Windy

Commuting, Day rides, Audax, Incidents, etc.
thelawnet
Posts: 2736
Joined: 27 Aug 2010, 12:56am

Windy

Post by thelawnet »

[youtube]RsY8l0Jg3lY[/youtube]

Anyone enjoying the wind?

Forecast seems to be for 20mph with gusts of up to 50mph for the next week.

'I'm not going out in that', as they say.

Generally blowing eastish, so I suppose if you went along a nice straight road you could make record times?
roubaixtuesday
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Joined: 18 Aug 2015, 7:05pm

Re: Windy

Post by roubaixtuesday »

I got lucky - went out directly the snow stopped and had two hours in glorious sunshine, albeit a tad blustery and a bit nippy!

You sure about that easterly thing- it's a howling westerly here (Cheshire).
thelawnet
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Joined: 27 Aug 2010, 12:56am

Re: Windy

Post by thelawnet »

roubaixtuesday wrote:I got lucky - went out directly the snow stopped and had two hours in glorious sunshine, albeit a tad blustery and a bit nippy!

You sure about that easterly thing- it's a howling westerly here (Cheshire).

Er from the west to the east.
whoof
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Joined: 29 Apr 2014, 2:13pm

Re: Windy

Post by whoof »

I did a nice 60 miler yesterday down to the cafe at the Strawberry Line in Somerset for an all day breakfast. A strong westerly wind so tried to pick my way through the lanes. Today it was even stronger and did some gardening.
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pedalsheep
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Re: Windy

Post by pedalsheep »

Abandoned thoughts of the club ride today and spent the afternoon cutting up the tree that had blown down in my garden :(
'Why cycling for joy is not the most popular pastime on earth is still a mystery to me.'
Frank J Urry, Salute to Cycling, 1956.
PDQ Mobile
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Joined: 2 Aug 2015, 4:40pm

Re: Windy

Post by PDQ Mobile »

I had a trundle round the forest and along old and muddy trackways.
No one about.

The trees boomed in the wind but sometimes shelter gave a mere breath.
Then over the breach and into the teeth of it and it made things slow.
But the distant mountains were snowclad above 800 metres and the sun sometimes glinted.

Cleared a few cobwebs as always.

PS
Metered wind generating just over 38% of UK demand as I write! 10 plus gigawatts.

http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk

Edit. it's gone over 40% now as demand falls.

It's an ill wind etc!
Last edited by PDQ Mobile on 10 Mar 2019, 11:16pm, edited 2 times in total.
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foxyrider
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Location: Sheffield, South Yorkshire

Re: Windy

Post by foxyrider »

I sometimes utilise these westerlies to get a swift ride in to Lincolnshire! :D. Get the train back or slog back to the Pennines changing direction as often as possible on the way.

We've had some quite gusty weather this winter, quite a few amber warnings. Yesterday was horrible, no real help anywhere, didn't enjoy the ride at all. TBH i'm more concerned about the blizzard that's blowing around outside atm :D
Convention? what's that then?
Airnimal Chameleon touring, Orbit Pro hack, Orbit Photon audax, Focus Mares AX tour, Peugeot Carbon sportive, Owen Blower vintage race - all running Tulio's finest!
zenitb
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Tandem was stable....

Post by zenitb »

Our (heavy) tandem was fine. A bit of steering pull now and again, but we were more concerned about the trees creaking ominously as we passed them, and avoiding the wood debris on the road. For the first time ever we were the only cyclists in the cafe. Clearly the "aero wheel people" stayed at home :-)
rjb
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Location: Somerset (originally 60/70's Plymouth)

Re: Windy

Post by rjb »

No problem with our tandem ride down here in Somerset today. Wednesday looks interesting but we are still planning a short ride. :D
At the last count:- Peugeot 531 pro, Dawes Discovery Tandem, Dawes Kingpin X3, Raleigh 20 stowaway, 1965 Moulton deluxe, Falcon K2 MTB dropped bar tourer, Rudge Bi frame folder, Longstaff trike conversion on a Giant XTC 840 :D
julianm
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Joined: 6 Jun 2011, 8:13pm

