Hypno Toad

I couldn't help but think of this dialog on Saturday (stupid sh.t I can let go of ). We were riding into a steady 20-25 mph winds with gust over 35 mph. I rode for 70 miles and damn near every mile was into the wind or crosswind, very brief relief with tailwinds (which included a steep climb). It took me 4.5 hours to cover 47 miles. Call it braggadocio if you must, but when asked about my max wind speed rides, I will proudly state that I do ride in high winds.

Jump to :57 to skip getting to the race and the roll-out:

Here's the ride page: Dirty Benjamin you can find the route and feel free to check the historical weather for the day.

The brief ride report, this was my first gravel grinder DNF.

devianb

30mph was highest I was subjected to. Sure was nice to be able to ride 34mph with no effort, but heading into it only being able to reach speeds in the single digits quickly put and end to that ride. I'll ride regardless of how windy it is, just a matter of how far.

DrIsotope

So do you want to have someone dispatched to pat you on the back, or have you taken care of it yourself?

corrado33

Those trees look like the trees around here when it's blowing at 20 MPH.

I often ride in 10 MPH winds. Occasionally I'll do part of a ride in 20 MPH winds (all of my rides are loops so I almost never do a full ride in the wind... unless I get REALLY unlucky and a front rolls in... It's happened before...just the other day actually.)

Once I rode on a day that was exceptionally windy. Now, I ride classic bikes so no deep section wheels for me, but when I turned across the wind, I could BARELY stay on my bike. The wind gusts that day may have been ~ 30 MPH. And I'm not one to fall off my bike easily, I come from a mountain biking background so I'm no stranger to being off balance. At the end of that ride I told my friend, "I'm glad you didn't ride, it was very dangerous out there, I don't think I'll ever ride in that much wind again." I honestly think you guys who are claiming to have biked in 50/60/100 MPH winds are full of it. I can maybe believe 40 MPH for a very short stint... maybe. But only a headwind or tailwind. A 40 MPH crosswind would easily knock you off your bike. As for the video, if you guys were in that much of a headwind, why the hell was nobody in the drops? My first reaction to a headwind is "be as small as possible."

I don't trust the weather sites for wind data. My university has a weather station on campus that I check when I need to. It provides me with real time data on what's going on outside.

Hypno Toad

No need for you to give long distance kudos; I had a warm PBR after hitching a ride back to the finish line, that was good enough for me. But I will request that you offer the Hypno Toad more credibility on BF. Not a lot to ask. In the world of social media, big fish stories are omnipresent, I get that. But that doesn't mean every person on social media is full of sh..

corrado33

I have evidence for not believing the high wind claims here.

Here are videos from the cape town cycle tour in march of this year.

deadspin-quote-carrot-aligned-w-bgr-2

Seriously, go there and watch the videos. The bikers are LITERALLY getting blown off their bikes.

Now, let's check the weather history for that day in cape town.

https://www.wunderground.com/history...ic=&reqdb.wmo=

Max wind gust of 39 MPH hu? Interesting. Even if wunderground doesn't have the best data... race organizers guessed 60 MPH wind... max.

I'm calling BS to the "I biked in 50-60-100 MPH wind" tales above.

manapua_man

I got caught up on a mountain pass in the middle of a typhoon when touring once. Ended up hiding under a bridge for a while. No idea what the actual wind speeds were, but there were trees falling down and I was a little concerned about getting killed. I was lucky I didn't get caught in a landslide or something. The road ~5-10 miles ahead of where I hid out was taken out by that one.

These days I make sure to check the weather on my cell phone as I move along.

Hypno Toad

The quick answer was control, the gravel was newly laid with the last day or two. Riders on 35/38/40 mm tires were sinking in bad. I was riding a drop-bar fatbike with 4" tires and I still sunk in a few times. So riders were staying on the hoods to have better control when the front tire cuts in. The video has a couple clips showing riders fighting for control in the sandy gravel.

Many riders were knocked over, or off the road... the clip with the rider in the grass, that was happening a lot, and I was that rider a couple times too. Those 4" tires have a huge cross section to the wind. You'd get pushed off the road and just decide to ride in the grass for a while.

One of the issues that got my little 'dialog' started was this same event back in 2014 (see page 2); I posted about a violent storm front blow through our course. Wind gusts all around town were recorded at 50 to 60+ mph. I did ride through it with a pace line, it was insane to see the lean of the riders in front to fight the wind. I wish I had the GoPro for that ride!

Hypno Toad

That clip has been covered, look at the tall builds... ever been in down town Chicago? The micro burst of winds are insane when the wind comes off the lake and hit those buildings. I watch a woman get lifted off her feet and blown down; but to check the wind speed for the city on that day and you'd never see report that would justify winds that powerful.

Counter point:

corrado33

Interesting... I've always believed I have the most control in the drops.



I dunno. I'm still having trouble believing 50-60 MPH winds.

