BikeWonder

Say you're riding in the countryside, whether it, it's leisure, touring, randonneuring or anything that involves riding. You're far from towns or cities and you have this open space for yourself.

But suddenly in the distance you could see what appears to be a tornado forming. What would you do?


This is a thought that's been occuring in my head. You could ask if you're alone or in a group, but the point is that you have this tornado forming and about to touch down.

Yes,it can be a stupid question, but it's something I'd like to explore with someone of you.

Cyclist0108

That would really suck.

You can't out-run a tornado. The best survival tactic is to try to appear larger than life, and adopt a threatening pose.

I would grab the closest Mojave diamondback rattlesnake, jackalope, skunk, coyote and Philadelphia mother cockroach and charge the thing.

eja_ bottecchia

Avoid trailer parks.

Nemosengineer 

Do not seek shelter in a Port-A-Potty.

canklecat

Duck and cover.


Then move back and to the left.

Back... and to the left.

Back.

And to the left.

Lascauxcaveman 

In a very, very small way, I have some experience with this.

Back in the late 80s,a friend of mine and I were visiting the Hanford Nuclear Reservation one very hot August afternoon, and there were dust devils forming in either side of the road.

“Ever been in a dust devil before?” Says I.

“No.”

”Me neither. Let’s check it out.”

So we park the car on the shoulder and go running after dust devils. When you catch one, it’s a little like hopping into a media blasting cabinet and saying “Shoot me”

If I ever came face to face with a real tornado, I’d probably do something more practical, like try to avoid it.

cinco

I'd ride like the wind. If that failed, I'd pretend to be Almira Gulch.

More seriously, find a culvert to crawl into or lie down in a ditch if nothing else is available. But tornadoes tend not to move very fast or hang around very long so unless there's some sort of sneak attack you should have plenty of time to not panic.

RobbieTunes

I’d check the weather before I went riding.

Barrettscv 

Ride the trainer in the basement.

Bianchigirll 

In all seriousness, I believe you are to find a drainage ditch or depression in the ground. Stay away from hiding under bridges, it freaks out the pigeons, and isn't very safe.

I remember one time back in '00 we were running full tilt through 'the land of Lincoln" and it start........ Oh yeah you don't want to hear about trucking

The Golden Boy 

The Golden Boy 

That's the correct answer.

That one video where people go up under the bridge and the tornado goes over is what everyone things of... They just got lucky.

https://www.weather.gov/oun/safety-overpass-slide01

seypat

I have been in 2 of them. The first one was in a shelter on a golf course. The shelter had a water fountain with exposed water pipes going into the ground. When the funnel hit the ground, we looped our belts around the pipes and grabbed on for dear life. It went right over the top of us and blew the shelter away. The only thing that was left was us and the water fountain. It only lasted about 30 seconds. We watched it cut a swath as it went along it's way. Our clubs/bags, etc. were scattered down the adjoining fairways. We collected them and walked to the clubhouse. We walked in and the attendant says, "a tornado just went across the northern part of the course." No *****t Sherlock!

Keep a good weather app on your phone and keep it with you. It will give advance warnings. If you do get caught, you don't have much time. Find a ditch or culvert and get down.

iab

I do carry bear repellant when riding at our cabin. I worry more about wolves than a black bear. But in reality, I'm more likely to get eaten alive by mosquitoes if I got a flat on the fire roads. I also carry mosquito repellant.

As for tornadoes, I don't ride a bike in tornado weather.

downhillmaster

It is a stupid question.
But I guess I would probably do the same thing I would do if I saw Bigfoot in the distance of course.
Which is exactly the same thing I did when I was riding once in Texas and saw an avalanche in the distance

GrainBrain

That was a thoughtful and informative link. Thank you for reminding me how to handle a severe weather emergency as we head into the spring

Takeaway - get as low to the ground as possible, and cover yourself from the debris cloud. Wind speed in a tornado is much lower at ground level (as in against the ground), like in a ditch or depression.

GrainBrain

This kind of nonsense response isn't really welcome to the threads honest question.

OP, the National Weather Service's official recommendation is to quickly start logging your ride in Strava and be prepared for epic, EPO free KOMs.

FlMTNdude

I think you forgot the peyote, which would probably be first before I messed with a rattler.

FlMTNdude

So for me that means do NOT go home!

eja_ bottecchia

Good one!

Cyclist0108

Good point. I should have recognized getting internet meteorological evasion advice in the Classic & Vintage sub-forum is serious business, and not to be trifled with.

Thanks for putting me right, sir.

Next up: How best to avoid earthquakes during a steep descent when deploying period-correct Modolo brakes with the original pads.

DrIsotope

Well, I live in Southern California, so if I encounter a tornado while out on a ride I will be forced to assume that the apocalypse has begun. I would then check the sky for flaming rain or any other plague-like occurrences.

Cyclist0108

We actually had a couple in Santa Cruz a few months ago.

DrIsotope

"The first tornado had estimated peak winds of 65 to 70 mph, a path of 125 yards and a width of 20 feet, weather officials said. The event lasted about 2 minutes."

EF0! I live at the base of the Cajon Pass-- we get the Santa Anas gusting up to 70mph every year.

2manybikes

The last time I saw a Torino was in that Clint Eastwood movie. Oh wait...………………………………………...never mind.