Was I a wuss not to bike today with a strong wind?

Stunningly beautiful day although it poured last night. Temperature
expected to be in the mid 60's here in NYC. But, with radio weather
warnings about winds gusting over 40mph this afternoon, I figured I'd
take the train rather than commute by bike.

Now I look at the weather on internet and they say gusts up to 28.
That I can handle, but my general feeling is that winds over 25 or so
are dangerous for commuting by bike. I've been in the position of
being pushed towards a bus and I don't really like that feeling.

Where do other folks draw the line?

On Nov 17, 8:52*am, dgk wrote:
Stunningly beautiful day although it poured last night. Temperature
expected to be in the mid 60's here in NYC. But, with radio weather
warnings about winds gusting over 40mph this afternoon, I figured I'd
take the train rather than commute by bike.

Now I look at the weather on internet and they say gusts up to 28.
That I can handle, but my general feeling is that winds over 25 or so
are dangerous for commuting by bike. I've been in the position of
being pushed towards a bus and I don't really like that feeling.

Where do other folks draw the line?

wusss-

when you start finding excuses not to ride, your riding days get
numbered as your threshold just gets lower; but go out on the absolute
worst day and you learn what you need to deal with it and can say on
every other bad day you experience in your life that you've been in
worse weather.

I've never been blown off my bike and have always managed to hold a
line that is a normal width I use for riding- if you had a near
collision with a bus the bus did not pass you safely for the weather
condition at the time, meaning you could've been out a bit more to
force the bus to go around instead of squeezing by.

but, all that said- you do as you feel comfortable with- no reason to
let any (internet) peer-pressure dictate what you do. I assume after
you get there you have coworkers/others who might object to body odor
caused by excessive effort and you are lucky you have a choice of
means.

On Thu, 18 Nov 2010 05:31:42 -0800 (PST), raamman
wrote:

On Nov 17, 8:52*am, dgk wrote:
Stunningly beautiful day although it poured last night. Temperature
expected to be in the mid 60's here in NYC. But, with radio weather
warnings about winds gusting over 40mph this afternoon, I figured I'd
take the train rather than commute by bike.

Now I look at the weather on internet and they say gusts up to 28.
That I can handle, but my general feeling is that winds over 25 or so
are dangerous for commuting by bike. I've been in the position of
being pushed towards a bus and I don't really like that feeling.

Where do other folks draw the line?

wusss-

when you start finding excuses not to ride, your riding days get
numbered as your threshold just gets lower; but go out on the absolute
worst day and you learn what you need to deal with it and can say on
every other bad day you experience in your life that you've been in
worse weather.

I've never been blown off my bike and have always managed to hold a
line that is a normal width I use for riding- if you had a near
collision with a bus the bus did not pass you safely for the weather
condition at the time, meaning you could've been out a bit more to
force the bus to go around instead of squeezing by.

but, all that said- you do as you feel comfortable with- no reason to
let any (internet) peer-pressure dictate what you do. I assume after
you get there you have coworkers/others who might object to body odor
caused by excessive effort and you are lucky you have a choice of
means.

No, extra effort wasn't the problem. My bike has electic pedal assist
(Trek Valencia+). Otherwise I couldn't go into 30 mph headwinds
because my knee can't handle that. That's truly wussy but I commute 25
miles a day because of that. Most of the time I leave it off, but for
serious hills and headwinds I use it a bit. I'm also closing in on 60
so that has something to do with it as well.

We have some very weird winds when biking through Manhattan. It's
surrounded by water, which gives the winds a good chance to gain
speed, and then they slam into tall buildings and divert in all
directions. So you're riding along, come to an intersection, and get
blown sideways. My bus incident was where the bus was stopped at the
bus stop and as I was getting near it the wind was pushing me right
into the rear of the bus. Kind of like man bites dog I guess.

It only happened that one time but it was a feeling that I was not
happy with. It's a fairly upright position bike (hybrid) so it is a
less streamlined position than a road bike and, I suppose, more
susceptible to the body acting as a sail.

On Nov 18, 10:30*am, dgk wrote:
On Thu, 18 Nov 2010 05:31:42 -0800 (PST), raamman
wrote:





On Nov 17, 8:52 am, dgk wrote:
Stunningly beautiful day although it poured last night. Temperature
expected to be in the mid 60's here in NYC. But, with radio weather
warnings about winds gusting over 40mph this afternoon, I figured I'd
take the train rather than commute by bike.

Now I look at the weather on internet and they say gusts up to 28.
That I can handle, but my general feeling is that winds over 25 or so
are dangerous for commuting by bike. I've been in the position of
being pushed towards a bus and I don't really like that feeling.

Where do other folks draw the line?

wusss-

when you start finding excuses not to ride, your riding days get
numbered as your threshold just gets lower; but go out on the absolute
worst day and you learn what you need to deal with it and can say on
every other bad day you experience in your life that you've been in
worse weather.

I've never been blown off my bike and have always managed to hold a
line that is a normal width I use for riding- if you had a near
collision with a bus the bus did not pass you safely for the weather
condition at the time, meaning you could've been out a bit more to
force the bus to go around instead of squeezing by.

but, all that said- you do as you feel comfortable with- no reason to
let any (internet) peer-pressure dictate what you do. I assume after
you get there you have coworkers/others who might object to body odor
caused by excessive effort and you are lucky you have a choice of
means.

No, extra effort wasn't the problem. My bike has electic pedal assist
(Trek Valencia+). Otherwise I couldn't go into 30 mph headwinds
because my knee can't handle that. That's truly wussy but I commute 25
miles a day because of that. Most of the time I leave it off, but for
serious hills and headwinds I use it a bit. I'm also closing in on 60
so that has something to do with it as well.

We have some very weird winds when biking through Manhattan. It's
surrounded by water, which gives the winds a good chance to gain
speed, and then they slam into tall buildings and divert in all
directions. So you're riding along, come to an intersection, and get
blown sideways. My bus incident was where the bus was stopped at the
bus stop and as I was getting near it the wind was pushing me right
into the rear of the bus. Kind of like man bites dog I guess.

It only happened that one time but it was a feeling that I was not
happy with. It's a fairly upright position bike (hybrid) so it is a
less streamlined position than a road bike and, I suppose, more
susceptible to the body acting as a sail.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

ahhh 60, that's nice to hear- the wussss statement was mostly tongue-
in-cheek- the gravity of the wussiness would increase in converse
proportion to age. a road bike is for me far more tricky in exrtreme
gusty winds- I'm in Toronto so I know well of the wind tunnel effects
of skyscrapers and we generally get very windy icy cold high-pressure
conditions coming in from the north in the autumn and winter- usually
it clears the threat of precipitation and drys things out but I
digress; a mountain bike or hybird is heavier with wider tires so your
grip on the road should be better, less of a worry. My exprerience:
take care of your knee, cold wet can make it a real ordeal when you've
still a ways to go before you're home- a small change in position,
cleats etc can make a big difference in that regard as well. Take care
there, Greybeard.