Advocacy & Safety - HURRICANE force winds forecast- add ballast for safety?

There's a serious wind event forecasted to hit the Northwest this afternoon. Hurricane force winds. It made the front page of the Seattle Times as the 'poisonous tail' of a low pressure system. And it hasn't even HIT the area yet!

Anyway, I am seriously planning of adding about 15-20 pounds of ballast to the bike for the ride home- if its seriously windy - on top of my usual 'commuters lunchbag' stuff. low profile dense ballast. with 8 pounds or so on the front end.

Any opinions on the effectiveness of this?

Rather a serious question- there's forecast for a serious wind event to hit the Northwest this afternoon. Hurricane force winds. It made the front page of the Seattle Times as the 'poisonous tail' of a low pressure system. And it hasn't even HIT the area yet!

Anyway, I am seriously planning of adding about 15-20 pounds of ballast to the bike for the ride home- if its seriously windy - on top of my usual 'commuters lunchbag' stuff. low profile dense ballast. with 8 pounds or so on the front end.

Any opinions on the effectiveness of this?

Winds of that force can make you change lanes before you know it... I would advise simply hunkering down... call in sick if you have to... 15-20 lbs ain't gonna do much when winds can move cars.

Low.

The effectiveness, I mean.

I tried to go for a ride once in winds just below "hurricane force". I was just going out my front door when I watched a piece of corrugated metal peel off the roof of a local construction site and then go barrelling down the road. Needless to say, I turned around, went straight for the fridge, grabbed a beer and watched football for the rest of the afternoon. I'm pretty sure it was the right move....

... I would advise simply hunkering down... call in sick if you have to...
Surely you jest. This is forecast to be the worst storm in years. It's tough to turn down a challenge like that. In response to the OP, I think the ballast will be worthless. Take your cell phone, get in your granny, and see if you can hold on. If it appears to be suicidal/stupid, don't be afraid to bail. Cars and trucks will probably be blowing all over the place, and trees will be especially dangerous.

I have yet to abandon a ride because I couldn't make it, and with any luck I'll still be able to say that tomorrow. A couple people have already offered to watch for me on the road and give me a lift if I look like I'm in trouble. Too bad I've been riding too hard this week -- legs are definitely less than prime. I actually brought ibuprofen to pop before my commute home.

We'll see what happens. We're supposed to get that system here a little bit later than you guys. It might be a fun ride home.

I've been in some pretty severe storms and made it though them. It's a test of balance and strength. Often these warnings don't pan out, but we'll see.

Surely you jest.

No, I don't jest... While a challenge is one thing (like those guys lost on Mt Hood right now) reality is that if these are truly hurricane force winds... the stuff flying about on the road, including Bek, will make it quite dangerous. Nothing like getting hit with a flying sign post to make your day.

Winds like this can very easily blow you into the wrong lane too... putting you right in harm's way.

Take the challenge, but bear in mind: "a man's gotta know his limits."

I second the recommendation to just go slow. The headwind/tailwind part of the storm is easy to deal with, but as soon as those winds shift or you turn, the crosswinds get scary. Ride the brakes going downhill. 15mph seems to be the point where strong (~40mph) crosswinds go from manageable to scary in my experience. I haven't had to deal with anything more severe though but some of the guys from Florida who get the real hurricanes might be able to give you some suggestions.

And now I know you'll hate me for suggesting this, Bek, but heavy winds call for some extra measure of safety with regards to passing vehicles. DLLP can be very useful in getting passing motorists to slow down and give more space than they otherwise would which is very nice when you're getting blown back and forth by the wind. The wind will also coat the roadways with wet leaves and other hazards that are quite bike unfriendly. The relatively unused bike lane is not the default position to be taking under these circumstances.

I just checked our forecast and the wind speed is supposed to get up to 60 - 80 kmh overnight. Storm catagory, not hurricane. That's greater than 117 kmh.

I rode my bike into work with 60 kmh winds twice and 100 kmh winds once. Each was tough, but managable. The gusts are the tricky part. Gotta know where and how to lean, passing trucks make for more of an adventure.

I don't think it's going to all that bad, just a storm. We'll see.

No, I don't jest... While a challenge is one thing (like those guys lost on Mt Hood right now) reality is that if these are truly hurricane force winds... the stuff flying about on the road, including Bek, will make it quite dangerous. Nothing like getting hit with a flying sign post to make your day.

Winds like this can very easily blow you into the wrong lane too... putting you right in harm's way.

