How do you cope with cross winds

General
1

I know I’m only at the learner stage, but I find gusting winds difficult to deal with.
How do others cope with these and is there a technique?

2

Poorly.

3

try twisting your upper body to look into the wind somewhat while pointing in the direction you want to go with your leeward hand.

for gusts, you can feel them about a second or two before they hit. in addition you should be able to see them approach in trees and grass. overreacting is generally easier to correct than under-reacting.

4

Lol…this was going to be my response too. Cross winds and road camber are still unfathomable to me so I’ll be interested in the responses.

UL

5

I find riding with a cross-wind tiring. As with road camper, I find myself shifting my butt a bit to the left or the right on the seat and lean my weight to one side or the other. That allows me to compensate for the conditions but leaves me in a reasonable if not ideal riding position.

I have not been knocked off by wind gusts, but they can lead to serving as I regain my balance.

Scott

6

I have been knocked off by wind gusts, but only in certain situations:

[LIST=1]

  • Riding medium to fast on a big wheel
  • Riding in Wellington, New Zealand [/LIST] The bigger your wheel, the more it can be twisted by crosswinds. I remember once trying to ride across a giant park at Jones Beach, Long Island, where I had to "tack" my 45" wheel back and forth to get to the opposite side.

    Wellington, where we recently enjoyed Unicon XV, is apparently one of the windiest cities in the world. During the Marathon race, I was smacked off the 29" uni I was riding as I came around a corner and was struck by a strong gust at the same time

    Gusts are going to be tough to deal with. For me, I slow down some, to give me more ability to react without having to dismount.

    Road camber is much easier, in the sense that it’s predictable. You can lean your upper body toward the center of the road, or if you have a handlebar, push it a little bit away from the center which has a similar effect. If you’ll be riding a long time with camber, you can also turn your seat a few degrees toward the center of the road, which will help you pedal into that little “hill” that keeps wanting to push you the other way.

    • 7

    Correction:

    I have not been knocked off by wind gusts, but they can lead to swerving as I regain my balance.

    Scott

    8

    Great minds think alike!!!

    I’m also curious about coping methods although I haven’t run into problems with cross winds atm.

    9

    Ride in it more, just riding it it makes it better. Wind doesn’t even bother me any more

    10
    • 1 . Just like learning to cycle on one wheel, the more you do it, the more instinctive it becomes, until you no longer think about it. I learnt to walk that way. lol
    11

    With experience you can learn to ride in lots of wind. Wheel size and geared/non-geared make a difference. Most of my riding is 36 geared. I’ve managed to ride in 60 mph gusts a lot of times. Much more than that and I tend to stall if the guests last to long as a head wind.

    I’ve crossed the Longview / Rainier bridge with side winds gusting to 45 mph after a 150 miles on my first attempt to complete the STP in one day.

    On my Washington and Oregon coast ride I got blown off twice in one day in wind gust incurred on headlands near the sea lion caves. Once a tail wind blew me over the front in a headland cut and later a side wind coming out of a tunnel blew me off after fighting it for a little ways. Both times I ended up walking more than a quarter mile before I could get out of the wind enough to remount.

    When buildings funnel the wind it can also be a little more challenging.

    I’ve manage to ride a geared 24 in gusting wind when some of the other mountain bike racers would dismount and walk before I was forced off while riding the trails along bluffs during the Echo Red 2 Red race.

    If you ride in wind a lot you will develop the skills to ride in it.

    Riding road crown is also a skill that you can learn to deal with.

    Some park the unicycle during the wind while other ride. Some complain about road crown while others learn to deal with it.

    Are you up to the challenge? Or will you be a complainer?

    JM