Did you happen to catch a glimpse of the biking portion of Ironman on TV yesterday?

The tri-athletes where riding in sustained 50 MPH crosswinds. They had to lay their bikes over 15 - 20 degrees into the wind to stay upright.

I didn't get to watch to the end to see who was the fastest to finish the race (all who participated are winners in my book), but the effort on the bike seems to have exacted a toll from some of the top contenders, including last years mens champion.

I admire the determination and desire these people possess. I have to admit, the one time I headed out in 50 MPH winds, I turned around and went home after a little over 3 miles

I didn't get to see the triatheletes compete, but wind, well we are not on speaking terms at the moment. the past five days have been a real pain. Not only was I comuuting to work on the fixie, but damned if the wind weren't in my face going and coming. I don't pay attention or bother to look at the weather channel before leaving for work, or coming home. I just assume that it will be weather out there, and I'll have to contend with it come what may. But wind, I tell you I have nothing nice to say, so I won't say anything.

Yes, I have seen it yesterday, the winds was really blowing them away, , those guys are really great

Last year I took my bike on a tour that we rode next to the ocean. I was coming down from probably 1800 feet. The wind was so strong (headwinds) that I felt the bike was going over. I had to pedal downhill in order to keep up enough momentum. Don't like that on a cliff and winds blowing you side to side as you turn into the wind.. As we descended lower the winds were less threatening.

Do you know what event it was? I was an official at Ironman Utah; we had to cancel the swim due to high wind (one person drowned), and cut the ride down to 62.5miles, and run to 13 miles.

I haven't seen the "Ironman" on TV so I can't compare. However, I have toured Newfoundland in 1981.

I started on the West Coast (of Nfld) with a "moderate" headwind (i.e. flags were straight but not torn apart), but wind increased a short wile after. Fortunately, at that point, the road was turning, so for 200 km, I had a 2/3 or 3/4 wind in my favour. Still the crosswind element was so important that my left pedal touched ground quite a few times, and the rear tire was worn off-centre.

Travelling West to East, I was lucky and only got one full day with a strong headwind. I had to cycle a very hard 72 km to catch a ferry... and did it at an average 10 km/h.

Another occasion: last Winter, I got through a minor storm with a fierce crosswind. It's a bit harder to keep balance when wheels want to slip sideways.

Regards,

The only thing that stops me riding is the wind. Probably because I can only ride on roads (no bike paths). I find it a bit frightening when I am riding against a cross wind and a truck passes, which dissipates the cross wind, making the bike and me get sucked closer to the truck. I will only ride if the forecast is for <25 knot winds.

Over 25 knots, it is too much like hard work, dangerous and not fun! I always ride solo so this is another reason why I don't like windy days.

CHEERS.

Mark

I've ridde through some 35 to 40 mph days here in vegas (in the spring they are pretty common) and it is quite the work to get anywhere when you go against the wind. I.e. one day it took me 15 min to head one way and an hour the opposite direction. Regardless to say it is not the most fun thing in the world

It was the world championship event in Hawaii. A few riders got flagged for drafting, I think they said it was a three minute delay at the next station for that. That sounded kind of severe I thought.

Was it this years Utah Ironman that had the fatality?

Yes, one competitor drowned at this years Utah Ironman. It was really bad, we had a front come in right as the competitors got into the water, we had perfect weather one minute, and 60mph gusts the next.

They (Ironman officials) are now thinking about moving the race it Idaho, I sure hope not, but I can understand there concerns.

I use to live in Cheyenne, WY, where it's known for wind. There were times when I had to pedal hard going DOWNHILL. I no longer live there and I don't miss the wind.

However, I don't think I ever dared to ride 50mph winds. Anything over 40, and I was driving a car. My hat is off to those triathletes.

Yes. In the winter of 1985-85 a girlfriend of mine from England and I cycled from Key West, Florida to San Diego, California. A portion of the tour went through northeast Mexico. I am not sure which one of those western states it was; maybe it was Texas. I would have to dig out my journal to look and see.

The wind came with a howling and screaming vengeance from out of the north. I had no way of measuring its velocity. We had to lean over to keep against it and upright. Occasional stronger gusts would knock us five feet over regardless of our efforts to continue stable. We went along at a walking pace, just fast enough to stay upright. If we stopped pedaling for even one second we were stopped dead in our tracks. This went on for quite some time one day. We stopped at the first town we came to. The forward distance gained was just not worth the effort. Then, just as we pulled up to this little restaurant, the horror from the north died down. That figured.

John Gobin Shaw
Stuart, Florida