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Rain or snow - which do you prefer to ride in?



 
 
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  #31  
Old January 5th 19, 05:17 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Frank Krygowski[_4_]
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Default Rain or snow - which do you prefer to ride in?

On 1/4/2019 2:28 PM, AMuzi wrote:

There's a constant admonishment to not move lumber/logs/mulch as it may
spread the insects. I assumed that if there were uninfected trees in the
area a pile of infected branches would be a liability. I'm not an expert
just wondering.


When the Emerald Ash Borer was still confined to Michigan (where it
started in the U.S., IIRC) and northwest Ohio, there was all sorts of
publicity about not moving firewood.

That strategy failed. The bug raced across Ohio far faster than they
believed possible. Notably, it seemed to spread along freeways. I don't
recall reading any theories on the mechanism, but it seems to have been
much more than a few campers carrying logs.

Anyway, they've given up on saying "don't move firewood." I've heard
some reports of borer-resistant ash trees (one of my friends seems to
have one in his woods, right next to a tree of similar size that died)
and I think one idea is to begin breeding those. I think there are also
plans to look for natural controls. But it's difficult. The insect
starts its work at the top of the trees and is almost impossible to
detect until damage is well underway.

--
- Frank Krygowski
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  #32  
Old January 5th 19, 05:25 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Frank Krygowski[_4_]
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Default Rain or snow - which do you prefer to ride in?

On 1/4/2019 6:02 PM, John B. Slocomb wrote:

Is there no "treatment" that can be done" I know that for Dutch Elm
Disease there is a treatment although it has to, I believe, be applied
in the early days of infection.


There are a few systemic insecticides that can be used to save
individual trees. Some are applied by soaking them into the ground
around the tree. Some must be injected by an arborist. But these are
usually effective only if the tree is not too large, and the process is
impractical for any but "specimen" trees - that is, fairly isolated ones
that are showpieces you really want to keep.

We had four closely spaced ash trees on the west side of our lot, giving
valuable summer evening shade to our patio. They were planted in 1943,
the year our house was built. (That's by counting rings.) Tree #2, the
runt of the litter, was always weak, shaded by much larger tree #1. I
had an arborist I know treat them all, but he said it was unlikely to
work. Within two years, it was obvious #2 and #4 had to come down. This
involve a bucket truck and considerable expense.

The arborist said there was no sense treating #1 and #3, to just cut
them down instead. I decided the shade was too valuable, so I applied a
supposedly less effective ground-soak insecticide myself, something like
$30 per tree per year. It's four years later, and they're still standing
- but they really are on their last legs.

I need to research fast growing shade trees. And awnings.


--
- Frank Krygowski
  #33  
Old January 5th 19, 05:34 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
John B. Slocomb
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Default Rain or snow - which do you prefer to ride in?

On Fri, 4 Jan 2019 23:17:32 -0500, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 1/4/2019 2:28 PM, AMuzi wrote:

There's a constant admonishment to not move lumber/logs/mulch as it may
spread the insects. I assumed that if there were uninfected trees in the
area a pile of infected branches would be a liability. I'm not an expert
just wondering.


When the Emerald Ash Borer was still confined to Michigan (where it
started in the U.S., IIRC) and northwest Ohio, there was all sorts of
publicity about not moving firewood.

That strategy failed. The bug raced across Ohio far fit er than they
believed possible. Notably, it seemed to spread along freeways. I don't
recall reading any theories on the mechanism, but it seems to have been
much more than a few campers carrying logs.

Anyway, they've given up on saying "don't move firewood." I've heard
some reports of borer-resistant ash trees (one of my friends seems to
have one in his woods, right next to a tree of similar size that died)
and I think one idea is to begin breeding those. I think there are also
plans to look for natural controls. But it's difficult. The insect
starts its work at the top of the trees and is almost impossible to
detect until damage is well underway.


One article I read said that emerald ash borer populations can spread
between 2.5 to 80 km (1.6 to 49.7 mi) a year and that it primarily
spreads through flight or by transportation of ash bark containing
products such as firewood or nursery stock.


cheers,

John B.


  #34  
Old January 5th 19, 07:22 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
[email protected]
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Posts: 2,041
Default Rain or snow - which do you prefer to ride in?

