Bit of a breeze this morning

rolf_f

Hmmm, planned to do the normal 18 mile route in to work but canned that one shortly after setting off. I went early so I could get blown across the road with less traffic to flatten me. The hill outside my house is always the worst bit (slow, steep climb and exposed) but it wasn't as bad as I expected (though still a bit nasty). Trouble is, once at the top and turning down wind I realised that the gustiness of it meant it was still hitting me at all angles and I decided to shorten the route both to skip the A650 and get in to work before the traffic built up.

It might have been fun on the A650 - PB fun and all that. But it could have been scary. The short route in was pretty quick in places but surprisingly slow in others. It averaged out at a pretty unspectactular overall time.

Just before work I have a Strava KOM which had a direct tail wind on it today. I got almost to the end of it before I remembered it was there so I turned around to re do it because I'm stupid like that. It was like riding into a brick wall.
When I did get back to the beginning to restart it, I was quickly up to 30mph plus but unable to push harder due to the terrible road surface. Passing a big building, the combination of the building, the road surface and the 30mph lifted the front wheel off the ground momentarily. At that point I decided it was good to have survived the trip in to work.

Hope everyone got in safely. Should be nowhere near as bad in the evening.

supersonic

100mph gusts already recorded in Scotland. Lots of flood warnings too, going to be a dangerous day for many.

bobbygloss

Not much wind here yet, it's due to arrive later.
Going to be challenging conditions when strong winds meet this:

supersonic

140mph gust recorded at fort William!

rolf_f

Forgot to mention - highlight of the commute was overtaking a tent for the first time.......

andyrr

One of the worst commutes I've had - consistant strong/very strong wind with the occasional mighty gust. Got blown across the road at one point, thankfully no cars around. Also when travelling dowhill I reached a favourite spot where the road often floods and as I got there Whoosh, car coming the other way drenched me from head to foot. Got to work a few minutes late, cold and wet. Looks like the rain and wind will abate but much colder by home-time today - Edinburgh area

rubertoe

Hmmmmm Its not that windy here....

WFH today

slowbike

It's not windy here - but I canned the ride ...

multiple reasons ...

1 I got up late
2 I needed to be in work early
3 It was frosty = more care needed = slower = even later into work
4 It's forecast to be raining by the time I go home
5 I needed to bring in a package to return

There's always tomorrow!

jomoj

Saw several brave souls / fools going more sideways than forwards this morning on Tyneside. I wish them a safe trip but I bottled it and took the car. Storm surge warnings for later today along the coast where we live, could be interesting...

Gallywomack

Quite breezy in London town, but nothing too extreme. It was enough to shift my 18 stone around a bit at times. Should think there'll be some fast Strava times posted this morning, particularly by SW Londoners.

gabriel959

Quite windy in Cambridge, mostly crosswinds and headwinds around the Airport which is very exposed. Apparently it was recording gusts of 40mph. I had to be at an angle just to stay up. Not fun.

Mikey23

not looking too bad here in cornwall. dressed and ready ...
hopefully storm surge will miss us too as we are at 400 ft
be safe out there guys

ad_snow

Quite windy in Lincoln. Got blown into the grass verge more than once, but I'll take the verge over the road any time

Last couple of miles was into a strong headwind, down a road which is closed on one side due to roadworks so I held the cars up going about 11mph

vermin

Rolf F wrote:

Forgot to mention - highlight of the commute was overtaking a tent for the first time.......

Made me laugh!

raymondo60

Must admit I chose train over chain this morning, mainly as I'll be working late toight and the winds are forecast to increase significantly, bringing rain with them, in the South-East later this afternoon. Am generally happy to ride in whatever weather but had a feeling that tonight could be a bit blowy................

EKE_38BPM

This morning was cold and a bit breezy but the wind is picking up now. Kids go a bit crazy when its windy so this afternoon could be interesting. I get the feeling I may have to abort the afternoon session or cut it short on safety grounds.

Headwind on the way home so it will be a slog. I think I'll use the cycle path rather than the 40mph limit road I usually take.

bompington

Would have been quicker cycling the 45 miles to work today, even allowing for the wind...

Which means all motorway traffic goes through Perth, which at the best of times is ridiculously congested for its size.
Which means it took nearly 3 hours to get to work.

meanredspider

Bicycle carnage outside our building. Several towers close together causing a real wind tunnel added to the local propensity to ride with capes and umbrellas....

I'm slightly worried about riding back because of these people!!

welkman

Sky looking dark and moody here and the wind is picking up. They have just shut my school to use as an emergency refuge as they have evacuated the local town (Jawick) due to the impending storm surge. I am off home and having a well earned break after two days of inspection. Cross regionals at the weekend so hopefully it will not effect that.

meanredspider

Ride home got absolutely grit-blasted by hail - worse than I've ever had in the Highlands

gabriel959

Wind picked up around 14.00 like I haven't seen in a very long while. Thankfully it seems to have died down a little, because I wouldn't have been able to ride in that.

EKE_38BPM

The afternoon session wasn't too bad. From inside the wind sounded worse than it actually was outside.

The ride home was headwindtastic and then the heavens opened. I was soaked to the skin but I've finally tested my disc brakes in the wet and I was impressed (apart from the epic squealling)!

ugo.santalucia

Bobbygloss wrote:

Not much wind here yet, it's due to arrive later.
Going to be challenging conditions when strong winds meet this:

Beautiful shot!

arthur_scrimshaw

welkman wrote:

Sky looking dark and moody here and the wind is picking up. They have just shut my school to use as an emergency refuge as they have evacuated the local town (Jawick) due to the impending storm surge. I am off home and having a well earned break after two days of inspection. Cross regionals at the weekend so hopefully it will not effect that.

Is that Jaywick AKA the most deprived town in England?

kingofthetailwind

30mph blowing 40 headwind here in Belfast on the way in. But the tailwind home has now died to 7mph. That's the ride home ruined!

Mikey23

A free exfoliation

veronese68

KingOfTheTailwind wrote:

30mph blowing 40 headwind here in Belfast on the way in. But the tailwind home has now died to 7mph. That's the ride home ruined!

Is that because your username was tempting fate?

rolf_f

vermin wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

Forgot to mention - highlight of the commute was overtaking a tent for the first time.......

Made me laugh!

TBH, I thought the tent was tucked in to the kerb too much for its own safety (and it wasn't carrying any lights) but it was travelling in a nicely straight line having pulled out from the right a few moments earlier.....

welkman

Yes that is Jaywick the most deprived town in England! My workplace

itboffin

i love the fact that my ride in was like riding through treacle with a gorilla on my back yet when i uploaded it to garmin connect is say temp. 32c wind speed 3mph er ....WTF were are they getting this data from?

Wirral_paul

It was about 60mph or so around here on the Wirral. We had a 1.6m storm surge too which caused a fair bit of flooding (and smashed my back gate to the beach)

Not a day for cycling - thats for sure!! This was the view from my lounge at midday yesterday