Side Winds

Is it actually possible for a side wind to blow the wheels from under you? I am a light guy (60kg) and the wind moves me around especially when it is wet. I have deep rims which dont help - it never used to be such a problem before I got these. I have never actually been blown off, even when cornering, but sometimes it feels not too far away. Around corners I actually feel happier because you can see it coming but on the straights a big gust often blows me around.

I do ride with **** tyres but there is never that much difference.

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The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there was and is no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference - Prof Dawkins my hero!

I don't know about blowing the wheels out from under you, but blowing over? If its a stiff wind surely - the last Mt. Washington Hillclimb many riders were blown over by the strong gusts.

Blow over? A freak gust might catch you out maybe. If there is a strong cross wind then you could lean into it but there would be a limit just like there is a limit to how far you can lean whilst cornering. My question really involves that. Is the wind ever that strong you reach your tyres friction limits.

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The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there was and is no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference - Prof Dawkins my hero!

Hmmm. Don't know about that, but I am a good deal lighter than you (46.5 K) and I've never met a wind yet that has knocked me down (though I have been tossed around a bit by gusts at times), much less a steady wind that I've not been able to lean into - if its that windy and I have to lean into it, its not really like leaning over to corner - the wind holds me mostly upright even though I'm shifting my weight into it. Anyone else ever been knocked over?

In theory, yes. Never seen it, personally.

I personal have been lifted off the road and landed 1 to 2m to the side its a very frighting feeling. I'm 77kg and at the time had a mavic 3G on the rear and a standard wheel on the front ( when its wind I always use a standard wheel on the front stop the twitches). It was an extremely windy day somewhere around 30Kts and the wind was not a true crosswind but had a slight tail direction as well which is why at the time I was on about 55Kph on the flat . try to make up for the head wind leg when I was doing on 22kph.

The main problem with a cross wind is you have to lean toward the wind this leave you open to generate a lifting force on you leeward side much like a sail or a wing of a plane. Plus wind is never stable so you have to be adjusting your lean constantly. The stronger the wing the greater the danger.

This winter it happened once to me that I was going on a slight downhill, not fast as I was on the fixed gear (maybe around 35 km/h), there was a strong wind gust and I ended on the field some meters on the side of the road. I was upright, but it could have been worse if the field was not flat.
Anyway it was the only time this happened to me.

I weight 70 kg and I was using box-section rims...

Another time I was near the top of Pico del Veleta, in Spain (Sierra Nevada), at some point the wind was so strong that it was really difficult to stand upright at the side of the bike (it then slowed down a bit, otherwise it would have been a challenge to reach the top).
But the road of Pico del Veleta reaches 3400 meters overs sea, not my every-day climb

Francesco