EK where folk have struggled. However is Glasgow badly affected? I drove from Glasgow City Centre to Hillington, in just about 10 mins, traffic moving 40-50mph on the M8 and indeed the guy in the shop along from us came from Greenock and said it was alright all the way up the M8.

Even if people heard 'severe weather- snow do not travel unless essential' I would reckon 80% of people would have counted work as essential and say it wasn't that bad, just sleet or rain... The conditions are the same as me really. I drove to EK and it was pissing it down with rain and sleet. I presume this passed over the rest of the country in front of the snow. The transport minister being a scapegoat is quite funny as I think it was just unfortunate what happened!

Problem is it generally it would be O.K but you've got a very short window to get the gritters back to depot, fill them with grit, get them out at rush hour in traffic and they have to do the M77, A71, A737 etc all before 1 muppet has an accident. If you consider that a gritter may have a 60min run before 6am- that could be 90mins if he keeps getting caught in queues and heavier traffic. Even then the local roads are localised response, but they still were bad and struggled too. I don't disagree, Stevenson did a typical politicians wash hands/deflect answer and it backfired on him. He didn't choose his words well at all either. Saying 'we didn't expect snow to be as heavy' just makes you look incompetent and unprofessional- if I made a mistake with something for my boss I'd keep the mistake bit short and would be keener to tell him what I was going to do to put it right! He should have gone on offensive and tell people what your trying to do, advice and why. People don't want to hear first class stuff when they are stuck in their cars. Oh and FWIW I heard from a roads guy that it made no difference the severity of snow- because all gritters were back out to treat it after the sleet and rain.

I'd suspect it was, as I said the perfect storm of just loads of unfortunate times and events. With that level of snow, congestion, rush hour traffic it was just impossible to stop a base layer forming such was the rate it was falling and number of roads to cover. They can't plough until it is over an inch deep anyway. If they were running constantly and they may have been, they'd just have jammed in rush-hour traffic and for trunk roads in Glasgow have to go back to Renfrew and Uddingston to reload periodically. Not the quickest procedure if you have to go from EK to Raith and M74 to Uddingston then back to EK at 8am. I suspect that the roads were gritted in the morning, the grit was diluted/made more ineffective by rain/sleet in the morning, the snow fall was sudden, very heavy and right at the middle to end of rush hour. The salt didn't make much of a dent in this snow and traffic was going to slowly to chew it up well. By the time the gritters had been turned around and sent out they got stuck in the congestion and queues of ordinary rush hour which was then compounded by those who got stuck on hills and ice which saw absolute gridlock. I don't buy the SNPs line of 'weather not expected or forecast' as the BBC were forecasting it and they get regular updates 24/7 from the Met Office.

Too cold for salt to melt any ice so waste of time putting it down. Oh and your right 4x4s are no better at stopping nor does 4x4 really help you much on ice. Ice is a bloody nightmare no matter what!

A couple of people I spoke to have indicated this is the issue. Gritting was done this morning at prior to 6am and rush hour dealing with ice and potential for snow/freezing rain. Unfortunately when I left the house at 7.30 it was teeming it down with rain/sleet and that will have washed away/diluted any salt. They sent the gritters back out but they got clogged in rush hour traffic and the snow then fell at 9am. Before any roads guys would have a chance to recover, traffic was slowed down, people having bumps and they couldn't get the gritters back to depots to be re-filled and properly located. They roped in private companies to help- Radio Scotland said Silverburn were clearing M77 J2 and Pollok area as they were right area, right time if you will. FWIW I doubt anyone could have dealt with that today. It was disgraceful but if I look at it now, it was a perfect storm of weather conditions, timing and accidents/stuck vehicles. When I was moving around the roads were passable, it was just a few folk stuck out of hundreds that caused the congestion. I was stuck for 2 hours in Crooftfoot with a single stuck bus in the way holding up hundreds. They sent a gritter apparently but they got stuck in traffic. I passed 7 gritters in total and 5 of them were stuck in traffic. I've also read that 'several' gritters were stuck on the M8 trying to clear Harthill but a lorry jackknifed and blocked traffic before they got there. My cousin in Montreal states that they are largely the same when such heavy snow fall comes at peak hours, it is chaos- this clip shows that. Once you live there the 'they can deal with it' is a bit of a myth- more used to it and have more stuff but at times.....

Yay, home. Left EK at just after 12 home in Paisley just before 6. Traffic for me, in the main was not too bad, but got stuck in Castlemilk as police closed the road and a First Bus couldnt get up a hill on a diversion. 3 odd hours digging out a bus. Once past that it was fine slow but moving, M8 moving 3 lanes at 40mph, but took me 30mins to get off at Hillington.

Stuck in Croftfoot or Castlemilk. Was going fine till police shut the road which looked ok compared to the stuff we drove through. EK to Castlemilk has taken 2hrs

Absolutely nonsense decision and I agree with you. Roads weren't like a normal day, busy but take your time, leave a bit earlier and they were fine. Sure buses and trains were delayed but it wasn't that bad- my commute took 15-20mins more. I drove from Renfrewshire through Glasgow and even stopped for lollipop folk in Glasgow when kids were walking to school! We're supposed to believe they have 'staff' shortages in schools in Glasgow and they shut them all yet Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire and West Dunbartonshire had all schools bar 1 or 2 open. Staff shortages- aye right, duvet day more like for the lazy f***ers. Shouldn't pay anyone who didn't turn up and watch as they magically appear. Jeeze, turning into Lawstud there, but that was a stupid decision that annoys me as it affects parents who have to leave work to pick up their kids.

I even managed to get a properly filled in 'sorry we can't deliver' card from them as I was out when parcel arrived. Need to go to sorting office now. Drove to East Kilbride this morning, traffic was slow in Pollok- outside lanes were snowy but M77 and major routes were O.K- doing about 50mph or so and journey only took 15mins longer. Lot of folk east of EK haven't made it but I've managed it all the time this week. Was snowing heavily for about an hour but stopped now.

I came up the A737 in the dark in a blizzard and the lights just reflected the snow. I just followed the lights of the guy 100m infront, not fun! I do like the challenge of snow driving but bit of a pain!

Seriously, 4x4 is only help in snow at times but the real difference is a good set of tyres- Winter ones and even all season tyres and you'll have no probs rather than the 'summer' tyres that get fitted! Indeed I've seen a 4x4 Audi Q7 struggle on the hill at Castlemilk- because it they have big low profile wheels for style not off road. It's worth a go as it is cheaper to go £300 for 4 tyres than a new motor unless you need one. If you go to France or Switzerland for skiing, you'll see the locals bombing about in Golfs and Clios whilst all the English folk who driver flounder in Freelanders and X5s. I run a Finnish brand of tyres and whilst they aren't proper winter tyres and are meant for all year the difference is massive in the snow and cold weather from the rubbish Continentals they replaced. Of course if it is ice on our roads only god can help really!

Great win, made missing our game against Motherwell and getting pissed on worthwhile. South Africa were missing a few bodies and never got totally going. A number of things I wasn't quite happy about, scrum was a disaster at the start and 3 penalties to SA from Scottish scrums was silly, just lucky SA missed some of them. Equally some of our defence was fortunate in the "oh jeeze" category and we just never looked like getting over the line kicking away a chance when we were just metres out. In the end a good result but still room for improvement before our next few games.

Didn't fancy the AB so took SA. Little did I know we were playing Motherwell at the time and I'll miss Celtic game this weekend too. Probably not have a home game to Christmas....