I was out for a ride today on my Ridley TT bike, just trucking along about a 20mph pace. Maybe a 1/4 mile ahead of me I see a dust devil traveling roughly perpendicular to my path. For those unfamiliar, dust devils are really just mini tornadoes. They can have wind speeds upwards of 60mph, but out here 30-40mph is more common. So I see the devil cross the road, but then it kind of turns a bit and runs parallel to the road right toward me. I was moving pretty quick and the closing speed didn't give me a lot of time to react, but I did come off my aero bars and get on my bull horns. Good thing too. I was running with a slight tail wind up to that point so even at my 20mph pace, I was effectively riding with no wind, then I got hit by a 30mph gust going one direction immediately followed by a 30mph gust going the other direction. Pretty much everything clinched up and I felt a good push right followed by a good push left. I stayed upright, but I dread to imagine what might have happened if it caught me down on the aero bars.
I hate it when that happens.