Alberta has been a windy place lately with winds up around 50-70 km/h (30-40 mph) ... and I've been out walking and cycling in some of that.

But today and tomorrow have been/will be even windier in various places ...


"..Strong winds are forecast through central Alberta Saturday..

Strong west to northwesterly winds are forecast to develop Saturday. Winds will develop in Grande Prairie late in the morning while winds through east central Alberta are expected to be at their strongest in the afternoon. Wind gusts up to 90 km/h are forecast in the warning areas.

In Grande Prairie wind gusts as high as 95 km/h have been reported today. These winds will diminish this evening before returning on Saturday.

In Pincher Creek westerly winds of 70 gusting to 90 km/h are occurring. These winds are forecast to diminish this evening. The winds will return Saturday morning and are expected to gust to 90 km/h at times."

For reference ... 90 km/h = 55 mph; 95 km/h = 60 mph

I'm not sure that I'll be cycling in that ... although ...

The wind is supposed to be from the northwest, so it's tempting to cycle southeast as far as I can in 2 or 3 hours ........... and then have someone pick me up in ... oh, say ... South Dakota!!


Have you ever done a ride like that ... ride as far as you want, sailing along with the wind at your back, and then get a motorized lift back home?

no, but it sounds like a blast!

The thing I hate about wind is, when you are climbing a hill and right before the top the wind hits you in the face and you wish there was more hill to climb and block the wind... (I think that sounds the way I wanted it to).

Sounds like fun, though I am not sure it is cycling, maybe more like sailing?

I had an epic tailwind on the way home from work. I was doing 50 KM/H and freewheeling much of the way.

I and a friend rode a 30 mph wind for 25 miles on an island at the beach and had his wife pick us up at the turnaround. A couple of other riders called us on it, but hey I didn't care. Average speed = 32.5, not really trying.

What part are you not amused about ............ the fact that we're windy here, and you'll likely get gale force winds in a couple days? They're heading your direction, and they've got a lot of prairie to build up speed over.

Or the idea of riding with the wind?

I have been out in wind like that a couple of times, well maybe not quite up to 90kph. Climbing into it, and descending with a wicked tailwind and crosswind for a while, and I did a good stretch of flat with a big tailwind, and some crosswinds

My experience is that none of it was any fun. Wind is gusty, and unless its a near perfect tailwind ~70+kph going to toss you all over the place. White knuckled riding, you won't be 'sailing', you might be fast though.The crosswind section of descending I did (~35mph wind) made my life flash before my eyes.

The fact that I have a race on Sunday and they are already predicting 30-40mph winds....and you're verifying it.....


....and I will still end up racing....

I rode home in winds that I expect to get much worse and after a day of riding this just killed me... I was thankful for the fact my bike has a touring range and some really low gears or I may have ended up walking home.

That's how it began here, about a week ago.


Have a good race!!

I'm living in Kansas right now, so I do know wind. Tailwind of course is a blast. One thing to really watch out for, however, is crosswind. Last winter, riding in weather conditions with 25mph winds (as reported by the weather channel) and just picking up speed while heading down a hill (probably around 20 mph), a gust of cross wind suddenly hit. Probably at least 30mph gust - I was literally blown to the other side of the two lane road. Lucky there's rarely cars in Kansas, otherwise there potentially would have been a head on colision with a car. So...enjoy but be careful. Man, I sound like someone's mother.

I'm not really a fan of high wind when riding; makes it only practical to head in one direction. Fun to watch from indoors, though.

Machka sounds like you need to find the direction that wind will be blowing and use it as a tailwind, but call someone to pick you up because I wouldn't be thrilled about riding into that kind of headwind!

I live in Western MN and we are expecting the high winds to arrive Sat evening. Along with the winds we are going to see our temps drop to near or below freezing. They are even talking about SNOW. YUK, not ready for that.

I had a 50km head wind for a good portion of my 29km commute home today. I was pushing 48x16 on my fixed gear so it felt like 2X the effort but I travel at only 1/2 my normal speed. It was a good workout.

60mph wind, that sounds like a fun challenge. do your most challenging climb and hopefully you will catch the tail wind on the way down, or better you will get the headwind all the way down and go slower down than going up.

I've done descents like that!! This past summer in the mountains, my father and I slogged out to the Icefield Parkway in the Rockies, crawling up and down hills. But on the way back we were flying, and we were sailing up the hills faster than we had gone down them.

A few of us sometimes ride from Lethbridge to Medicine Hat (160 km) when the wind picks up, tailwind all the way out and a ride home in a car.

I'm half tempted to try riding to Three Hills tomorrow. Pity there are no roads that angle nicely to the southeast.

i rode in 20mph steady and 30mph gusts last weekend for 60mi.. was NOT fun... only had a straight tailwind for the very end the rest was crazy cross winds or straight in our faces. between me and the bike and water i still don't reach 150 lbs so i was not amused by the white knuckle riding.

Never done a tailwinds only ride and gotten a lift back.
Have been blown over by windgust coming between a saddle of 2 mountains as I crested a climb. Threw me sideways into the dirt, did my paratrooper roll over the bars, missed a 50 ft. dropoff. Came to, with a fellow standing over me with a cellphone asking me if i was OK.
Not really, 6 broken ribs and a punctured lung. Oh, the bike was fine.
Also have been blown sideways by about a foot by hefty crosswind on our tandem on a century in Indiana. Not many folks finished that ride; but we persevered.
Depending on severity/direction winds can be a real challenge or a real boon.

I've not done it, but there is a ride here in April called the Tailwind Century. As the name would suggest, they load everything up on a bus and take you 100 miles out and let you ride back with a tailwind. Iowa is windy in the spring.

It has begun ... NW 37 gusting 55 right now.

Apparently it was calm earlier, and my father just commented that we should have cycled west first thing this morning, then turned around and enjoyed the coast back as the wind started up.


I see it's WNW 54 gusting 74 km/h in Edmonton.

Do what I do. Open the garage door, put your nose in the wind, scream: "BLOW ME!" and go for a ride.