Jughed

Its always windy here, especially in the winter. I live between two bays and not too far from the ocean - 30+ mph gusts are common, and my Garmin has given me gale warnings more than a few times this year already.

This year has been crazy weather wise. Wild temperature swings every 2-3 days. Today will be 70, almost unheard of in February, Saturday will be in the 20's, Sunday close to 60 again. With these temp swings comes wind - a bunch of wind. This pattern has repeated all winter.

45mph gusts is about my max, but I'm always riding in 20-30 mph gusts in winter - or at least it seems that way.

terrymorse 

My Garmin was really going off yesterday: Gale Warning, Frost Warning, Winter Storm Warning.

But the ride wasn't so bad.

big john

BF member Biker395 did that Furnace Creek ride. He said it was absurd. He got blown off the road once. His bike was lying flat on the ground and the wind flipped it over. He tried to take a nap in a van and the van was bouncing around so much he couldn't sleep. He said half the riders dnf.

big john

An ice cold headwind, especially on a climb, is a nightmare. I sweat so much and then freeze.

Riding in the mountains on a strong wind day gets weird. Going through a cut and coming out the other side you can be surprised. Or going over a bridge. You think you have the wind figured out but when you get on the bridge it changes. A friend got blown off the bike on a big bridge.

The other thing about the mountain roads is the turns change the wind. We were climbing and the wind blew 2 of us out into the lane. Luckily there were no cars. After we went over the summit and started down the other side a huge wind pushed me up over 50 mph. It's scary because if you pass a cut or turn that strong wind can switch to the side and you're going 50.

I've been in wind when it's difficult to go 12 or 13mph downhill. Annoying but not life threatening. I did a charity ride where the wind was so strong most of the riders were walking their bikes on flat ground.

t2p

a few gals I know are triathletes and have competed in the Ironman in Hawaii

( this includes the ‘small tough’ gals I referred to in another thread )

one year the winds were so bad it was blowing riders off the bikes

one gal said the fastest she could go on a downhill was 8 mph

roadcrankr

I rode in SoCal on the 22nd. My route meant heading into the teeth of the wind going out, nice tailwind coming home.
Wind velocity averaged about 10mph, but it gusted a number of times over 20. Very demoralizing going straight into that for fifteen miles.
I managed to draft a small cargo van for a good mile. He seemed sympathetic to my plight!

Jughed

Was riding my cross bike today on some off-road areas, blowing steady 35 mph out of the NE. Soft ground, head wind = 8 mph.

I’ve been out in worse per the forecast - but today was absolutely the worst.

tFUnK

The wind was tough on the way up Sierra (2/23) but it was insanely cold and gusty at the top of Sierra Vista where it's exposed. I normally like to descend the backside on Felter but this time I got spooked by the gusts while riding along the ridge so I turned around. I had spring/fall gloves on (and disc brakes thankfully) but the fingers felt frost-bitten as soon as I started the decent down Sierra.

DangerousDanR

Rode North to work on Feb 22 at around 9 AM

Weather report: Time: 08:53
Wind speed and direction N 18
Visibility in miles: 6.0
Description: Fair with haze
Air temperature: -12F

Drove the car to work on Feb 23 at around 8AM.

Weather report: Time: 07:53
Wind speed and direction N 31 G 40
Visibility in miles: 0.25
Description: Light Snow Freezing Fog and Windy
Air temperature: -8F

Everyone has their limits. If I had ridden I would have been lucky to average 4 MPH on my Fat Bike. The drifting snow is a real pain.

easyupbug 

I now have a recumbent trikes for bad arthritis days, but have found the Catrike Expedition is fantastic for wind and cold. I could wear a parka and ride and the cross wind gusts dsaappeared.

stevoo

I see a couple of references to that really windy Furnace Creek 508. Yup it was very windy that year. I rode it that year on my single bike. Raced as team of two. Partner had her bike blown off the support car. Wind broke the carbon fork dropout off the fork where it attached to the roof rack. Good times.
I remember riding up the hills, wind straight in the face. I was not moving too fast for sure.
Also remember pedaling hard down the hill on other side into the desert and barely moving. Frustrating for sure.
Then there was the first Ironman Utah way back. So much wind, big waves on shallow lake that they stopped it during the swim to regroup. Decided to wait some time for wind to drop and halved the event. Even had us vote on what to do. Buoys were blown across the lake like moving targets. More good times. More to that story but you get the idea. Crazy wind.

VegasJen

We had a storm front move through a few days ago. Persistent 25-30mph winds with frequent gusts around 40mph. No riding for me. Very frustrating.

Tomm Willians

I can’t ride in wind to save my butt. Anything beyond 15mph May as well be 50 as it doesn’t make much difference to me. It simply wears me down like nothing else.

RJC1811

I hate wind! If I’m climbing I expect it to be hard but there’s nothing worse for me than riding into a strong headwind and feel like you are pedaling hard and going nowhere. Then as others have mentioned being blown into the lane or off the road gets dangerous.

rsbob 

Late last year I rode into a 35 MPH headwind and managed about 10-12 MPH. On the return straight stretch, had an average speed of 28 MPH for 2.5 miles with a slight uphill with a pitch up to 5%. Momentarily felt like a Cat 3 rider, got a PR and best for age group. It was fun while it lasted.

ussprinceton

less aero wheels might help in the wind.....



.....as opposed to these

MikeWMass

Headwinds are no fun.
There are no tailwinds, just days that I feel really strong!