HOW WINDY IS TOO WINDY? Can a rider get blown over? Have you?

[fabiosav]

Do you have a max wind speed beyond which you will not go out? I am talking about a blustery, unpredictable wind, not necessarily a steady head/tail. Can a bike/rider be actually blown right over or seriously go out of control? Has this ever happened to you? Normal rims, not TT disks etc….

Yesterday was insane in New York (50mph/80kph gusts) but some were out there. I went out, turned around and hit the trainer…

Wimp or sage?

 

[ric_stern/RST]

Do you have a max wind speed beyond which you will not go out? I am talking about a blustery, unpredictable wind, not necessarily a steady head/tail. Can a bike/rider be actually blown right over or seriously go out of control? Has this ever happened to you? Normal rims, not TT disks etc….

Yesterday was insane in New York (50mph/80kph gusts) but some were out there. I went out, turned around and hit the trainer…

Wimp or sage?

back in the day when we were daft and would go out in any weather a group of us cycled over to the Woodhead Pass outside Glossop in the north west of the UK. We got blown up the pass (in record time), but at the top was a policeman turning us back as the descent down the other side was closed due to snow. we duly turned round, and struggled to get down the hill. In fact we had to hold on to the barrier at the side of the road, it was that gusty and exposed. once off the descent we cycled back through Manchester city centre, where it was extremely windy.

Going around a roundabout (directional island) we got caught in a really bad gust, and the group of us were thrown from the road on to the pavement (sidewalk). luckily, we weren't blown the other way as we'd have ended up under a car (had there been any around that day). obviously, only us idiots were out.

pretty frightening really. things you do when you're young!

ric

 

[Lucy_Aspenwind]

In answer to one of your questions, no I've not been blown over and I hope to keep it that way!

As a general rule, once the winds are at or above 28 kn, I won't go out for a ride. I've experienced winds like that before, but that has been while riding high in the mountains where these set in unexpectedly.

Sage or wimp? Irrelevant really - what matters is your comfort level, whatever that may be!

 

[fabiosav]

Going around a roundabout (directional island) we got caught in a really bad gust, and the group of us were thrown from the road on to the pavement (sidewalk). luckily, we weren't blown the other way as we'd have ended up under a car (had there been any around that day). obviously, only us idiots were out.

pretty frightening really. things you do when you're young!

ric

I had a feeling i might hear from the bucolic west of England. Had expected a Welsh mountain in winter... so what wind speed would you say "no way" to a ride now?

 

[ric_stern/RST]

I had a feeling i might hear from the bucolic west of England. Had expected a Welsh mountain in winter... so what wind speed would you say "no way" to a ride now?

no Welsh stories, just English ones. I'm older and wiser now, so i'm not a loon and don't go out in daft weather. unlike when i was young and lived in manchester!

no idea on the wind speed. if it looks bad i'd stand outside and debate on it. it's either rideable or obviously too windy (or too wet).

ric

 

[vio765]

ive never been blown over, but i was riding once when the wind was out of the south and i was riding perendicular to a 20mph wind with 35mph gusts. a UPS truck went past me at a "higher than UPS allows" speed at the exact same time a gust blew. i went into the ditch, but managed to stay upright.
the following conditions force me inside:

-sunny and heat index is higher than 110 (if it is very slightly cooler, i will ride outside, but no high intensity stuff and no longer that 2 hours)
-wind chill of 0 degrees (if wind is greater than 20mph)
-overall wind is greater than 20mph
-downpour (anything stronger than the "orange" on your local radar)
-snow or ice on the road.
-extreme fog
-hail

 

[Rhubarb]

Strong crosswinds, gusty or otherwise is probably one of the only conditions that I will avoid riding in. Just because I think its too dangerous too be on the road while your being buffeted all over the place with cars, buses and trucks hurling pass.

Whilst I haven't been blown of the bike, I have been blown a couple of metres towards oncoming traffic, which I had completely no control of. Not to mention being blown into traffic which is about to pass.

Pretty scary really, so now if it is stupid windy out I won't ride - due to the safety factor.

 

[AirRescueScott]

The problems I have (and just recently too) was that with a cross wind, you have to lean into the wind. I had a SUV pass me that temporarily blocked the cross wind, I was already leaning, and just about went right into the side of the SUV. It happened so fast. I doubt you can be blown over, but through stability out the window. I rode the trainer today due to winds of 25mph.

 

[m_m]

Not been blown over, but have been blown into the middle of the road with a lot of traffic about to overtake me. It was at a place appropriately named "Windy Corner". The scariest thing was that there is no speed limit there so the traffic regularly does speeds well in excess of 100mph. It's not uncommon to have a motorbike go past at 170mph, three feet away. I was lucky that day.

Off road is usually ok due to hedges etc guarding you from the wind, but I think twice about going out on the road when it's windy.

 

[noonievut]

Once while going downhill I passed a line of trees and was hit by a strong cross wind, and experienced 'bike shimmy'. This isn't caused by wind alone, and shouldn't happen unless there is a probability that your bike can experience this, but it wasn't fun doing 50k+ and suddenly losing control (I didn't fall though).

