Scary Ride

[MarkB]

The Santa Ana winds are whipping it up this morning! I’ve ridden in wind before and been thankful for having a big, heavy bike. Today, though, was an entirely different matter.

There is a point on my morning commute where I just expect to get hit by the wind on almost a daily basis. I know where it is and I can brace myself for it. On today’s ride, though, the first blast of wind happened way too early. I knew I was in for fun where the wind usually gets bad.

Hard as the wind was blowing from the north, that wasn’t even the worst part. Yeah, I would mostly take up the full lane before I had my lean set right to correct. That wasn’t the problem. The worst part was the sudden and unexpected little gusts from the south. I wasn’t sure that my 29 year old upholstery was going to survive the butt cheek clenching I was putting it through. :shock:

I made it to work just fine, of course, but I didn’t even give a thought to trying to put the cover on the bike! :nea:

Hope you all have a great day!

Mark

 

[dan filipi]

My son and I were out for a day ride once with high winds.
We went out I 5 north to gorman then cut over to 14.
WOW! The head wind had me holding the throttle almost full bore at 55!

When we got to the 14 it calmed down quite a bit so we headed over to Edwards air force base.
That's where we were suddenly hit with what must have been a 50 mph cross wind. I swear we were leaning 45 degrees into it!
The thoughts were going thru my head what would happen if the wind suddenly quit, lol.

An interesting ride fer sure.

 

[silverbullet]

Ya those strong winds sure can lead to some nail biter rides! No fun on my Helix! :moped:
I remember years ago when riding my CX 500 Honda on a 4 lane road, crossed a bridge & the wind hit me & WOOSH just like that I was in the other lane! Sure can get scary @ times

 

[MarkB]

Ya those strong winds sure can lead to some nail biter rides! No fun on my Helix! :moped:
I remember years ago when riding my CX 500 Honda on a 4 lane road, crossed a bridge & the wind hit me & WOOSH just like that I was in the other lane! Sure can get scary @ times

What scares me is thinking about my once considering a 250 Ninja! :shock:

Mark

 

[joedrum]

well crossing the bridge twice a day to get accross the intercoastal waterway in st augustine fla, to anistaisa island was bad on calm days way up high on bridge the wind would be blowing anyway ....on windy days it was just scary as could be ....one of the few places biking was never fun :cheeky:

 

[AApple]

Ya...I been in situations like that, too...not a fun ride, fer sher. We get some pretty high winds around here in the spring, when the tornado, and hurricane seasons start. I've been hit hard enough by winds that my floorboards have scraped while leaning into the wind....yikes! :shock: :beg:
It's really bad when the wind gets under yer helmet, and tries it's damdest to rip yer head off....

 

[skiri251]

Went camping with streamlined sidecar to Lake Elsinore this past weekend. On Saturday around noon, I-405 south, strong headwind with gusty wind warning. 4th gear @ around 6000RPM in car pool lane and managed 65~70 MPH tailgated by the cagers. The gas mileage: 26MPG including relaxed ride on Ortega Hwy.

I thought my streamlining effort was fruitless but reading Dan's account, the sidecar rig did okay, I guess.

 

[dan filipi]

Decent mileage under such conditions.