Take the challenge, but bear in mind: "a man's gotta know his limits."
Actual conditions will vary drastically by location. The Bernoulli effect can magnify the wind speed in certain areas immensely -- there are a couple spots on my ride where this is a consistent problem in storms. I'm about 60 miles inland, so the winds won't be nearly what they are on the coast. In some areas, they might get winds over 100mph+ which is far beyond anything I'd have a chance of handling. In my location, I'm expecting something closer to 40 with some harsh gusts, but like another poster said, these warnings often don't pan out. The news tends to hype up events.

I'm counting on harsh but not impossible conditions. If it's much worse than I expect, I'll abandon my ride. I will definitely check the radar and reported wind speeds at locations in many areas to make sure I don't ride out 10 miles and get in trouble because that's when the real storm hit. If winds are strong enough to make large heavy projectiles fly about, I won't make it home tonight. At that point, driving becomes dangerous too, so I'll just hole up in a nearby hotel.

The wind will also coat the roadways with wet leaves and other hazards that are quite bike unfriendly.
I've had this problem in high winds before. A strong blast from the side can send you flying because you have no grip. If winds only reach 60-80 kph (roughly 40-50mph) as closetbiker predicts, this should be doable. Hopefully they'll be straight rather than gusty. I find constantly changing winds especially hard to deal with.

I just check the forecast for Seattle, and it's for a high wind warning, not hurricane. Manageable.

This is expected in PDX also.

Wind like that can be sweet if a tailwind! I'd hare a cross or headwind though!

Having lived through the hurricane season of last year.....
If the winds are really Hurricane force, forget it, stay home. Those kind of winds rip old, large, strong trees out of the ground. Be honest with yourself here, what's more fun to ride: a hospital bed, a bike, or a casket? Dodge cars, not shrapnel.

--A

I added ~3000 pounds of ballast to my commute this morning. I saw the weather report and decided it was safer to take my Jeep today.

How high are the winds going to be? 50 mph+? If not then you can probably ride with out ballast. Otherwise you may want to skip riding if it's that windy.

How high are the winds going to be? 50 mph+? If not then you can probably ride with out ballast. Otherwise you may want to skip riding if it's that windy.
For my usual evening commute time, the forecast calls for sustained 30mph SSE with 50mph gusts.

Having had no small experience with winds in the +80 mph (not whimpy metric stuff :D ), it's not the wind that gets you but the rather large pieces of stuff flying around that's the problem. Do you recall the scene in "Twister" where the cows are flying around? Try that with most of a roof...kinda hard to dodge. If your area sees high winds frequently, the likelyhood of a roof taking flight is somewhat diminished (think of it as natural selection for houses) but if you don't see that kind of wind regularly, the flight of the roofs is not something you want to be downwind for ;) Plus gravel at +80 mph hurts like the devil!

As for the extra weight: When the wind can blow over an 80,000 lb truck, an extra few pounds isn't going to make a lot of difference.

I think the bigger issue is going to be downed trees and power lines. The ground is already quite saturated and it's raining heavily today - up to three inches is expected - the wind is gonna knock a bunch of stuff down even if the gusts are only 50 - 80 mph....

I gotta part company with you on this, Beko. Sit it out. Take the bus or your cage. DOn't take a chance on a vehicle not seeing you because they are fixated on all the stuff in the air. Also, some of that stuff could hit you.

One of these days I'll roll into Greg's and need your help. Please be there...:)

In my area, it's supposed to be 25-35 mph winds with gusts up to 50. I took the bike this morning because my wife needed the car. Will I even be able to make forward progress in a 30 mph headwind?

Apparently, in a 30 mph headwind on a level grade, I should be able to achieve 4.3 mph at a steady 160 watts. If I "dial it up to 400w", I can go 8.6 mph.

That's hands on the tops, though... in the drops,

160W = 5.6 mph
400W = 10.9 mph

Ugh... if it's really blowing that hard, I'm calling home.

There's a serious wind event forecasted to hit the Northwest this afternoon. Hurricane force winds. It made the front page of the Seattle Times as the 'poisonous tail' of a low pressure system. And it hasn't even HIT the area yet!

Anyway, I am seriously planning of adding about 15-20 pounds of ballast to the bike for the ride home- if its seriously windy - on top of my usual 'commuters lunchbag' stuff. low profile dense ballast. with 8 pounds or so on the front end.

Any opinions on the effectiveness of this?
High, Bek. I just checked Weather dot com for Seattle. The bad news is the wind advisory says 40 mph. with gusts to 65. The good news: if you're leaving for home before dark, the winds will still be under 20 mph., and all you'll have to contend with is horizontal rain. :rolleyes:

Good luck!

