WIND QUESTION

[IT WASN'T ME!]

I was riding home on Tuesday when I ran into a thunderstorm. I was sort of skirting the western edge of the storm when I was hit by some microburst winds and heavy rain. The wind almost pushed me off the road. I have a lot of experience riding in strong crosswinds, but not on a wet road and not on a fully fared bike. My question is; do I have to worry about the wind blowing the bike right out from under me? It sure feels like I do.

[McVaaahhh]

I've hit some pretty good wind myself and I doubt it would blow the bike out from under you. It will blow you off the road though...

[Troy.N]

You dont have to worry about the wind blowing under you, as long as your as FAT BOY like Brian.

[mtnairlover]

I actually had a run in with some sort of microburst. Not sure if that's what it was, but my bike sure felt like it was going to be taken right out from under me. It wasn't a rain storm either, just wiind. I was riding north on I25 back in '07 after a long trip back from Durango. It was in the evening, maybe ~7'ish. As I got north of Longmont (for some reason the air tends to feel different the further north of town you get), and I was in the left lane just cruising along, I realized the wind was picking up. So, I got closer to my tank and since I have a semi-naked bike, there isn't much protection anyway, I was pretty much hugging as much as I could hug the tail bag on my tank. All of a sudden a wind burst caught my bike just right, at the wheels, and blew the bike (and me with it) over about a foot, which was just about skirting the white line before the grassy median.

Now, my bike isn't a light bike, weighing in at 425#s dry and even though I was 30#s lighter back then, I was still not your typical runway model sized person.

So yeah, it's something that can happen, but my thoughts are that this type of scenario is very, very few and far between. I also don't think I could have gotten knocked off the bike, or that it would have actually blown over because of my speed vs. the wind speed. Now, if my bike had been blown into the grass, then maybe I would have been thrown from the bike...but, then again, ya never know. And lastly, if you're dealing with tornado force winds as in, you're in a tornado, then yeah, you can count your bike and yourself as toast.

[jbnwc]

I grew up in the midwest where the wind is always there and is always strong. My bike never stood up straight until I moved here! Anyways, I have never ever heard of anyone's bike getting knocked out from under them, rain or no. I could see how you could get blown off the road, but the wind just pushes the bottom of the bike, naturally causing the bike to lean back into the wind. Does that make sense?

[Wintermute]

I've caught some pretty serious katabatic winds on 36 north of Boulder during the early evening hours. There's a couple of spots where the highway hugs the Front Range slope there and wind really gets funneled.

[XJ600s]

I've caught some pretty serious katabatic winds on 36 north of Boulder during the early evening hours. There's a couple of spots where the highway hugs the Front Range slope there and wind really gets funneled.

Actually, you are referring to Chinook winds in regards to Boulder. Colorado does not receive katabatic winds (that I am aware of), but Boulder is notorious for our Chinook events.

Whenever I ride in the winds, I never try to fight the winds, I just lean into them a little more. More of a skill from riding road bikes on the shoulders of highways while training and having massive wind gusts blowing across the highway. I've had winds so strong, I was leaning into the winds it looked to passerbys that I was about to fall over (a friend drove by me on the road and didn't stop for me, how nice was he, ha).

[BeoBe]

yea i dont think the bike will ever be able to blow out from under you unless you are maybe on ice and hit a huge micro burst.. But it is enough to make you end up off the road, so the best thing to do is just slow down a little bit..

Not sure if this really relates to a micro burst but it could, my dad always taught me in really windy situations when like an oncoming semi passes you and get that sudden rush of air that can blow you all around to throttle into it.. Ive done that and it seems to help.. like i said not sure about microbursts let alone microbursts on water since you can't exactly predict..

[Wintermute]

I'm speaking of katabatic in the generic sense of mountian outflow wind, not the hurricane-strength ones you get in Antarctica. The worst ones I've seen are in the Fall when it rapidly cools at height in the evening while it's still toasty down here. Chinooks are warm, the ones I'm talking about aren't.

[IT WASN'T ME!]

When the wind and rain hit me I moved toward the center of the road to give myself some working room between me and the shoulder. I was doing OK until I saw a big semi truck coming the other way. He was weaving and tilting because of the wind, plus he was throwing up one hell of a cloud of tire spray. I decided to risk the right side of my lane rather than a possible head-on with the truck. When I got to the right side of my lane I tried to head straight up the road, however the wind (no doubt helped by the wind blast from the truck) kept me headed toward the ditch. I only got her going straight at the very edge of the pavement. It was close and I was wondering what might have happened if I had had to lean over ferther to keep from going off the road.

[RAGrote]

Wind?

What wind?

Relax your body, let the wind blow, focus on YOUR PATH not the hazard.