Wind speeds and your ride.

[AHicks]

Lucky enough to have some variety in the areas we have available to ride. On those cold and windy days we head for the trails that go through the woods. That knocks the wind down to negligible. Trails NOT where you want to be on those hot sticky days though. You'll be swatting skeeters and flies constantly.....

 

[Prairie Dog]

Here in the Hudson Valley... wind chill is more of a factor when riding than strong sustained winds which typically only happen during weather events... obviously there are exceptions

There's no doubt in my mind wind chill presents its own set of challenges as exposed skin can freeze within minutes. Coldest month of 2022 had to be last Dec as I only logged a total of seven rides. Less than a ½ hr into my ride on this frigid Wednesday the WC was -41C.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

There's no doubt in my mind wind chill presents its own set of challenges as exposed skin can freeze within minutes. Coldest month of 2022 had to be last Dec as I only logged a total of seven rides. Less than a ½ hr into my ride on this frigid Wednesday the WC was -41C.

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It made me wonder how come Canada that is 32 times bigger by area than Poland had the same number of inhabitants as Poland...

 

[JGcycle]

It made me wonder how come Canada that is 32 times bigger by area than Poland had the same number of inhabitants as Poland...

Most of us are huddled along the southern border.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Most of us are huddled along the southern border.

Don't worry. I wouldn't swap Poland for Australia, either

 

[Gionnirocket]

You do see a lot of polish immigrants in the US, Canada and Australia....
I wonder how many US, Canadian and Australians you'd find migrating to Poland?
Seems unless you are Ukrainian AND at war... it's not a mecca

 

[indianajo]

I don't expose skin below 15 F. I've biked for groceries at 6 F with 30 mph wind. I cover the vent in my fox rampage helmet with saran wrap. I wear a welder's helmet liner under helmet. I wear safety glasses to keep wind out of eyes. I wear Wells Lamont farmer mittens covered by oven mitts. I wear combat boots and 2 pairs socks, inner layer nylon. 4 layers below waist, 6 layers above. Beats trying to carry groceries home on the city bus.
I had better cold weather clothes in the US Army. 8 weeks before I ETS'd, my whole bag of TA-50 gear was stolen. On a command post exercise, our tents blew down. Company commander ordered all tents & duffle bags hauled to the motor pool. I was left on location with a cot, a radio a phone all night, with a Master Sergeant. I had long underwear, field jacket with liner, rain suit over that. He had a field jacket and shivered from 2 AM to 7 AM. When we got back to motor pool, our bags were stolen. I didn't buy replacement TA-50 since I was short, and regret it these days. I can't buy that quality gear on the economy.

 

[Gionnirocket]

40°f is my cut off, whether that be actual or windchill... any lower requires too much dress prep for me.

Today's ride with 15mph sustained and the occasional 30mph gust was more than manageable at 50°f and a windchill of 46°f. Plenty of sun to offset the wind.

 

[mschwett]

40°f is my cut off, whether that be actual or windchill... any lower requires too much dress prep for me.

Today's ride with 15mph sustained and the occasional 30mph gust was more than manageable at 50°f and a windchill of 46°f. Plenty of sun to offset the wind.

about the same here. i’ve ridden in colder, it’s not all that much fun for the hands and toes. sure, i could get heated gloves and all that but there are reasons people choose to live where they do!

this morning’s ride showed a “feels like 43” but it was sunny, mild winds, actual temp high 40s and felt like 50+ in the sun. i had on bike shorts, a short sleeve technical t shirt, and a thin windbreaker over the shirt. 10 degrees warmer and the windbreaker gets ditched but the t shirt goes long sleeve.

 

[PedalUma]

You'd probably been OK on a full suspension bike

Here in the Hudson Valley... wind chill is more of a factor when riding than strong sustained winds which typically only happen during weather events... obviously there are exceptions

I was just checking your area on Windy.com.

Windy as forecasted

Wind map and weather forecast

www.windy.com

 

[Gionnirocket]

I was just checking your area on Windy.com.

Windy as forecasted

Wind map and weather forecast

www.windy.com

Never saw that site before... blew me away.

 

[PedalUma]

blew me away.

