Quel

Curious what people's opinion is on riding out in heavy wind. I'm up in NE Massachusetts visiting my parents for the holiday and brought my bike. They are along a river and ocean, and wind gusts hit 55-60mph today, with it being sustained at probably 30-40mph at most times.

I was doing an out and back and was easily holding 28-30mph (normal is probably 20-22) on the way out, but was hurting bad to hold 14-15 on the way back. Side wind gusts were enough to push me around a foot or so before I could get the bike under control. I never felt unsafe, but some of those side gusts were enough to make the ride no fun. Didn't even feel comfortable taking a hand off the bars to grab some water most times.

Never hit that type of wind back in DC, or when we used to live in Missouri. Any of you have to deal with that on a fairly frequent basis? It was fun with the tail wind, but those cross winds were rough.

dooodstevenn

i havent had winds that bad, but today my friends and i headed out, strait into a head wind, we droped our cogs down a few, go in the drops and traded the draft every mile or so. (by drop cogs i mean went to a bigger cog) we just did that until we finnished the 15 mile streach of road, then we had a cross wind, every once in a while it blew me into my friends bike cuz we were riding side by side...not so smart, so fell back, into a line. comming back on the streach of road was really fun though, nice tail wind, we even had coasting races, as dumb as that sounds, we sprint til we hit about 30, and just sit up and try to grab as much tail wind as we could and coasted til one of us finally stopped (i won, ..bigger guy ya know)

LorenzoNF

I usually don't have to deal with this but today was nuts. 25mph sustained winds with gusts up to 50. I was doing the same thing - out I was easily holding 28 (I hit 34 at tempo effort) but going back some of those gusts were taking me down to 10 with the same wattage. And the side wind gusts were crazy! My helmet almost (quite literally) came off my head. I had to stop (and almost got blown off the levee) and tighten it down. I got blown across the entire lane twice. I really wouldn't want to deal with these kinds of winds more than once or twice a year (and those of you who have to - I'm so sorry).

echappist

yeah. it was gusting alongside the hudson today & it will be like this on many sunny days until april, although it was probably nothing compared to what you get along the Mass. coastline. it was painful going uphill into the headwind, and if someone had a camera, my face would have easily made it into the "pictures of you suffering in a race" thread.

edit. FWIW, back when i used to do a lot of 400m intervals on the track (running), it almost felt like i'd hit a wall as i rounded off the bends & into the straights. the gusts were too strong even for running

raduray

Well, I thought about braving the wind today but decided to sit on my ass and watch football all day long. Will have to make up for that tomorrow.

zonatandem

Been blown over by the wind . . . climbing, reached the top and gust blew me over into shoulder, rolled over the bars.
6 broken ribs and 1 punctured lung,
Was lucky . . . missed a 50 ft.dropoff!
Winds gusting to 35 today; walked instead of riding.

caloso

30 mph winds out of the NW today. At one point I was doing 11mph at my lactate threshold. That was discouraging. And when it became a cross wind, I was literally leaned over 5 or 10 degrees from vertical. But on the turnaround, just bliss.

Doohickie

I'll ride up to about 30, maybe 35 mph winds. Maybe a little more than that if I'm out and trying to get home.

Randochap

Gets pretty windy around here, on the ocean. November is particularly brutal, often with torrential rain or even hail whipping into your face like stinging hornets. It builds character.

I remember a couple Novembers back being actually picked up by a 150km/h gust and nearly deposited in a flooded field, among the cowering ducks, hiding in the lee of the raised roadbed.

Kurogashi

People say that riding against the wind is just better for training. Well I think it's stupid, it just makes the whole ride lame and the wind gets pretty annoying. So I tend not to ride on windy days. HOWEVER, ride WITH the wind (tail wind), now things get a lot better but getting home requires to ride against, so the extra speed doesn't really compensate for the struggles.

RFC

I've ridden in those kind of winds in the Outer Banks. 12 mph out / 28-32 mph back. The answer is easy. Ride out against the wind. Also, aero bars are you friend in the winds.

patentcad

This thread friggin blows.

Randochap

As long as it doesn't suck. That would be nasty.

blacksquid

For some reason the mental image had me going.

roadiejorge 

MajorMantra

It gets very windy here and can be quite unpleasant. Gusts up to 40 are bearable though not nice and much above that can be a struggle - I'm light so I get blown all over the place. A few weeks back it was gusting to 70 here but I didn't go out. (!)

Matthew

Cyclist0383

I'm speaking as a year round commuter, and I can say that the winds here are the only thing weather related that will make me take the train. Once every couple of months we get winds in the 30 meters per second range (67mph), and it's simply not worth battling them, not to mention all the crap flying around in the air.

ColorChange

Winds above 40 mph can be dangerous, especially if it's gusting. Obviously, don't take out the deep dish wheels and stay off roads with a narrow shoulder. If the winds are steady, it's a lot safer but mentally challenging. A power meter really helps here, as you feel like a turd putzing along at 13 mph but when you see you are at your ftp, you say OK, I"m doing the work. I also try to head out largely into the wind and finish with a tailwind. Knowing the tailwind is coming helps immensely. I focus on mental toughness when battling the wind, biggest recommendation I can make.

banerjek

I hate wind but it never stops me from riding. You can't hear a damn thing and it's impossible to maintain a consistent speed tempo since it varies constantly. The wind is usually moderate where I live, but a few times a year, we'll get a real windstorm. Never establish a speed goal when in wind -- that's just an exercise in pain and futility.

skinbasher

OP, are you in gloucester? i live 2 towns over and yesterday's ride was brutal.

coasting 

so do you get added jet propulsion from eating beans?

Uni-Vibe

During Hurricane Ike it was blowing 100 mph steady. Don't recall any cyclists out in it.

Quel

I was in Newburyport. Pretty close.

Daytrip

Makes you thankful for the hills.

I always try to ride into the wind on my way out and with it at my back on the way home. That tailwind can make you feel like a Cycling God.

jbhowat

I once got caught on a ridge road over Fort Collins with very severe gusts, just before a thunderstorm. We had to get down before the storm arrived. Wind was blowing so hard you couldn't breathe and when I got off my bike to wait for my buddy gust caught the side of my bike and started to blow it up and away. I had to hold on to it and even then it was catching so much wind it became difficult to hold it still and remount it. This wasn't even a light bike.