Now I avoid going downhill fast where there are cross winds, otherwise I've ridden with gusts around 50k and haven't fallen over yet.

 

[Bigbananabike]

back in the day when we were daft and would go out in any weather a group of us cycled over to the Woodhead Pass outside Glossop in the north west of the UK. We got blown up the pass (in record time), but at the top was a policeman turning us back as the descent down the other side was closed due to snow. we duly turned round, and struggled to get down the hill. In fact we had to hold on to the barrier at the side of the road, it was that gusty and exposed. once off the descent we cycled back through Manchester city centre, where it was extremely windy.

Going around a roundabout (directional island) we got caught in a really bad gust, and the group of us were thrown from the road on to the pavement (sidewalk). luckily, we weren't blown the other way as we'd have ended up under a car (had there been any around that day). obviously, only us idiots were out.

pretty frightening really. things you do when you're young!

ric

==========================================================
Thanks for changing things so those from the USA(not me!) can understand it
Sounds like madness - snow and wind strong enough to prevent you getting down hill and biffing you off your bikes.

 

[Cyclist14]

One very WINDY day I was training and I rode over a bridge overpass across a highway, the wind caught me and pushed me towards the edge of the road where there was a small pile of debris. I wasn't able to avoid the debris ( Sand and small rocks) so I rode into it and the wind actually blew me about 3 inches sideways while I was in the debris. It felt pretty wierd

 

[pod]

Never been blown over but have been blown sideways enough to cause serious concern in traffic. I try and avoid conditions where the wind is blowing over about 20 knots. Appart from the dangers of being blown into traffic etc, the stronger winds cause debris, sand, leaves etc to fly around and get in your eyes (even with sun glasses on) and there are a lot of trees around where I ride. I've been hit by small dead branches comming free a couple of times and once just missed being hit by a big branch in stong winds. I'm now kinda nervous when it's blowing hard and I'm under trees. Not that long ago in Sydney a tree came down and killed a car driver in a thunder storm.

I've sometimes been caught in stronger winds and it's not much fun. Once it was wild wind and large hail stones with no shelter so we just kept riding slowly. I really appreciated my helmet that day.

 

[sogood]

I've sometimes been caught in stronger winds and it's not much fun. Once it was wild wind and large hail stones with no shelter so we just kept riding slowly. I really appreciated my helmet that day.

For once, those Giro helmets with 20 BIG holes loose their value big time!

 

[RapDaddyo]

I actually sort of enjoy riding in high winds, but it really depends on the route, width of the shoulder (if any) and the like. The problem is that vehicles have no clue that you might get hit by a gust and get blown right into their path, so they go by you with minimal clearance on the assumption that you have complete control of your bike. Plus, they use these real estate signs around here that can become pretty lethal missiles in strong winds. I suppose I draw the line at ~25mph with gusts to 35mph unless I ride a wide, safe route.

 

[rayhuang]

ON the plus side-when you ride in strong winds-you look like a champ on ave Watts on your PT lol


ON the flip side-I rode in cold, wind and rain and did hill intervals last Saturday. It was only about 40 degrees, but for the first ride in that weather-it felt cold till I did my first climb.

Heres where its bad-since I had to descend in cold weather and rain, I experienced some serious wear on my brake pads because I dragged my brakes down the hill to use up recovery time and reduce windchill!! i got home ,started cleaning the mess my bike had become and thought-I rode with my brake releases open????? Nope-it was wear!!

Ray

 

[sogood]

Heres where its bad-since I had to descend in cold weather and rain, I experienced some serious wear on my brake pads because I dragged my brakes down the hill to use up recovery time and reduce windchill!! i got home ,started cleaning the mess my bike had become and thought-I rode with my brake releases open????? Nope-it was wear!!

Sure it's not a brake pad quality issue? The original brake pads that came with my bike was just terrible. It would throw brake powder everywhere, often in clumps. And on a rainy day, it turns into running ink and gets all over the frame and wheels. I've since changed the pad to something much much better and it no longer does that for the same rides. Don't short change yourself on brake pads, it's not worth it.

 

[byte_speed]

For once, those Giro helmets with 20 BIG holes loose their value big time!

+1 on the big vents comment.

I got caught in a hail storm a while ago and the hail was just the right size to pass through the vent holes, that was painful. That helmet still has dings all over from the hailstones that didn't find my head.

 

[bobbyOCR]

I generally avoid riding if the winds are gusting at 50km/h or higher. If I am on a ride which starts off fine, i think the time comes to get off the road when visibility is 10m because of rain and winds are gusting so strongly that you are being thrown metres across the road.

 

[fossyant]

QUOTE =ric_stern/RST..........back in the day when we were daft and would go out in any weather a group of us cycled over to the Woodhead Pass outside Glossop in the north west of the UK. We got blown up the pass (in record time)

Know this hill well - I've been up it many times - one occasion was a tail wind - very fast climb until the exposed top where the group was leaning over 30 degrees to combat the side winds - the descent to the Sheffield side was so rapid we overtook cars in excess of 50 mph.

Needless to say, the return over Snake Pass saw very slow progress over the exposed summit.