Well, I'm already at work. I'm going to throw a 6 pack into each pannier on the way home. All you people driving, don't hit me, thanks.

Well, I'm already at work. I'm going to throw a 6 pack into each pannier on the way home. All you people driving, don't hit me, thanks.
The trick is to be prepared. My beer is already waiting for me, cold in the fridge.

There's already been more than an inch and a half of rain at my house. When the wind kicks in later this afternoon, the rain should still be going strong. Presuming I don't wuss out, I'm thinking I probably won't feel like eating whatever health nut dinner I would normally have when I get home. 16oz ribeye sounds much more like it, washed down with a nice bottle of Cab.

The only question is whether the dog will want to play fetch and go on her normal 2 mile walk when I get home? I'm predicting yes on the fetch and that the dog tries to get me to take a shortcut.....

15:44, current wind speed, 18 kmh.

15:44, current wind speed, 18 kmh.:( Local airport is reporting 42 kmh here. This better pick up by 17:30. Otherwise, this will just be an ordinary crummy weather commute, not worthy of a steak dinner.

Low.

The effectiveness, I mean.

+1 take an alternate mode of transport and sit this one out. Trust me if your steed gets recked in the storm and you can't fix it in a day, you'll be out of a ride for alot longer...but then maybe you have more bikes that I do (I've got just one).

+1 sitting this one out. Better to have told people that you stayed home than be telling people in the trauma room at the local hospital why you were riding when you got a concussion by a very heavy object.

17:00, It's picked up to 30kmh. So far just a regular late fall night.

17:00, It's picked up to 30kmh. So far just a regular late fall night.

What is 30kmh?

kmh???

knots?

kph is kilometer per hour.

mph is miles per hour...

KMH???

I'm looking out the window now, and it doesn't look too bad, but I can hear the wind on the roof of our building. So I'd guess 25-35 mph winds with gusts to 45 mph right now in Hillsboro, Oregon (west of Portland). Now it's sounding like sustained winds over 40 mph. Lots of rain.

Concerning putting weight on the bike, it will help by lowering your Center of Gravity (CG). The trucks blow over because they have a high CG. Lowering the CG will help the cyclist. I know, as I rode my bike on gusts of 45-55 mph a few weeks back, and I rode my LWB recumbant. I had no problems, even with side wind gusts.

So tell us how it goes tomorrow, orl when you get home. Today, I'm driving an SUV--'called it a "swim day" and went to the pool at noon. I would have ridden, but I have a broken pannier.

John

What is 30kmh?...KMH???

I guess that should be km/h

http://www.cbc.ca/weather/conditions.jsp?station=YVR

TV just confirmed 80MPH gusts expected tonight.Best wishes for a safe ride home.

I just drove home, and the winds are not much of a problem. But there are sheets of rain at times, and the winds have knocked down trees on Scholles Ferry Road and on the north side of Walker Road in Beaverton/Hillsboro, Oregon. The rain has caused the roads, and bike lanes, to flood. At this point, on many of the roads with bike lanes, I would second JoeJack951's suggestion to use the DLLP (but only if well-lighted), as the bike lanes are very problematic with 2+ inches of water, leaves, etc. Some roadways are flooded out into the center of the road. Traffic is slow and cautious right now, from what I can see.

John

I'm looking out the window now, and it doesn't look too bad, but I can hear the wind on the roof of our building. So I'd guess 25-35 mph winds with gusts to 45 mph right now in Hillsboro, Oregon (west of Portland).

according to http://www.wunderground.com/US/OR/Beaverton.html. , Beaverton @ 17:47 has wind at 13mph and gusts to 37 mph

TV just confirmed 80MPH gusts expected tonight.Best wishes for a safe ride home.

If it gets that high, it probably won't be until much later. I'll be in bed (I'd bet)

not for a second was I considering driving my car this morning- well, maybe just a second. but no nervous nellie out of me,

I've actually been looking forward to riding home if it gets real foul. I used to enjoy going winter camping in the middle of blizzards- I relish heavy weather.

The only variation tonight is I MAY decide to not ride on the metal grating of a drawbridge on my commute. I asked about the ballast just in case anyone else has tried it.

being told by some disaffected yaehoo in Canada that it's 'just another day' is not doing justice to the amount of societarial fear and awe of this not-yet-extreme weather event.