On Friday, January 4, 2019 at 8:50:48 PM UTC-6, AMuzi wrote:

"many drivers or their cars can't handle ice"

The salesman said, "This baby has computer traction control.
You an go through anything." and they believed that. Which
explains so many small 4-wheel drive vehicles in the ditch
after a snowfall.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971


You speak the truth. Many, many, many people don't seem to understand that while 4x4 helps/allows you to go forward, it doesn't really do a whole lot to allow you to turn or stop. As long as you always go in a straight line, and never stop, its great.
  #36  
Old January 5th 19, 06:38 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
David Scheidt
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Posts: 1,346
Default Rain or snow - which do you prefer to ride in?

John B. Slocomb wrote:
:On Thu, 3 Jan 2019 22:13:13 -0500, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

:On 1/3/2019 9:11 PM, jbeattie wrote:
:
: There have been very few above-freezing rainy days when I couldn't ride -- and those were monsoon days with 50mph wind gusts and trees falling down, some of which actually squish cyclist around here. On my commute route: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B2NLBJJCEAAS4KK.jpg That fell on a cyclist in the bike lane. Bike lanes are dangerous!
:
:I'm curious about the cyclist's injuries.
:
:Around here, we had a kerfuffle regarding ash trees killed by the
:Emerald Ash Borer. That invasive insect is killing something like 99% of
:ash trees, so our local forest preserve has lots of dead trees.
:
:There's a squad of local idiots who wanted to cut down every dead tree
:in the 265 acre forest preserve, for "safety." Others said look, just
:cut the ones over parking lots, picnic tables, etc. but the idiots
:yelled about liability, despite Ohio laws and Supreme Court cases
:absolutely absolving the village of liability in such an instance.
:
:Along the way, I dug out a research paper that estimated the number of
:tree fall deaths in the U.S. at about 25 (IIRC), with most of those
:occurring inside cars, probably when people drove their car into a
:fallen tree. Seems there are no more than 10 or 12 per year that occur
:with people just being outside. Having one of those dozen occur in our
:woods would be a statistical fluke.
:
:After this settled down a bit, there was a report of a man knocked
:unconscious by a falling ash tree in the forest. We suspect the idiot
:team found a recently fallen tree and paid a guy to lie under it.

:Is there any demand for ash lumber? I believe that in New England some

There was, but there's a huge oversupply at the moment.





--
sig 7
  #38  
Old January 5th 19, 07:18 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
[email protected]
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Posts: 1,261
Default Rain or snow - which do you prefer to ride in?

On Friday, January 4, 2019 at 9:06:50 AM UTC-8, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 1/3/2019 10:15 PM, John B. Slocomb wrote:
On Thu, 3 Jan 2019 22:03:36 -0500, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 1/3/2019 8:43 PM, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
I ride my bicycle all year round which means I ride it in both rain and snow. To me rain or snow have certain advantages and disadvantages over each other. I like the rain because once it stops the roads are soon dry again. However, I sometimes prefer the snow because when it's dry snow falling you don't have to worry as much about getting wet like you do if it's raining and you've left your rain gear at home. However again, I don't like deep snow when it's been only salted and not plowed which turns it into a grease-like substance that has not traction for anything. Snow too can hide holes and or cracks in t he road surface and those holes or cracks can deflect a front wheel.

So for those of you who ride in both rain and snow, which do you prefer?

I think I would prefer riding in snow, if it were not so blasted cold.
These days (as previously mentioned) I have problems with riding in cold
weather, meaning anything below 40F.

So when I do ride in snow, it's short distances only. I kind of like
riding fresh snow, just because it seems playful and adventurous. I did
lots of it as a kid, and I'm pretty good at avoiding crashes. But I'm
not a fan of rutted or re-frozen snow.

Gentle rain is OK, but not really fun in my book. Hard rain is less fun,
and rain plus wind is worse. The only exception has been those times on
super-hot days that I got caught in refreshing showers.


A sort of related question :-)

A while ago you talked about breathing problems in cold weather and
several folks recommended a mask. Did you try that and what were the
results.


I haven't tried it because I've been coughing since before Christmas.
And because of that, the only riding I've done has been short (typically
1 mile) utility rides right near home.

I'm just back from the doctor, starting meds to reduce bronchial
inflammation. Getting old is hell.


--
- Frank Krygowski


Frank, I got a case of brochitis that became worse and worse until I finally went to the doctor. He said you should come in immediately for that sort of thing because it can convert to bacterial pneumonia and kill you in rather short order.
 




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