Southern California - Santa Anas = 50 mph in San Diego.

everyday when i leave work, i take the long way home. i descend down this steep hill (calle cristobal in mira mesa/sorrento valley), but i am usually going west and the winds are coming from that direction.

well as you know, today we have santa ana winds, which throws off your whole ride since you are unaccustomed to the wind coming from another direction (amirite).

i didn't even pedal down the hill, and i was on my 30 yr old clunker with panniers and handlebar bag. about halfway down, i was like whoa i'm going really fast. the manholes that i normally have to dodge were coming up a lot quicker than normal.

anyway, i wear a forerunner 305 which only checks my speed every 3 seconds i think. when i got home and checked it says 47.8 mph. i think i came pretty close to 50 mph.

that's all!

had the same experience last year riding down calle cristobal during santa anas. this was at about
10 am and about a third of the way down, i realized that the prevailing west/northwest breeze
was nowhere to be found. it was a little disconcerting to be doing mid-fifties unexpectedly without
even trying hard. usually hit the mid-forties in a tuck there. truthfully, i was happy to reach the
base of the hill since i was still hitting the 50-52 mph range sitting up and not slowing down.

everyday when i leave work, i take the long way home. i descend down this steep hill (calle cristobal in mira mesa/sorrento valley), but i am usually going west and the winds are coming from that direction.

well as you know, today we have santa ana winds, which throws off your whole ride since you are unaccustomed to the wind coming from another direction (amirite).

i didn't even pedal down the hill, and i was on my 30 yr old clunker with panniers and handlebar bag. about halfway down, i was like whoa i'm going really fast. the manholes that i normally have to dodge were coming up a lot quicker than normal.

anyway, i wear a forerunner 305 which only checks my speed every 3 seconds i think. when i got home and checked it says 47.8 mph. i think i came pretty close to 50 mph.

that's all!
I left my office at 6:15 and the wind was blowing onshore at <5 knots.

had the same experience last year riding down calle cristobal during santa anas. this was at about
10 am and about a third of the way down, i realized that the prevailing west/northwest breeze
was nowhere to be found. it was a little disconcerting to be doing mid-fifties unexpectedly without
even trying hard. usually hit the mid-forties in a tuck there. truthfully, i was happy to reach the
base of the hill since i was still hitting the 50-52 mph range sitting up and not slowing down.

cool. since you know the area, i coasted up that next hill around the bend (and fast)!

Left the office, Mira Mesa/Sorrento Vallley area, around 6pm not too much later the climb out of Carmel Valley to Del Mar Hts Rd was a *****. I know it is the predominant wind pattern but when I dropped down towards seaside reef and counted at least 5 kite surfers out at Cardiff my thought was, damn i'm glad i'm almost home.

OP, the winds shifted from when you left and I left, it was coming hard from of the north west for me. Still beats driving though.

atmdad, sounds like you have a nice route.

i should have mentioned a leave work at 1pm ;) the wind was really strong coming from the north...but coming from the east instead of the west. riding north was awful.