zonatandem

Blown off the road when the wind whipped through a saddle in the mountains.
Reuslts: Blown off the road, over the handlebars and broke 6 ribs and punctured a lung.
Lucky: another couple feet and I'd of gone straight down a 50 ft. drop.
Yup, too windy!!! Oh I was only in my early 70s then . . .

msr13

Ahhh, man. That's horrible... And incredibly painful. I'm glad you recovered.

LGHT

My local loop is in a canyon so there is always wind. It's just a matter of how much. 5-10 is average, but I once rode 17-22. I learned how to keep a nice good tuck as a result of always riding in the wind so now when I'm in a pack or a group ride I can ride in a tuck for 15-20 min at a time and conserve a lot of energy and use it to drop the hammer at the end of rides.

GravelMN

For longer rides, 15 mph is getting pretty windy. I'll do wind sprints in higher winds than that (ride hard into the wind for a couple of miles, spin back to the start, repeat until legs are shot) but not often. I have been caught in 15+ mph with gusts to 30 when the weatherman lied and it was miserable but one heck of a workout. Very hard to stay on the road at times with a quartering headwind and I was in a gear usually reserved for the steepest of climbs. Nothing more fun that doing 6 mph on flat ground . . . NOT.

corwin1968

Given that there is a famous song about my state and that wind is prominently featured in that song, it has a great detrimental impact on my riding.

I used to live within spitting distance of a 9.5 mile multi-use path that went around a lake and 100% of my riding was there. The Northern part of the ride is on a raised earthen berm that holds the lake and there is absolutely no wind break on that portion. In my more foolish days, there were times when I literally considered getting off my bike, chucking it off the berm and into the lake and just walking back to my car. That's how frustrating the wind is for me.

Now, almost all of my riding is within our subdivision and if it's really windy, I will get out and ride very briefly, never going more than a few blocks from the house, basically just to get on the bike for a bit. I occasionally haul my bike out to the lake I used to live by but it has to be a very calm day before I'll even consider it.

I have no idea how to quantify what is acceptable wind speed for me. I just go outside and see how windy it feels. I would hazard a guess that single digits is probably my limit and anything over 10mph is just going to piss me off.

indyfabz

Try loaded touring with no open-ended time frame and you will learn to embrace wind--both head and tailwinds. (Same for rain.) When touring in Alberta in '09I looked at the GF at the start of the day and uttered words I will never say again: "It's only 34 miles. How long can it take?" We reached camp five hours later. Then again, I once maintained a speed of 32.5 mph for about 5 miles touring on the High Line of Montana. I finally had to dial it back to a more manageable 28 mph.

Black wallnut 

We have many days here where the wind is 20-25 mph with gusts over 35. I ride in it. Some days I don't feel like fighting it on the road bike so I'll switch to my CX bike and ride the John Wayne trail or up a canyon into the mountains north of town. Some rides it is so windy that I have to actually pedal to make forward progress going down an overpass. If I did not ride into the wind I would ride very little. It is just a fact of life around here. That does not mean we like it.

Gnosis

Yes, but not everyone's going to benefit by that tailwind.

I’ve been on many rides that were headwinds in every direction or experience only a rare, short-duration tailwind. It’s just how things have gone on some days (as in “I just can’t catch a break”).

One day at my friend’s house I told him to look at the direction the wind was blowing the flag he had outside of his porch; it was stiffly blowing straight up the street while simultaneously just across the street (roughly 40 feet away) his neighbor’s flag was stiffly blowing down the street and they continued doing that for several minutes!

My point here is; sometimes you just happen to be in those headwind prone paths (though he and I laughably presume it’s a curse we’ve been plagued by).

Turzy

I live on an island, so we get plenty of wind, but I'll usually ride up to about 40mph, above that I'll walk instead

FrankHudson

Mostly shorter trip, urban riding, so if I'm not worried about walking in it, I'll ride in it. My wife seems more bugged about riding in headwinds than I am, particularly this April which has been windier than usual here in MN. There's been some 20-25 mph gusts on rides this month. In headwinds I just tell myself I'm benefiting from the "aerobelly" (grin).

Here in the city the swirl-gusts, "headwinds in both directions" thing can come from winds hitting and shearing off taller buildings.

beakersbike

Maybe us human parachutes need to take up sailing. Then we can learn how to tack on our bikes

dr_lha

As a former sailor, I often refer to riding into a head wind as "beating". I've got some strange looks from people who don't understand that reference.

Yendor72

I was trying not to think about winds then you went an described what we've seen out on the Dakota Rail Trail. At least there's no snow. I hope it's calm tonight, time to hit the trail again for another 20 miles.

Leebo

I run into it a lot on my commute. Gear down and suffer. I do use the drops on my crosscheck on those times. No choice but to carry on. Got blown to a stop on a downhill once. Got blown off my bike on an expose, ridgeline part of a lake trail. Good thing there was 3 ft of windblown snow to stop my endo, helmet first of course.

Jarrett2

I live on a hill in the country, so there is always wind on my ride. 12-15 mph is my usual. If I'm watching the weather and see that its going to be above that then I try to restructure my ride so that I don't have long stretches of going into a massive headwind. But once it gets into the 21-22+ mph average winds, there's really no way to make it fun.

One of my riding buddies calls me "The Oak" because the wind doesn't phase me so much. For some things, I guess being 275 is a benefit

ChrisZog

Never too windy to ride (unless the other weather sucks like 100+ heat, dust storms, or hard rain or worse). I like the fact that I can get a good challenge from a short ride. I just change my goals. For example when doing intervals I alternate between "resting" speeds of 12-14mph and then try and catch that elusive (for me) 3 minute mile when the weather is good. With a nasty headwind I push hard for a 5 minute mile. A few of those with some resting intervals is enough to make me feel good and tired. That said the hardest I've dealt with is 20-25mph sustained with gusts into the 40s. I'm not sure I'd go much harder than that. Felt like I was going to go backwards when I tried coasting

VCSL2015

I hate the wind period. Wind to me is Wind 8ms Gusts 14ms which for me is barely doable. (sucks!!!!)

Haff

The other day I went for a ride when it was windy. The route was basically an out and back route. On the way out I was heading mostly into the wind. It was very tiring and a hell of a challenge, but I pushed through knowing on the way back I get the free push from mother nature as a reward for my efforts. But right as I was turning around mother nature decided to be a ***** and the wind shifted. It was mostly into a headwind all the way home too. Great workout, frustrating that I didn't get my tailwind reward.

That said, I live in new england, so weather is a constantly changing thing and is never ideal. For this reason I dont worry about wind or rain stopping me. I just consider it part of the experience of enjoying the outdoors. If I want a constant condition I'll find a stationary bike at a gym.