Wind!

meanredspider
meanredspider Posts: 12,337
edited February 2013 in Commuting chat
Had an exciting ride home last night - at one point doing nearly 40mph on the flat! Wind has been gusting this morning to 100kmh so decided it would be silly to attempt the Kessock Bridge crossing. I felt vindicated this morning as, from my car, I saw a cyclist sheltering (cowering might be a better word) in the lea of one of the main stanchions. I think he'd got 2/3rds of the way across but an odd effect is that the wind is always far worse (probably caused by the hills there) at the last 1/3rd to the north end. Hope the poor guy made it across but he was possibly a bit foolish.

ETA - to give you some idea of the crosswind, my windscreen washers were only wetting the down-wind side of the screen!
ROAD < Scott Foil HMX Di2, Volagi Liscio Di2, Jamis Renegade Elite Di2, Cube Reaction Race > ROUGH

Comments

  • Wrath Rob
    Wrath Rob Posts: 2,918
    That's a lot of beans you've been eating ;)
    FCN3: Titanium Qoroz.
  • meanredspider
    meanredspider Posts: 12,337
    Wrath Rob wrote:
    That's a lot of beans you've been eating ;)

    Glad we got that one out of the way early :wink:

    Judging by the look on his face, the poor cyclist was having that problem himself! :shock: :wink:
    ROAD < Scott Foil HMX Di2, Volagi Liscio Di2, Jamis Renegade Elite Di2, Cube Reaction Race > ROUGH
  • rubertoe
    rubertoe Posts: 3,994
    It must have been bad to put you off MRS. I thought it was bad enough for us southern types.
    "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got."

    PX Kaffenback 2 = Work Horse
    B-Twin Alur 700 = Sundays and Hills
  • meanredspider
    meanredspider Posts: 12,337
    rubertoe wrote:
    It must have been bad to put you off MRS. I thought it was bad enough for us southern types.

    I just don't enjoy pushing my bike for a kilometer (bridge span) whilst leaning into the wind and trying to stop the bike blowing away. I've tried it a few times and there's just no point.
    ROAD < Scott Foil HMX Di2, Volagi Liscio Di2, Jamis Renegade Elite Di2, Cube Reaction Race > ROUGH
  • FoldingJoe
    FoldingJoe Posts: 1,327
    Puts that video in mind of the guy on the road bike, still clipped into one pedal I think and one foot on the floor, and the wind is blowing his bike sideways.

    Google Fu is weak today as I can't find it.
    Little boy to Obama: "My Dad says that you read all our emails"
    Obama to little boy: "He's not your real Dad"

    Kona Honky Tonk for sale: http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=40090&t=13000807
  • daviesee
    daviesee Posts: 6,386
    FoldingJoe wrote:
    Puts that video in mind of the guy on the road bike, still clipped into one pedal I think and one foot on the floor, and the wind is blowing his bike sideways.

    Google Fu is weak today as I can't find it.
    This one at 48 seconds?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8qgjyqibwY
    None of the above should be taken seriously, and certainly not personally.
  • FoldingJoe
    FoldingJoe Posts: 1,327
    Good work, Daviesee, that's the one. Hilarious!! :)
    Little boy to Obama: "My Dad says that you read all our emails"
    Obama to little boy: "He's not your real Dad"

    Kona Honky Tonk for sale: http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=40090&t=13000807
  • meanredspider
    meanredspider Posts: 12,337
    Just talking to my daughter - the school buses were cancelled today because of the wind :shock: . That's a "first" - never happened for us in the last 7 years.
    ROAD < Scott Foil HMX Di2, Volagi Liscio Di2, Jamis Renegade Elite Di2, Cube Reaction Race > ROUGH
  • meanredspider
    meanredspider Posts: 12,337
    daviesee wrote:
    FoldingJoe wrote:
    Puts that video in mind of the guy on the road bike, still clipped into one pedal I think and one foot on the floor, and the wind is blowing his bike sideways.

    Google Fu is weak today as I can't find it.
    This one at 48 seconds?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8qgjyqibwY

    That's exactly what it feels like on the Kessock Bridge - except one side is a busy dual-carriageway and the other side is a 40m drop into the North Sea :shock: :wink::D
    ROAD < Scott Foil HMX Di2, Volagi Liscio Di2, Jamis Renegade Elite Di2, Cube Reaction Race > ROUGH
  • Kieran_Burns
    Kieran_Burns Posts: 9,757
    It's not that I'm expecting to work hard on the way home tonight but I've bought a can of Relentless energy drink and a flapjack to have before I leave.

    Unfortunately the spare pair of underpants and throat lozenges for the other symptoms are not available....
    Chunky Cyclists need your love too! :-)
    2009 Specialized Tricross Sport
    2011 Trek Madone 4.5
    2012 Felt F65X
    Proud CX Pervert and quiet roadie. 12 mile commuter
  • prawny
    prawny Posts: 5,440
    Funny MRS I saw the forcast yesterday and thought of you. Don't blame you for driving looked horrific.
    I walked to the train station (as normal now) with my huge gym backpack and the wind was twisting me around. I tweaked my hip playing the drums on monday night and it's killing me now.
    Saracen Tenet 3 - 2015 - Dead - Replaced with a Hack Frame
    Voodoo Bizango - 2014 - Dead - Hit by a car
    Vitus Sentier VRS - 2017
  • Kieran_Burns
    Kieran_Burns Posts: 9,757
    Joking aside, I'm getting more than a little worried at the moment.

