Fifty Plus (50+) - Wisconsin Winds??????

Tom B and others..........arrived in Wisconsin about 40 miles south of Madison yesterday after a 15 hr drive from NC. Opened up the car door and the winds just about blew our luggage out of the car. Was yesterday normal?????? I suspect the average was around 15 mph with gusts 20+. It would certainly have been a blast doing a ride with that kind of tailwind but I couldn't imagine doing 50-60 miles into that stuff.

We noticed a couple of wind farms in northern Illinois within a couple hundred miles of here so maybe there is a strong prevalent wind in the area.

If that is an average day give me NC mountains over the wind anytime!!!

BTW-"America's Largest Water Park" up this way just announced they plan to build a duplicate facility in NC and in my backyard yesterday........and we don't have any water and are under drought restrictions!!!

The Bike Mobile turned over 460,000 miles on the way up.........The "check engine" light came on a week or so ago so I checked the engine and it is still there.

No, yesterday was not normal. We had a front moving through thus the gusty winds. Today, Saturday is calm.

Today seems like a perfect day to be out on the bike up this way!!

Yesterday's winds brought in today's perfect weather. Just got back in from riding about 20 miles on my bent. Around 70 degrees with no wind, early autumn colors. The Badger State Trail, only officially opened in July, had more users today than I've ever seen. Everyone was polite and so many of them commented on it being a beautiful day.

I met two other bent riders in Monticello, along the Sugar River Trail, and we chatted for a while. Took turns riding each other bents.

Oh, and welcome to Wisconsin jppe! Hope you have a great time here. Are you down in the Monroe or Beloit area?

There are places where the winds are fairly steady. That area south of Rockford, along I-39 is one of them. There's also a wind power farm west of Dodgeville, WI. On the whole it is windier here than average. But it isn't windy every day and the valleys are less windy than the high areas.

If you want to ride hills, then come up to Mt. Horeb and ride the back roads near Blue Mounds State Park. It is all up and down hill after hill after hill.

Almost any day in Illinois or southern Wisconsin will seem very windy to a North Carolinian.

I grew up in NW Illinois, and unless there's a tropical storm / hurricane coming thru, the wind in central NC is NOTHING compared to back home.

In NW Illinois, or in Urbana (U of I), if you didn't "do" in the wind, then you didn't "do". No one notices 20 mph winds back home. Here in central NC, expected 20 mph winds cause the release of "high wind warnings".

Ever notice there are almost no wind breaks at NC tennis courts, even the nice ones. Look at the courts you pass by up Illinois - southern Wisconsin way. Wind breaks / guards are a normal, though not universal, presence.

You probably got the idea by now.

An advantage of riding rail trails is that with all of the trees surrounding them, it really cuts down the wind. It is unusual when I have to ride into much of a headwind.

We have more wind in the spring & winter than in the summer. That's good for biking, bad for walking in January.

Avg wind speed in Madison in July & August is 8 mph. In Jan-March, it is 11 mph.

In Raleigh, NC the average is lower. The average there in July & August is 6.5 mph and in Jan-March it is just a shade under 9 mph.

Welcome to Wisconsin. The gusts of winds approached 32mph on the day you arrived. Not unusual for this time of year or in the spring time as weather conditions change with the seasons.

I actually enjoy riding in these conditions; they add a sense of excitement and a bit of the unknown to well traveled training routes.

Hope you enjoy your stay.

I was out biking in that wind. There is an exposed straight section before New Glarus, WI. The trail is not paved. I used a Hybrid with 38 mm tires.
Top speed with that wind was 27 MPH.
Top speed against that wind was 17 MPH.
Both directions on aerobars.

We do get a bit of wind in this area, I've had to have two of the work trucks repaired this year for having the wind grab the door and bend it back around the hinges, damaging the fenders and mounts, and I remember Tuesday night it took me 15 minutes longer to get down to the rec center for yoga thanks to the dratted headwind

Saturday and Sunday seemed to be perfect days for riding. Very little wind and highs in the 70's. Unfortunately I was tied up with a wedding and then had to drive 15 hours to get back home. Added a couple thousand more miles to the van!!

Saturday was perfect.

It is that wonderful time of the year to ride here. The forecast for the next 9 days (high temps) is:

71 - 67 - 66 - 68 - 68 - 65 - 68 - 67 - 70

And in NC we're an unseasonable 90 degrees........