FizzyPop

How windy is too windy? I tried riding in 25 to 30mph gusts the other day and it was beating me up. At what point is it too much for you?

nobrainer440

15mph gusting to 20 or 25 is the norm here in Kansas. 20 or 25 constant is officially un-fun, and gusts of 30 to 40 are scary.

FizzyPop

The constant was around 20mph and it was a cross/headwind on my climb. My usual ride is around 15-20 miles, depending on time constraints. I managed 8 miles! Yep, I'm a wuss. At one point, I was almost diagonal leaning into the wind, or so it seemed.

the beef

So how exactly does one measure wind speed?

Educate me, por favor.

FizzyPop

https://www.weather.com/ I check it before I ride to see what I need to wear.

Frankenbiker

For me, too windy is anything that affects my control of the bike in a negative way (strong tailwinds are fine ). Many years ago I was out riding in strong, gusty crosswinds. The gusts blew me off the side of the road into tractor tire ruts where I promptly crashed and messed up my left knee for the next twenty years. If the wind and gusts had been blowing the other direction, it would have pushed me into oncoming traffic. Even passing cars and trucks can affect bike control. If I don't feel comfortable and safe riding with prevailing wind conditions, no matter how strong/gusty the winds are then I stay off the bike (or I ride really, really slowly).

botto 

a hurricane.

Vinokurtov

Gusts in the 90-100 MPH range. Seriously. I got blown to a complete stop last year doing the climb back to my house.

C-R700

Anything that blows you off the road = time to go home.

slowandsteady

30 mph is pretty much my limit. I don't mind headwinds much. I don't really have decent hills, but fighting a headwind does give me a good workout and helps to improve my position. The real challenge is having deep dish rims and fighting a gusty cross wind. It is scary when you suddenly get blown into traffic. Or even when you are fighting a steady cross wind that suddenly dies and you go veering off to the side.

I am a data junkie and record everything in a spreadsheet, so I know the wind speed, gust speeds and direction for every ride.

DataJunkie

40 to 50 mph. At that speed I have trouble staying upright. Falling in traffic could be problematic.

jrennie

when it is really windy I go uphill. Climbing makes the wind less noticible at the lower speeds and if its really strong you can set a new speed record going down. In this area we really don't have constant winds but wicked gusts, it could be blowing 15-20 and gust to 60.

stonecrd

We also are generally in the 10-15 range with gusts 20-30. If it is mainly a cross wind with only some headon no problem. But if for instance we get it out of the West I have about 10mi out of my 20 ride to do in the headwind. On any single day it hurts but when you get 5 days in a row it really beats you down. On those occasions I have been know to say the hell with it and blow off a day.

BikeWise1

When it gets much over 15, it's time to go sailing! Great upper body and ab workout!

VanceMac

Aside from the previously mentioned safety concerns, strong winds also pose another problem in many areas: they blow all kinds of debris (especially branches) into the road. The debris, of course, ends up on the side of the road, and makes riding quite an unpleasant adventure. The chances of a flat (or worse) start to increase significantly above a certain wind speed.

jeffc7

I went riding yesterday with 20-30 mile an hour winds with gusts up to 50 mph. Going into the wind, I struggled to maintain15-16mph and when hit by a gust, dropped to 10mph in a matter of feet. Averaged a speedy 8mph up a moderate grade. Used just about every granny gear I had. On the flip side, I was spinning out going down at 50mph plus, but those side cross winds were pretty sketchy. On the flats with tail wind, cruised at 35 mph with little effort. That's what a pro peloton feels like.

Same conditions today and thinking about doing it again. It's like hill training without having to go up hills.

Step Down

Try the Belgian Ardennes aound March during the one day classics, I guess the conditions would be classified as un-fun AND scary.

timmhaan

depends on where i'm riding. i hate being blown around on bridges, for example, so i avoid those if the wind is high. i also avoid areas where i have to ride directly next to high speed traffic.

in parks and on MUPs, it's around the 30-40mph gusts that i head back home.

stevecaz

Using an anemometer, of course.

The simplest form is something like this: https://www.weathershack.com/kestrel/1000.html

blonduathlongrl

My god, I just came back form a ride that had wind gust of 25 miles an hour, I was flying all over the place! it sure wasnt safe for me! Im not about to do that ever again!

plus!!! on top of this , this nice bigger guy smiled at me when I made a stop, i turned my route around he was about half mile ahead of me, the whole time I was catching up to him thinking, Im sure he is going to let me draft, Im sure he is, Ill just smile and ask him..I was dying and as soon as I finally caught up, the guy was actually making a turn!!! darnit!!!

BladeGeek

More then 20 just plain sucks.

fly:yes/land:no

is that hueston woods? reminds me of buck creek in springfield, oh and ceasar's creek in waynesville, oh.

blonduathlongrl

+1 was nothing fun about my ride today.

banerjek

Set up a weather station on your roof

https://weather.alptown.com/

I use it and so do other people who ride in my area. All current readings are from my house, but I import NWS forecast and radar data (radar went down today for some reason).

slowandsteady

Sure sailing is fun. But it is no workout....unless you are tacking every 2 minutes just for kicks.