I was born in your area. Beautiful. One year we had snow on Easter. It was a double Easter, because my mom stocked up before a trip to Scotland and my dad didn't know it, so he strove to outdo past years on candy. Out here we have wired wind due to the huge temperature differentials between the Pacific with a cold flow down form Alaska and high inland temperatures, along with topographical features. I can get high headwinds in two directions when riding around a mountain from the SF Bay to the South and the sea to the West. Without a motor you will be stopped dead in your tracks. The valleys act as wind tunnels. Yesterday I had a 29 mile per hour tailwind which was fun until it started to hail.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

-1 down to -3 C (30 down to 27 F), headwind 21.6 km/h (13.4 mph). Average speed upwind 20.4 km/h (12.6 mph). The 51.88 km (32.2 mi) loop ride was done at average speed of 23.1 km/h (13.3 mph), ECO mode.

For some of you these conditions are just mild, for other they might feel harsh. A proper skiing jacket is recommended!

 

[BlackHand]

I had one commute home where competing fronts were causing alternating gusts of headwind and tailwind. Very disconcerting to be fighting the wind then all of a sudden have a gust from behind cause you to speed up. The assist actually momentarily cut out a few times as I guess the Bosch motor didn't like what the speed sensor was telling it. Luckily it wasn't cross winds, that would have been dangerous riding next to traffic.

I've only ridden across the 520 floating bridge on nice summer days, but it can get nasty cross winds. This is a picture of the old span - the one that stopped floating after a nasty windstorm.

 

[Kayakguy]

I had one commute home where competing fronts were causing alternating gusts of headwind and tailwind. Very disconcerting to be fighting the wind then all of a sudden have a gust from behind cause you to speed up. The assist actually momentarily cut out a few times as I guess the Bosch motor didn't like what the speed sensor was telling it. Luckily it wasn't cross winds, that would have been dangerous riding next to traffic.

I've only ridden across the 520 floating bridge on nice summer days, but it can get nasty cross winds. This is a picture of the old span - the one that stopped floating after a nasty windstorm.
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I would surmise that a lot of that turbulence on the windward side is due to reflected waves off of the bridge (sometimes called "clapotis" by kayakers. It can be kind of fun to play in that stuff. Think it may be a Hawaiian word)
Brings to mind the unforeseen departure of the Hood Canal bridge many (40 or 50?) years ago. Someone in a cabin overlooking the area said "It looked right pretty sailing along in the moonlight," after it broke free from its moorings during a storm. A semi driver starting across saw that it was going to go, and was able to back up at high speed to get off in time. I imagine he had to change his shorts afterward. A challenging place to put a floating bridge due to considerable depth of the water and strong currents that run through there.

And of course there was "Galloping Gertie" at the Tacoma Narrows in the 30s or 40s. Amazingly, somebody was able to shoot a dramatic movie of the event. Worth a look on U tube.

 

[PCeBiker]

And of course there was "Galloping Gertie" at the Tacoma Narrows in the 30s or 40s. Amazingly, somebody was able to shoot a dramatic movie of the event. Worth a look on U tube.

I remember watching that video in physics class in 1982 when we were studying resonance.

My cousin is a civil engineer and at graduation, all the students got a ring made from Iron from that bridge.
Unfortunately, they ran out of iron from the bridge when he graduated, so he didn't get a real Gertie ring.

 

[Flannel Guy]

It's always windy on an ebike - 20 -25mph in your face, no matter which way the wind blows

 

[6zfshdb]

And of course there was "Galloping Gertie" at the Tacoma Narrows in the 30s or 40s. Amazingly, somebody was able to shoot a dramatic movie of the event. Worth a look on U tube.

See post #19

 

[Roamers]

It's always windy on an ebike - 20 -25mph in your face, no matter which way the wind blows

Not if the wind is on your back.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Not if the wind is on your back.

I do not know what @Flannel Guy rides. On regular e-bikes with reasonable assistance the bike is "sailing" with a strong tailwind, approximately at the wind speed. It is easy to realize that as the rider suddenly is in a kind of a "silence bubble" (no wind noise, the bike sounds like the motor or tyres perfectly audible). In case of too weak assistance, the rider hears the tailwind. Only in case of riding faster than the tailwind, the rider can feel some wind on his face.