Commuting - Wind Threshold?

Anyone have a wind threshold for commuting? I rode in today and the winds were at about 12-15 MPH, mostly cross wind on the way in but there was about a mile at the end where it was all head wind and I felt as if I was standing still most of the time.

Anyway I don't put a threshold right now but was wondering what other people do/think about wind impact?

BTW took me an extra 8 minutes to get in today (good thing I always buffer 30 minutes :) )

50 mph gusts are the worst I can handle (barely).

I'm out riding in it no matter what, but I don't like winds over 15mph. I'm built like a truck, and headwinds are really not my friend at all.
I rode in 45mph gusts once, and that was pretty scary. I've been mountaineering at high altitude in 40mph sustained winds with 60mph gusts and that was pretty nasty, but easier to balance than on a bike.

I had a great time riding into work on Sunday. It was blowing 15 to 20 MPH with gusts (so said the radio) of over 50 MPH. Fortunately, it was a swirling wind and I didn't wind up in any sustained headwinds. With all the leaves blowing around it felt like the asteroid field scenes from Star Wars.

50 mph gusts are the worst I can handle (barely).

I got zotted by an 80 mph gust once. The gravel really, really hurts at that speed :o 25 to 30 mph is an upper limit although, I've ridden in worse...not fast but at least I was moving :D

Living and cycling on the coast of Florida, I have to ride in wind almost all the time. I've ridden on days when I had to contend with headwind gusts of >20mph and a gentle breeze of 10-15mph. During the summer the wind was usually at my back, which gave me a 5mph boost, but what the wind giveth, the wind taketh away, and it seems that in the fall I'm facing headwinds and losing at least that much speed.

As for my wind threshold, I don't ride in anything at tropical storm force or higher.

I don't have a wind threshold, but I don't have to deal with the sorts of winds that some BF riders do. The worst storms I have to deal with in a year have sustained winds at 25+ with gusts that go considerably higher, but sustained winds much over 15mph are not something I have to ride in often. 10-15 is pretty common in the winter.

I don't know if I could handle 40+, but I'd be willing to try.

A steady wind over 25 mph is my limit.

My normal commute is an average of 16-18 mph and takes 55 minutes.

Last Monday it took me an hour and 12 minutes at 13.7 mph. Winds were 25mph and gusting to 40mph.

It's a lot of work to ride in that.

I'll go screw around in winds more than that, but I won't commute or stray to far from home.

I was out this past weekend in 24-39 mph with up to 45-50 mpr gusts.

Awesome headwind - whew!

I didn't do any heavy traffic on purpose as I've been nearly pushed over before by an unsuspecting giant burst of air - and don't need to have that to make me swerve into a car that's pacing me...

I got zotted by an 80 mph gust once. The gravel really, really hurts at that speed :o 25 to 30 mph is an upper limit although, I've ridden in worse...not fast but at least I was moving :D

He he. This thread reminds me of the winds we will be having fun with shortly. It has been a tad windy from time to time. Just nothing like unsettled weather patterns in winter. Yay us!

I rode my worst winds of the year (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=240839) just last week. The second day my legs felt like noodles but I still had to ride in 20mph headwinds. After 4 days of those winds I am really glad I don't have to go back out until Friday.

Someone please explain the phenomenon of all winds above 14 mph being headwinds only. I should get a tailwind once in a while, shouldn't I?

I had a 30 mph tailwind once last year. That was spectacular.
It was also painful when I changed directions.

On a faired trike I don't suffer from high winds nearly as much. Headwinds are dispersed by the fairing, I can't be topples by side winds because I have three wheels, and tail winds are a blast! Wheeee! :)

:love: Tailwinds :love:

Just cruising at 25+ mph, nothing quite like it.

I've dealt with headwinds as much as 135km/h in the past. Unofficial reports suggest they may have been even stronger in at times on my tour in New Zealand. I just deal with it. The key to dealing with the wind is to totally forget about this myth that power matters. Selecting a low gear, keeping a high cadence and maintaining pedalling consistency will allow you to withstand much stronger winds than you thought possible.

Sort of depends on the temps to some degree. But there comes a point where there is a better form of transportation. For example, if you are averaging 3 mph, the bike is rather worthless, better to be on your feet. :D

I have forgotten what it is like to ride in the wind, until yesterday. I got off about 4, and rode home, decided on the way home that it would be fun to get out on the Greenway for a quick 14-17 miles. But by the time I got dressed and out the wind had kicked up, in like 15-30 min. NOAA says the wind was out of the W at 29-35 mph gusts. I was cranking it out at 15-17 mph into the wind a beautiful sunset starting, I meet a lot of guys flying back into town as I struggled to get out. but the reward was on the return trip, I lifted the chain to the big chain ring, and all the way down to the 11t on the cassette and was off, bombing past people like they were standing still, my best was 35mph flat out, it was just incredible! Fun stuff.

Someone please explain the phenomenon of all winds above 14 mph being headwinds only. I should get a tailwind once in a while, shouldn't I?