Here's another video of a professional race in spain earlier this year.


And the wind data that day?

https://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather...r=2017&month=2

Nothing above 30 MPH. (Race was on the 7th)

I just don't see how it's possible to bike in those sorts of winds successfully.

Hypno Toad

I'll just share what I posted previously, This is the best information I have for what I experienced.

Hypno Toad

I will make it clear: I understand weather data can (and regularly does) over & under report wind speeds. I typically consider weather stations at airports as the most accurate since wind speed is critical for safety. However, many weather stations are not very accurate. Additionally, winds speeds can vary dramatically based on local conditions, like near tall buildings versus deep valleys. It is my desire to report the most accurate information available; I have no interest in making sh.t up. That's really my point, so if the weather data about near 60 mph wind gust in 2014 is inaccurate, I'm sorry, however, it is the best data I can find for what I rode through.

(BTW - if I wanted to make sh.t up about the winds in 2014, I'd report the wind speeds from MSP, they were ~10 mph faster than the weather station I selected ~5 miles from the start of our ride).

edit/afterthought - what wind speed data do you trust/believe?

wschruba

I generally agree with this statement, but extreme saddle-to-bar drop, such as you might see on a bike setup for racing, can muck with the weight distribution on the bike, when you are in the drops. Suddenly, the front wheel, which was more than happy to skate along, is loaded with more weight, and it digs in.

It begs the question why someone would setup a bike intended for use on loose surfaces with the handlebars so low, but nonetheless...

Hypno Toad

The gravel was new, only one or two days old. Nearly every rider was caught off guard. We knew it'd be windy and hot, but the sandy, fresh gravel sucking your wheels in... that was not expected. I was the lucky guy dumb enough to ride a fatbike and I still had issues.

edit - you can see where my hands were, the left hood is clearly visible and my hand is rarely there. There's one point you see my hands and I'm actually resting my hands on the hoods in an aero position, but it's not stable enough to control the bike in these winds.

Dirt Farmer

Whatever the winds were this Saturday in Madison, Wi. It was brutal.

1Coopgt

I got to agree with you. I don't even do this on my motorcycle. Only time I ride in high winds is when the weather changes and I'm already out on the motorcycle and away from home.

rydabent

In the high winds here in Nebr in the spring, I almost always take the trike.

I would point out with a high cross wind blowing a cyclist into the driving lane, a cyclist on a trike is much safer.

SylvainG

Here's another one in 100 km/h (60 mph) winds. No way you can ride in that!

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...e-race-toilets

Worst I had was 25 mph head wind on my commute near a river. I DON'T like it at all.

DrIsotope

Wind is just not nice-- it doesn't even have to be blowing very hard. This morning was 17 miles directly into an incessant 7-8mph wind from the west. This dropped my moving speed by about 3mph for the entire outbound leg for the same power output. I took a turn to head just one mile north for the due-east return trip. I was rewarded with perhaps 3-4 miles of a sorta-cross-tailwind, then 10 miles of steady crosswind, culminating in the final few miles of 4-5mph headwind. The wind swirls around the valley, you see. It was not particularly strong wind, and it was not gusty at all-- as steady as an office fan. Man, it sucked. Demoralizing.

But I'll almost miss the wind soon. Summer apparently arrives on Friday, and we'll see +100º highs for... months. Rides will start between 5-6am, because it's 100º by 10:30. Just clear, calm, and unbearably hot. No wind, relative humidity in the teens, and the asphalt is 140º. For the 4-month stretch from July through October, we average 0.75" inches of rain. But hey, usually no wind!

DomaneS5

Hypno Toad

For those that don't believe the wind gusts at 60 mph, but quote wind speeds for their own rides.... what's data do you trust? I'm honestly interested?

For those talking about motorcycles and semis, two words: surface area.

Yendor72

For the record @Hypno Toad, I didn't ride on Saturday. The winds were too much for me. My friend rode the Dirty Benjamin at the reduced distance they offered but said it was still brutal. My knees thank me for not riding. Then again, I have not ridden since Friday and I feel like a loser for it. I'm hoping to beat tonight's storms though.

fietsbob

my ground speed has fallen drastically, when the wind speed is high.. It's like rowing into an incoming tide.

Hypno Toad

I don't know anybody that had a "good day" with Benjamin this year. It was the worst combo of conditions I think I've seen (& I completed the 2017 Almanzo!)

Hypno Toad

I'm off topic, but there's been a few questions about the hand position in the windy conditions. Here's a quick update with a new photo that may help understand the road condition. This pic is from a friend that rode the course (part of it):

18952815_10109904000106315_6064482183691133482_n.jpg

Parts of the road were like riding a CX sand trap or a beach, meaning you need to keep weight off the front wheel to allow you to control in the deep, soft, sandy gravel. However, the crosswinds caused you problems pushing your front wheel when it wasn't weighted.