Flatballer

I'll start.

1. You climb in the drops for the aero advantage.

2. You try to coast downhill and actually slow down.

3. The trip out takes half as long as the trip back.

4. You're leaned over 5* just to go straight.

All of these happened on my ride today, btw. It was blowing about 15 mph straight into my face most of the way back. When it wasn't in my face it was a nasty crosswind.

Who has some witty ones?

Matt Gaunt

5. You screw the drops, wish you had aerobars and then just grab brake cable anyway (Shimano STI owners only). Me every night last week in Richmond Park anyway.

urbanknight

6. You're at the state time trial championships and everybody leaves their disk wheels in their cars. (True story)

RideCO

when walking would be faster

I climbed 6000ft yesterday (from 4900 to 10,900) into a headwind reported by weather.com as 20-30 gusting to 37 in the town at the bottom of the climb and was worse up high. I was climbing out of the saddle in the drops, and on more than one occasion looked down to see the gust had knocked me back to under 4mph on some steeper sections. That ride really took it out of me, the wind and the cold up on top.

valygrl

7.) when the tears are dry before they can roll down your cheeks.
8.) when it's faster to walk - down hill
9.) when you can't stay within the 4' shoulder
10.) on tour, when you blow off (heh) the original destination for the day, turn around, and sail downwind until you get to the nearest town
11.) when you can coast up a 6% grade, but if you turned around, you would have to pedal to make 5mph

G-Whacker

12) When you go to take a drink and the bottle gets ripped from your hand...and takes a couple fingers with it.

Treefox

You hit a small bump and your disc wheel lands three or four inches to the side of its previous line, scaring the holy hell out of you.

miamijim

13. when you cant open the front door.

olafub

14. When you're no longer in Kansas, Toto.

cabrilo

15. When your favorite ride is under mandatory evacuation due to hurricane.

mattm

a woman on my brevet this weekend said the wind picked her up and put her in a ditch! she said her wheels actually left the ground...

btw i got to experience trying to coast downhill into a headwind (columbia river valley, wa) this weekend - it really sucked! going down was almost as hard as going up.

i hate wind. love inclines, hate wind!

Hickeydog

5.1 You get the aerobars and on your next windy ride, you find yourself wishing you had a recumbent.

akansaskid

OP: 15 mph? 15??? We LIVE for light-wind days like that around here. As Kansan and former world-record miler Jim Ryun once noted, half my workout is uphill - usually all at once.

aham23

16. when it pisses you off that your first post ride activity is to tell BF about it.

later.

Flatballer

According to the records I've found, average wind speed for Kansas is somewhere between 10-12 mph. So it would seem that 15 mph is an above average day. If you're calling 15 mph light-wind, it must blow 25 pretty regularly. In which case you live on the ocean, in a windy part of it no less. I'm a sailor and I don't even call 15 mph a light-wind day. That's just a normal day.

permanentjaun

Here's my story.

This was just north of Palm Springs, CA on my tour. If you're familiar with the area you would know that they have wind turbines in the area. I didn't know this. Here is a picture of me stopped at a park trying to fill up my water bottle. The wind would catch the water and whip it up. I had to fill up my bottles at a 90 degree angle. Note the trees behind me too.

It was a pretty bad day for wind because when I finally rode into Palm Springs there were a few light posts blown down. I think the news said gusts of 60 mph.



Here's a shot of the road this was on. Considering my wind sail panniers, I was only able to do 3-5 mph downhill on these little up/downs. I hate this road. I called my parents to tell them to route me off this road; Dillon Rd. So I turned on one road that headed south. I was able to tack against the wind at 25-30 without pedaling.




BTW, from some more experience on my tour I learned a common phrase. 'Texas sucks. Oklahoma blows.'

akansaskid

Flatballer: I haven't checked any averages, but they are irrelevant if they average an entire day. Our strong southerly winds come from solar heating of the plains. Today was typical. Winds were about 10 mph at day break, 15-20 with gusts 25-30 by late afternoon, and down to 10-12 by dark. Typically very light overnight. So it averages 10-12, as you say. But most of us here ride after work, when it's still blowing hard. I believe T. Boone Pickens recently referred to Kansas as the Saudi Arabia of wind power, and with good reason. West Texas where he wants to invest is worse.

Hocam

Reminds me of a century I did last February with a friend.

A very skinny friend who didn't help much with the wind and danced up all the climbs.

wanders

The wind in NC was humbling to say the least. I commuted from Winston to High Point today. It normally takes an hour. I had a headwind the entire time. Took me 1 1/2 hours. My wife thinks I stopped to see a mythical girlfriend on the way home.

flipflop

Yes... the wind today was quite impressive in NC. I stopped 4 times in the last 4 miles of head wind. Probably a record for me... about puked on the way back.

Though last summer I did a ride, and struggled to do 8 miles an hour into the wind. Took my speedometer off when I got home, and have not yet put it back on. Leaves were blowing horizontal to the ground and acorns and twigs too... 18.... gust... 8. Same effort. Feel the burn!

Jakedatc

HA.. my dad says it's like drafting a razor blade when he's behind me and gets even more mad when i go in the drops or put my elbows down on the bends

i figure it's all fair for getting passed by people not pedaling going down hills

flipflop

Jake,

I've got some friends like you. I call your body type... "Whippet." After the small skinny, incredibly fast dog.

Hate on a windy day, when all of a sudden everyone starts lining up behind me, or the other broad shouldered tall guys with body types not intended for bicycles...

Though not nearly as upsetting as sprinting out of the saddle up hill and getting passed by a whippet in the drops... Physics sucks.

Wind today looks even more impressive than yesterday. Might have to head through some wooded areas rather than the fields...

Kotts

17. You had 50 MPH winds (gusting to 75) from hurricane Ike, and you're in OHIO!

sfcrossrider

The 180 pound rider in front of you gets blown off his bike on the Golden Gate Bridge.

urbanknight

You must be very light, or at least have a sail for a jersey