I was riding my coker in Galveston on the sea wall.
The sea wall of Galveston island is an artificially built up area to help prevent damage during hurricanes. The entire island was elevated. The wall has a nice concrete sidewalk about 10 miles long, without interruption. On one side is the built-up island, and the other side is the (Gulf of Mexico) Galveston Bay. The beach is about 20’ below the wall, so there is quite a drop from the sidewalk. (Most people take one of the flights of stairs.)
When I rode north, there was no wind, but when I turned around and rode back (south) there was a considerable head wind. Since I average about 10/12mph, I can assume there was a northerly wind at about 10/12mph.
At one point I was heading into the wind. Some kids were feeding sea gulls on the wall. The first sea gull saw me and started to fly, causing all the others to take flight, though not sure why. One gull took to flight slower, and hovered in the wind at about 6’ off the ground. It was flying right next to me, and in the same direction of travel, only slightly in front of me. I could have reached out and grabbed it. It coasted for about 50’ or so. Eventually, it turned, saw me, and turned away. Still it was cool to ride next to a flying bird.
Ea-gulls, sea-gulls, not much difference. You should have thrown them some bread crumbs as you rode and you could have ridden in a whole flock of seagulls. Hey that was a pretty cool band in the day…
Anyway that sounds like a fun place to ride. I haven’t been down there in a while.
Your logic for determining wind speed is flawed. Wind speed always increases when it’s a head wind. The wind was probably at 10-12mph while it was a tail wind, but would have increased once you turned around to head home.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this concept is stated in a corollary of Murphy’s Law.
Granted, I’m prolly missing something, but wouldn’t his lgic have been non-flawed? Riding North, no wind. Riding South, wind. If heading North he was going the same speed as the wind, and he’s doing ~10 to 12mph, then the wind should be about ~10 - 12mph…
Therefore, the wind’s ground speed was Northerly at approx 10-12mph, whilst JerryG’s Indicated Airspeed (IAS) would have been around 20-24mph (assuming he could maintain the same speed against the headwind… double the speed, quadruple the drag…
Granted, I have a knack for missing things… (like class ;))
Nick.
Chill.
You are correct.
Have you heard of the latest thing, a new form of humor.
It’s called sarcasm.
When I ride there again, I’m going to bring bread and see how many sea gulls I can get to chase me while riding along the wall (into the wind). Thanks for the great idea Scott!
I personally wouldn’t be too eager to have sea gulls hovering above me like that while I ride. They have a bad habit of relieving themselves while flying. Yuck! Look out below!
I’ve experienced this when riding into a 25 MPH head wind that disappears completely when it’s a tail wind at only 9 MPH:D Apparently, the god of wind doesn’t like FURECUS worshippers.
Sounds like you aren’t familiar with Murphy’s Law. That was the big clue to my attempt at humor.
Apparently, the god of wind doesn’t like FURECUS worshippers.