Riding at the beach

[Mr. Bloom]

Silver and I are at the Alabama Gulf Coast (aka the "redneck riviera")

Yesterday, we did 42 miles in some of the windiest conditions we've ever experienced - 15 to 25 mph sustained - and today is expected to be even worse!

Even as I type this (on my iPhone) at 2AM, the sustained winds are 18mph from the east (they're usually calm at night).

Youch! Should be an interesting ride today!

[ehirsch83]

That is what South Florida is like also!
Today I have decided to be a wind weenie and ride the trainer!

Have fun on your vacation Silvers!!

[Jo-n-NY]

Mr. Silver...looking forward to your report on todays ride.

My best friend, my husband and I rode on Sunday and whatever wind we were having was taking my front wheel. That does not happen often. On my ride Saturday, I had a 1 mile stretch going south on a street I ride almost once a week. For the first time I had to go into the smaller crank of my compact double.

Must be the winds of March. Looking a my journal, this is the most outdoor rides I have done this early in the year. For me I should be all the stronger for it :)

~ JoAnn

[BabyBlueNTulsa]

Mr. Silver..for such a tough guy, I'm surprised youre wincing at 15-25 sustained.

Move to Oklahoma! :P (jk)

My last ride was over 20 sustained the whole time with gusts over 30. Par for the course here in the Spring. ;)

[katluvr]

Yep, it is spring and here in the south it gets windy (OK, may be that way other places).
I have heard a bit of "voiced concerns" from some of my riding buddies regarding the wind. (I thought if I said "whining" it would sound offensive!).

Here in Florida we don't have hills, but we do have "wind training"! In fact I'll do some "wind training" this weekend.

[OakLeaf]

It's different in the flatlands. 15-20 in Florida is at least as bad as 30 in Ohio. There's nothing to break it up, no descents, no tree shelter. Even climbing, you're sheltered by the hill. In the flatlands, you can go in a big loop and have a headwind the entire way. I've never figured out how that works. :confused::p

Plus, around here at least, the NOAA weather readings are generally taken at an airport that's at least five miles inland. Nearer the beach the wind is actually quite a bit stronger.

[Mr. SR500]

Wind training, I'm more a tail wind kind of guy. Look forward to some coastal riding next week, I'm sure the winds will calm down my then.;)

[sarahkonamojo]

Well then ,opt for a ride ON the beach. Rent some cruisers if you can. Wait for low tide. A lot of fun. Soft sand will give you a brutal work out. You don't have to go very far...

s

[ASammy1]

Here in Virginia Beach you will get beat up by the wind! Someone before me wrote that they cant figure out how you can be in a head wind the entire time during a loop, well that's true here too. :o

[TrekTheKaty]

What are you doing up at 2 am? Yep, windy here last weekend--I learned to draft quickly!

[withm]

yep, my 25 miles on Sunday was fraught with 15-20kt headwinds for about 20 of those miles, and yes, I did a loop too. That's what happens when you live at at the beach at sea level. Not a hill for 30 miles unless you count a couple of bridges over creeks or the inlet.

[solobiker]

It gets real windy here in the spring. 20-30 with much higher gusts. I went out last year and ended up coming right back home as the wind gusts were40-50. Talk about getting pushed around. Mr Silver I hope you are enjoying your time and enjoying the wind.:D

[kermit]

Anybody doing the EBC century this weekend? This ride last year was great until the last 15 out of the everglades straight east. We went from a good pace @ 20 mph to 12. The wind just stood you up! I hope it's not bad on Sunday, the winds are wicked right now. I too have been a trainer queen!

[ehirsch83]

No century for me this weekend, I will be at Brian Picolo park saturday and at vista view(the dump) sunday for the Bike America Race Weekend.

Have fun! The weather should be much better then this past weekend(ughh I got stuck out in a monsoon saturday morning!!)

[OakLeaf]

Me neither. Florida centuries are too competitive for my old bones! Have fun.

[Mr. Bloom]

The ride was awesome(ly windy!).

We started in Pensacola and went with the wind 10 miles. In Orange Beach, Al, we cut north and found an AWESOME MUP that cut through the state park - it even had a hill that rose to an elevation of 47 feet:eek::rolleyes:

Then we went west down Ft Morgan road and turned back into the wind! We did two loops through the MUP to get miles with semi shelter.

The last 12 miles were treacherous. The gusts between buildings would magnify the wind and would buffet us about and we could barely hit 10mph going into the wind at the Perdido Pass Bridge!

It was awesome! I was sound asleep by 7:30! So, now i'm awake at 2am about to continue with the new Grisham book!

[BabyBlueNTulsa]

Silver - SOUNDS awesome alright! Better you than me.. :p I had enough fun crossing our dam (yes, "dam") in the wind we had. I work downtown though and I know the kind of wind acceleration that can occur through there. Yikes!!!

[Mr. Bloom]

The Blue Angels are practicing outside our window! You see them a hundred times and you still run and look! I guess even big boys love big sonic booms!

[Running Mommy]

ahh mr silver. Being a huge fan of the redneck riviera, I know EXACTLY where you were riding. I want to go back!!!!! I need a beach va-kay right about now. :o
Very cool about the blue angels as well. This past weekend our local airbase did their open house, so we had lots of fly overs as well.
Hope you are enjoying the beach. Have some shrimp for me.

[Aint Doody]

Mr. Silver, I, too, can visualize y'all's ride. I love it down there. Is Coconut Willie's still there? They have the best fried crab claws I ever had in my whole juicy life! I haven't been to the RR in quite a few years. Now my family has inched eastward. We had been to Navarre for several years and this summer we'll be at Seagrove Beach--on the other side of Destin nearer Panama City. I've not been there before. I can hardly wait!!!

And watching the Blue Angels practise is amazing. One year we sat on our deck and watched some sort of war game deal going on at night--flares and fake(I guess) bullets with tracers. Just amazing. And once one of those whatever-they-are jets zoomed right along the beach so low that it made us all duck our heads!

[Mr. Bloom]

Here's the Garmin...

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/invitation/email/accept.mb?senderPk.pkValue=143480&unitSystemPkValue=2&episodePk.pkValue=7872610

To my surprise, it shows us dipping below sea-level near the State Line (actually at the State Park). I wouldn't have guessed that...but it would also explain why the State Park is a State Park

[solobiker]

Sounds like a great ride. I was going to ride after work today but the wind is really picking up. Right now according to the weather report the wind speed is about 30mph with higher gusts. A big spring storm is blowing my way. The forcast says to plan for 8-16inches of snow:eek: Well, we do need the moisture. Hope the tree branches can handle the weight of this snow. Happens every spring.