Knocked over by wind?
 

It's been blowing here more than usual. I had a friend turn around and go home. The wind sure moves me around, and makes me feel like I'll be knocked over. But I never have been.
Have you? Have you seen anyone blown over by a gust? How much would it take to knock over a reasonably competent cyclist? Am I worried for nothing?

It was windy down here the last couple of days and I too felt that at times I would be blown over. I didn't get blown over though.

35-40mph of crosswind, anything over that Ive found to be damn dangerous to the point of either getting knocked down or blown into a curb or traffic

I havent been knocked over yet, but you can only lean over into the wind so much before you get pedal strike. On super windy days like that there's some places I wont ride thru around downtown when im working, too dangerous, big buildings make good wind tunnels.

You need to be careful.

Never been knocked over by the wind, but several weeks ago rode from Rancho Cucamonga to Riverside through Santa Ana cross winds (perpendicular to my route of travel) that were so strong that I had to constantly pedal in a gear higher than normal for me to keep control of the bike. I kept thinking that since I was on the south side of the street, if the wind did knock me over, at least I would fall out/away from traffic. At the end of that ride, my legs were toast for several days.

At times I was leaning sideways into the wind to remain upright. I really don't want to ride in that strong a wind again, it was scary, but at least I made it to where I was going.

I would not advise anyone to go out in winds such as the ones I rode through that day, unless they could ride with the wind directly in their face or at their back.

Never been blown over, but forced into the next lane was a scary experience for me.

I was riding over the GG bridge this week and the crosswind lifted up my front wheel and moved me over about 3 feet. Freaked me the hell out. It's a deep dish wheel so I was asking for it.

That same day as the wind was at my back I coasted for a quarter mile at 20mph! Crazy stuff.

woah....pedal strike from leaning into the wind.....thats epic. im imagining a guy riding his bike at a 45 degree angle....woah.

I've almost been blown off the road once. Had the bejesus scared out of me on another occasion when cranking with a crosswind causing me to lean towards traffic. A large truck blanked out the wind for second and I started moving into the vacuum left behind the truck. I've since rethought my high wind cycling options and plans.

I've been blown over once, while waiting at a stop light with a load (around 60 pounds) of groceries on the back... just enough of a gust to knock me off balance, and the weight of the groceries did the rest.

That said, riding last weekend I left the panniers on the back of my bike... got blown off the trail twice and off the road once. Fun stuff. Next time I'll probably leave the panniers at home.

SF winds
 

Since you are from the SF Bay area, I don't know if you've ever visited the Chain Reaction Bicycle Stores or web site.

The owner keeps a semi-daily diary of rides he and his buddies do.

Speaking of being blown over, here is a link to one they did on Jan 1 2006 that you might find interesting:

http://www.chainreaction.com/mtham06.htm

The semi-daily reports (and archives) are here:

http://www.chainreaction.com/diary.htm

Lots of other good stuff on this web site also. Funny stuff and educational stuff.

I'm not from CA, but from along the Oregon coast, and we get our share of wind also.

June 20, 1995 - a dry microburst (smallish tornado) hit Winnipeg with wind speeds clocked at 160 km/h (100 mph). I was out cycling in that ... yes, it knocked me over. Actually, it felt like me and the bicycle were both lifted into the air for a few seconds. Very scary feeling.

http://www.apegm.mb.ca/pdnet/papers/Wind.pdf

Yes, you're right to be worried, wind can be a major hazard if its strong or gusty.

Australian professional rider Paul Crake, who is also the five time Empire State Building (NYC) stair running champion was blown off the road with four other riders by a gust of wind during a road race in New Zealand last year. Paul suffered spinal injuries because of a freak impact with a post or other object. He was a champion athlete and an awesome rider. I was chatting with him during a ride the previous weekend in Canberra (Aust) and its hard to grasp that something so freaky can happen like that.

http://www.cycling.org.au/Content/Na...sage_to_Pa.htm
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20773293-2,00.html

If its blowing hard or there are gusts from the side be extra careful.

Yes. Some kind of storm blowing thru last year. Got unclipped before I hit the ground.

here on maui there is a spot on the pali (cliff) overlooking maalaea that has a very dangerous crosswind. it can change from right to left in a flash. it knocked a guy on a harley over the guardrail a few years back, his fiance was in the car following. just heartbreaking. if you are vacationing and riding south from lahaina - and the trades are blowing - please beware. it's about a mile south of the tunnel.

I've seen a friend and his bike being blown off the road by a particularly powerful gust.

I was almost blown off the road once when a Chinook helecopter flew way too close to me while I was riding on an army post in Korea. I really thought I was gonna crash, but somehow I managed to stay up. If it had been straight from the side, I would've hit the dirt. I did think it was pretty cool though. Its the most wind I'd ever experienced.

The helecopter pilots have to have a certain amount of flight time each week and a lot of that is just spent hovering around the post. So I think the pilot was probably just bored and wanted to see what would happen if he flew over someone on a bicycle.

knocked over? nope.

blown off the road? yep.

here we get up to 60 mph winds. Walking the bike home, I thought it was a little difficult to keep myself and the bike upright.

Biggest wreck in a race I've ever been in was caused by wind... I went to high school in New Hampshire, up around Franconia Notch. Up there, the weather can change on a dime. The night before the race there were 60-70 mph winds through the narrow roads that cut through the notch. Cautionary driving alerts and everything. The next morning was calm, though, so the race went on as scheduled.

Fast forward to about mile 34 of the race. Me and about 20 guys up front have just pulled our winners up a pretty big climb, and we're on a fast descent trying to get up speed for a twisty bit of road with a gradual slope coming up.

The descent ends with a wide left just before the twisties. We're all leaning when all of a sudden this wind comes through the notch, must have been blowing 40-50 mph. Nearly everybody up front went down, followed by guys smacking into us...

This was high school, so of course we're all idiots and running 30-50mm wheels because they look cool... that couldn't have helped matters any...

I think one guy needed stitches in his leg, but that was it... a pretty injury-free albeit spectacular crash...

Anyone have a Cervelo?
 

I've noticed a difference from moving to my older Pinarello to my new Team Soloist. Don't know if it's due to the 'flatter' frame or not, but it has made me a bit twitchy on the descents when there's a wind blowing.

last year in March I got blown over by a 40+ mph gust. I was on the top of a ridge and when I broke out of the trees I could see the whole Cumberland Valley below. But then a big gust hit me with a heavy cross wind and because i was still climbing a little, I wasn't going very fast and yep, blew me right over.

It was pretty funny, really

almost got blown off of devil's slide in CA.
scariest ride of my life

Never been blown over, but have been blown a foot or so off my path...Not a comforting feeling when you are dealing with traffic or a ride partner...

I've gotten blown over on my road bike trying to track stand as I pulled up to an intersection and was hit with a big cross wind. Other than that nothing much more than being blown off my line. At low speed when your balance point is its most thin is definitely when I am at the biggest risk.

everyone always dogs the area we live in! usually warm and flat. true--kind of. it's usually extremely hot 93+ with humidity of 90+. No hills? sure..but we have daily winds of 20+ almost ALL the time. The gusts are insane. I think I'd rather have little wind and hills than lots of wind and flats.