Re: Windy

Post by julianm »

I'm trying to get in a few more miles & finding the current breeziness frustrating. I managed to find some interesting research about power output required into different headwinds & whether being on the drops helps much :
https://www.yellowjersey.co.uk/the-draf ... n-cycling/
I'm a fairly big cyclist at 6'4" & about 16st these days. I wonder if I'd find it easier into a headwind if I was 5'6" & 10st? Is is down to surface area alone, assuming the bikes are equal? I'm not in a skinsuit but do try to minimise flappy clothing. Easterlies are the worst as I can't slog out into them and get whisked home due to being on the coast!
whoof
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Joined: 29 Apr 2014, 2:13pm

Re: Windy

Post by whoof »

julianm wrote:I'm trying to get in a few more miles & finding the current breeziness frustrating. I managed to find some interesting research about power output required into different headwinds & whether being on the drops helps much :
https://www.yellowjersey.co.uk/the-draf ... n-cycling/
I'm a fairly big cyclist at 6'4" & about 16st these days. I wonder if I'd find it easier into a headwind if I was 5'6" & 10st? Is is down to surface area alone, assuming the bikes are equal? I'm not in a skinsuit but do try to minimise flappy clothing. Easterlies are the worst as I can't slog out into them and get whisked home due to being on the coast!

In general smaller riders find out harder in strong winds. Mrs Whoof weighs in at eight stone something and has been known to be brought to a complete stand still by a really strong gust. Dutch and Belgian pros tend to be relatively large, for pro cyclists due to racing in song winds.
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Patrickpioneer
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Location: Brynteg

Re: Windy

Post by Patrickpioneer »

I went to the supermarket yesterday, one the way home with all my panniers full, on a flat road into the wind I had to use my 27 inch gear,
it was a tad windy
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londoncommuter0000
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Joined: 18 Jul 2018, 10:36am

Re: Windy

Post by londoncommuter0000 »

thelawnet wrote:[youtube]RsY8l0Jg3lY[/youtube]

Anyone enjoying the wind?


Gusts of 24 mph from 167° here, which is still less than the maximum of 32 mph from 339° at 08:52 on Sunday morning.

(yes - we have a weather station :-) )

I was lying in bed this morning expecting the 'furniture' outside our house (bins, recycling containers, a bottle of anti-freeze that's next to the bins etc..) to be all over the street. Imagine my surprise when nothing had moved! Then I went out to get on the bike, and saw that one of the plants in the hanging basket right next to our door, had been uprooted and had vanished God knows where!
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LittleGreyCat
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Joined: 7 Aug 2013, 8:31pm

Re: Windy - how fast?

Post by LittleGreyCat »

I wandered along to ask what was the upper limit people regarded as too windy to go out for a ride.

On the East Coast they are saying around 30 mph gusting to 50 mph for tomorrow. That is too high for me.

For context I was walking in Liverpool on Sunday and I was almost being blown backwards at times. When You are leaning into the wind and pushing just to stay in the same place it doesn't encourage leisure cycling.

Hardcore cyclists presumably go out in anything and just head butt falling trees out of the way.
The prospect of being hit side on by a 50 mph gust is enough to persuade me to leave the bike at home.
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Graham
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Re: Windy

Post by Graham »

^ Risk Assessment

If you know your routes well then you make a judgement.

I remember a trip across N France one blustery day. At the top of a long hill was a warning sign for cross winds.
As I descended, with some caution, I emerged from the shelter of the forest and that ^ crosswind pushed me sideways with so much force that it almost knocked me down.
It was the sudden transition from little/no sideways force to full-force that was the real danger.

Another memorable one was cycling along the cliff-top (main) road from Newhaven to Brighton. The gusts over the top almost had me off.
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