It's not the speed but the direction. There is a very small window behind you where you can get a benefit from the wind as a tailwind. From directly behind you (parallel to your travel) the wind will only give you a boost. I've had days when this kind of wind will push me along at 30 or 40 mph and I feel like I'm riding in dead calm air. However, if the wind moves around toward being perpendicular to your travel, say from slightly off of directly behind you, there is a component of that wind that you have to cut across. Because you are moving through an ocean of air anyway, you will feel a slight breeze to the front. As the wind moves further towards your front, you'll feel more of that air movement as a headwind.

I've seen a study on wind effects on cyclists where it was found that wind coming from behind you has to be within 12 to 15 degrees of directly behind you for full benefit. Any more than that and you perceive the wind as a head wind.

It was pretty windy here over the weekend. On my commute yesterday I encountered a new phenomenom which you might call leaf drifts. Folks had raked their leaves out to the curb for local pickup, but the wind created tongues of leaves extending out across the road like snowdrifts. This only occurred on an old town center main street, i.e. lots of houses, trees and leaves with very little (and slow) traffic.

I had a 30 mph tailwind once last year. That was spectacular.
It was also painful when I changed directions.

It's even more painful when you misjudge the corner, slam into a curb, go over the handlebars and pivot on the grass on your forehead. And your rather expensive new suspension fork becomes the world's most expensive recycling material :eek:

Someone please explain the phenomenon of all winds above 14 mph being headwinds only. I should get a tailwind once in a while, shouldn't I?


me too.
i feel your pain.

Someone please explain the phenomenon of all winds above 14 mph being headwinds only. I should get a tailwind once in a while, shouldn't I?
While I can't explain it, I can confirm it. At least it feels that way.;)

It was pretty windy here over the weekend. On my commute yesterday I encountered a new phenomenom which you might call leaf drifts. Folks had raked their leaves out to the curb for local pickup, but the wind created tongues of leaves extending out across the road like snowdrifts. This only occurred on an old town center main street, i.e. lots of houses, trees and leaves with very little (and slow) traffic.

If you don't crunch them, you're missing half the fun of fall riding :D

F4 Tornado is definately my limit.

The ones that produce Sandstorms,

I get off my bicycle for them hunker down or take the bus.

I don't know that I have a firm threshold being a relatively new commuter (5 mos.), but based on the experiences I have so far with wind, I'm guessing that I'd opt to drive on a given morning if a South wind was 20 mph or more (I'd be headed right into it, and there's one long, significant hill just as I start out). On the way home, I've dealt with some pretty high winds occasionally already and would probably try to make it home given anything less than storm force winds -- I get to go downhill that whole same last stretch after all. :-)

Anything sustained over 15 is annoying. Sustained over 25-30 or gusts over 35-40 and I think about it. I'm on flex two days and have adjusted my schedule around high winds on those days. The days where my schedule is fixed, I've been lucky so far and have been able to ride.

Headwinds are a pain, but it's crosswinds I worry about. Now that I think about it, my flex days are crosswind days and my fixed-schedule days are tailwind to work, headwind home days. So maybe that's why I've avoided high-winds only on my flex days.

I really never noticed the wind much before bike commuting. It's been really windy here lately, drive into it on the way in and with it on the way home (generally). The wrong way around for me! Aerobars help A LOT, but wide shoulders don't :( . No hills around here to speak of though, so I guess it's good training?

CrosseyedCrickt, I feel your pain, since we are in the same neck of the woods.

Oh, to answer the question, 20 MPH constant really sucks, especially with panniers/trunk bag!

Someone please explain the phenomenon of all winds above 14 mph being headwinds only. I should get a tailwind once in a while, shouldn't I?

No. As a cyclist you will never get a tailwind.

No threshold but I start to whine at winds of 25 KPH.

I really never noticed the wind much before bike commuting.

Me either, though maybe I should say "before biking", since commuting is my first serious and sustained experience with biking. The first time I hit a major wind on the way home when a storm was blowing in (the kind that stops you in your tracks), I was STUNNED! I'd just never thought about it before...:-)

So many winds, so little time. A 25 or 30 MPH wind would be fun at 60 to 70 degrees. At 0 degrees or 115 degrees it could be life threatening. All of you have heard of wind-chill. The same is true of hot winds. A 40 mph headwind at 117 F nearly did me in in an August century ride in Death Valley. I could handle the force but the heat from the air was moving into my body faster then I could lose it by sweating. Also to ride in high winds at sub-zero temps requires what is practically a space suit. Given that, I have commuted in up to 30 MPH winds. The hazard was palm fronds being blown onto the road. Best wind ride of my life was going down San Gordonia Pass into Palm Springs. Perfect tailwind at 50 MPH. I did 26 miles in one hour with NO pedalling. Can't say I like rain, hail, sand, or snow in high winds. I've tried them all.

I ride into 5-8 MPH prevailing westerly winds almost every afternoon, in the winter it's more like 10-15 normally, when I get to big open fields it increases to probably 15-20 sustained, and many days there are 30-40 MPH gusts. It totally sucked the first year, and probably discouraged me from riding most of the winter. Finally I got my mindset around treating it as extra training, and I live with it. It's still practically a corporeal enemy some winter days though, and I find myself cursing and growling at it when it's really slugging me.

I was just thinking about the only headwind thing last night as I was riding home at about midnight wondering when the wind was gonna be on my side!