How much wind can you endure?

[MomOnBike]

When you tour the Midwest in Spring if you don't ride in the wind, you don't ride. Therefore, I've ridden in winds I really shouldn't have.

I don't know how fast the wind was on that trip, but at one point I found myself heading down the road at 35 mph, not pedaling (why bother?). The tailwinds were my friend that day - the rain they contained weren't.

Another day (again, I have no idea how hard the wind was blowing - somethings I just want to remain in ignorance about), I discovered how much I hate crosswinds in combination with the windbreaks planted around farmhouses. The wind shadows behind tham are dandy, but there is a viscious wall of wind coming out of the shadow. Ick.

Now, I was riding a faired recumbent with panniers, so the effects of cross-and tailwinds were magnified greatly. Headwinds are nasty no matter what.

Here at home, on basic errands and commuting, about 35 mph is my limit. I don't claim to enjoy wind that strong, though - and sometimes I wimp out.

[aicabsolut]

I really hate gusts over 30mph, but I've ridden in something around 40mph winds. That was miserable.

I do enjoy a nice tailwind, though. It just seems like whenever the winds are pretty high, they seem to come from ALL directions.