    Me and a mate have decided to cycle together as we're getting concerned about the heavy winds
    Chunky Cyclists need your love too! :-)
    2009 Specialized Tricross Sport
    2011 Trek Madone 4.5
    2012 Felt F65X
    Proud CX Pervert and quiet roadie. 12 mile commuter
  • UndercoverElephant
    UndercoverElephant Posts: 5,796
    Kieran_Burns wrote:
    Joking aside, I'm getting more than a little worried at the moment.

    Me and a mate have decided to cycle together as we're getting concerned about the heavy winds

    Aw, that's lovely - you can cycle hand-in-hand and everything.
    Sun - Rain - Snow
  • meanredspider
    meanredspider Posts: 12,337
    Amazing that by the morning it is meant to be mist and freezing temps
    ROAD < Scott Foil HMX Di2, Volagi Liscio Di2, Jamis Renegade Elite Di2, Cube Reaction Race > ROUGH
  • Blacktemplar
    Blacktemplar Posts: 713
    Like you MRS I was getting a bit worried about some of the gusts on the way home last night, and having looked at the forecast for this morning I decided not to MTFU.....

    6.30am - horizontal rain battering the house, decide (reluctantly) to take car and have 15min lie-in.
    7.30am - wind drops away substantially, rain stops, sky begins to clear. Too farking late to switch to bike.

    Grrr.
    "Get a bicycle. You won't regret it if you live"
    Mark Twain
  • rubertoe
    rubertoe Posts: 3,994
    Its bloody down right dangerous out there this evening, even in the south. The wind would not make up its mind which way it was blowing from!
    "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got."

    PX Kaffenback 2 = Work Horse
    B-Twin Alur 700 = Sundays and Hills
  • meanredspider
    meanredspider Posts: 12,337
    The wind hasn't changed up here at all - gusting to 60mph all day. Saw some poor sod pushing his bike across the Kessock Bridge tonight. Collected the wheelie bin from the street tonight and was concerned the wind would blow the 5-bar gate shut against the car :shock:

    Very glad not to be cycling
    ROAD < Scott Foil HMX Di2, Volagi Liscio Di2, Jamis Renegade Elite Di2, Cube Reaction Race > ROUGH
  • Kieran_Burns
    Kieran_Burns Posts: 9,757
    Cycle angry is all I can say.

    I had a bombshell dropped on me at work today and I was shaking angry when I got to my bike. Going straight into that wind on the way home I somehow managed a straight 3:00 minute mile and I let off in the middle of it when I realised I'd left my poor mate behind.

    There was a huge gust not far from home that almost brought me to a standstill and I actually screamed at the wind and stood in the saddle to push against it.

    I had a long soak when I got home to calm down.

    and UE - we were cycling down unlit NSL stretches where 38 ton artics go. As a pair we were much more visible than on our own. It was genuinely dangerous on a couple of bits where we both got blown about the carriageway by the cross wind.
    Chunky Cyclists need your love too! :-)
    2009 Specialized Tricross Sport
    2011 Trek Madone 4.5
    2012 Felt F65X
    Proud CX Pervert and quiet roadie. 12 mile commuter
  • rubertoe
    rubertoe Posts: 3,994
    Its still damn windy out there and its getting right on my tits. I dont mind precipitation of any sort, the cold or the heat as I can dress appropriatly, but the wind can fook right off.

    On a better note, I actually see the sun come up this morning, and the sun set on the way home, spring is coming. Yay.
    "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got."

    PX Kaffenback 2 = Work Horse
    B-Twin Alur 700 = Sundays and Hills
  • Burndust
    Burndust Posts: 100
    how about snow and wind...that was my cycle in this morning....makes you fell er alive
    Boardman CX Team
    Carerra Crossfire 2
  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    I wouldn't mind so much if I ever got much benefit - but all I do get is horrible haily headwinds on the way home and not really much of a compensation on the way in. It's a bit wrong!
    Faster than a tent.......
  • vermin
    vermin Posts: 1,739
    Burndust wrote:
    how about snow and wind...that was my cycle in this morning....makes you fell er alive

    Man up. Hail and (head)wind for me this morning. Didn't make my fella feel very alive.
  • Burndust
    Burndust Posts: 100
    vermin wrote:
    Burndust wrote:
    how about snow and wind...that was my cycle in this morning....makes you fell er alive

    Man up. Hail and (head)wind for me this morning. Didn't make my fella feel very alive.

    :lol:
    Boardman CX Team
    Carerra Crossfire 2
  • itboffin
    itboffin Posts: 20,072
    Woken up this morning by a raging hail storm, wind the full nine yards.

    thankfully I wfh on Wednesday :D 8) :lol:
    Rule #5 // Harden The Feck Up.
    Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
    Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
    Rule #42 // A bike race shall never be preceded with a swim and/or followed by a run.
  • tptvmbircn
    tptvmbircn Posts: 782
    MRS I'm not too far away in the North East, same conditions but done some training on Sunday around 47 miles and around 8 miles around trip to work, going there I'm facing the same weather it's like someone has hold of the bars and twitching them to the sides, lovely hail and snow.

    Bit of hard man training I call it, bloody hell my hands are red raw though and killing even with subzero gloves, weird weather I completely know where you're coming from. I see other cyclists when I drive my daughter to nursery and fear the worst and hope they have the basic skills to stay up right.

    Unfortunately I am far too kind and let my wife drive and cycle more or less everyday so don't really have a choice haha.

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