Riding in winter winds

[Triskeliongirl]

I did ride yesterday in 20-30mph winds, and at one point on a very exposed area I did have a gust move me over a couple feet and it was scary.

When you ride in a constant wind, you need to shift your weight so it is moving towards the direction of the wind. This works like countersteering to keep you upright. The hard thing are gusts, since they are unpredictable and don't give you time to react. If its too gusty I don't ride.

It was the near the end of the ride when I started getting blown all over the place, so when my husband came along and passed me, I stopped riding and asked him to come and pick me up when he got in. Cuz the final stretch had a fair bit of traffic, and I was really worried about being blown into it.

[ASammy1]

Being on the coast, we get wind fairly regularly. On the days when it's really windy I use my friend the trainer because I've been blown into traffic before and it's really scary. Overall though, the wind is making me a stronger rider.

[malkin]

The wind here this morning made me feel unsafe in my car! There's no way I could have ridden a bike.

[Geonz]

I ride a heavy bike when it's really nasty. Yesterday I got blown slideways (not gonna fix that 'typo' ) when I was going through a puddle that had ice underneath, I think... with all the water and the cross wind even the studs just slid.

[malkin]

"Slideways" is a keeper!

[TrekTheKaty]

If you are riding into the wind, turn off your GPS/computer. It's just depressing to pedal away and do 7-9 mph. However, 20 mph crosswinds are challenging--but gusty I don't do. It's hard to keep your balance--so I'm off to spinning class!

[bmccasland]

We get pretty stiff winds on the bike path on top of the Mississippi River levee during the summer months, or pretty much any time of year I suppose. Got to admit I'm a cool season weanie. At least on the levee path I don't have to worry about being blown into traffic, but on occasion if I'm not paying attention, I have come close to being blown off. Cunninghamair is right - when the wind is really stiff, don't look at the bike computer - unless it's a tail wind! Nothing quite like riding hard, and only doing single digits.