Maybe tonight after midnight....

being told by some disaffected yaehoo in Canada that it's 'just another day' is not doing justice to the amount of societarial fear and awe of this not-yet-extreme weather event.
....

so far, nothing out of the ordinary (Yee- Hoo!), must be a slow news day

My wife reports, while walking off the hill at OHSU, that she was almost blown away this evening. So the winds are variable, striking the hills, not much in the valley right now, and the storm is not here yet. We already have downed trees, downed power lines (and outages), so this is not a normal storm. It is not a hurricane either.

I would have liked to have ridden my bike today, but without the pannier I need for carrying stuff, just could not do it. I do also enjoy being out in this weather.

Weather update, Scholles Ferry Road just west of Beaverton is closed due to a tree falling on a power pole and downing the power lines across the road. A tree just up the hill fell on a car; the driver was not injured, but the car had to be towed. Three trees in this new development area, according to police, are in danger of coming down. Highways 18, 20 and 26 are now either closed or partially closed. The Oregon coast has already received winds of over 90 mph, and Vancouver, Washington (across the river from Portland) just recently recorded a gust to 67 mph. This, according to the news, is a "preview" of what will be happening later tonight. Closetbiker, the center of the storm is headed your direction, but is not there yet. But the higher winds are to the side of the storm, and we may get hit harder than you. 92nd and Powell Road has water completely across the road, and over a foot deep. The "Street Closed" sign just floated by on Powell and 92nd, as did a traffic cone.

John

being told by some disaffected yaehoo in Canada that it's 'just another day' is not doing justice to the amount of societarial fear and awe of this not-yet-extreme weather event.


:rolleyes: Tell Mr. YaeHoo to go ride the intermittent gusts that cause unscheduled stops
translated: Blow off.

Weather update: Duvall, WA Heavy rains, 25MPH winds. Our street still has power but most do not. Many trees down and roads are now impassable.Somebody sawed up 3 trees to open our street

Closetbiker, the center of the storm is headed your direction, but is not there yet.

19:03, just about to go home, winds at 28 kmh. Looks like I'm going to beat it (just jinxed myself)

I'm 26 miles northwest of Portland airport. Right now (7:30PM), the wind is from the south at 12mph, gusting to 27 mph. The barometer is still rising slightly so I guess the front has not passed yet... seems to be moving to the north now. It appears that the 47th (or is it the 48th?) "Storm of the Century" since 1999 is about to fizzle out. Oh well, maybe enough trees fell down for the TV stations to sell some soup.
Tomorrow, some idjit reporter will ask if the gummint spent enough money protecting the citizenry from this terrible wind storm.

...It appears that the 47th (or is it the 48th?) "Storm of the Century" since 1999 is about to fizzle out. Oh well, maybe enough trees fell down for the TV stations to sell some soup.
Tomorrow, some idjit reporter will ask if the gummint spent enough money protecting the citizenry from this terrible wind storm.


I got home about a half hour ago and it was just fine. A little windy, that's all. Another event made for the media.

Skipped the metal drawbridge grate tonight, battled some gale force gusts, rolled thru a foot of water thru a closed to automobiles underpass on the way home tonight.

No big deal as far as I was concerned, but i have a feeling collateral damage will continue to accrue thru the evening. And the cagers, they have it rough in this weather! bridges closed, underpasses flooded. power is going to go out somewhere in the NW tonight.

No ballast needed at 9 PM in Seattle. But I'm listening to VRKelley, the heavy winds haven't hit Puget Sound yet.

Checked the Seattle Times and the story said,
For the Puget Sound region, the National Weather Service (NWS) is forecasting sustained winds up to 40 mph, and gusts up to 65 mph.

So far, that seems to be what's happened.

move to oklahoma. I ride regularly in 30mph winds - in spring, it's rare we get a day without breaking 25. I rode on an afternoon when it was 35 gusting to 60. That was good fun. Make sure you're on 4-lane roads, or you're going to end up in oncoming traffic. Headwinds are doable at 35, not so much after you break about 50. Get as aero as possible, and be prepared to suck it up and walk your bike.

the times led FIERCE WINDSTORM as the headline and cover story, with "poisonous tail" of high pressure in 18 point type underneath the fold and the front page photo. Nat'l Weather Service predicted gusts today in the Straight of Juan de Fuca at 144kph, Closetbiker, and the word 'hurricane force' WAS bandied about.

sorry y'all chamois got in a bunch over it.


I was curious as to others opinions or experience using ballast to keep a bike on the ground.

Thanks, chaps, for the play by play about the weather. amazing to see how it got so compelling for ya, closetbiker.

Well, I guess if I was riding in the Straight of Juan de Fuca I'd have to say thanks for the "heads up" otherwise, just another windy day on the coast. Funny how one thing gets confused with another.