Windy

As windy as it was during today's road ride, the wind got even stronger after the sun went down. So much so that it seemed like a good idea to look up how to estimate wind speed based on observable effects. The online forecast for the area was pretty useless. 10-20mph they said. Sustained, maybe, but the gusts are pretty frequent and strong. Dust blowing off the ground into your face: check. Snug fitting ball cap trying to blow away: check. Small limbs falling off trees that are in near constant motion (branches, not just leaves): check. Boards popping out of fences: check. Dog's floppy ears standing up if he faces the wind: check.

Matching some of those to this chart puts us into Gale and Strong Gale territory.

[Source is NOAA]

Perhaps that bit of geeking out was a bit excessive. But it does relate to this blog if we go back to this afternoon's ride. Normally the wind around here blows eastward, coming off the Pacific. There's a big hill (10% for over half a mile) where you can hit 45 on a typical day straight into that ocean breeze. On a calm day add a few mph. Today the wind was behind you coming down the hill and if I didn't have motorcycle racing in my background I'd have been dragging the brakes for sure. But 54mph was a bit more than I expected. If you were willing to bomb that hill in the dark right now you could probably hit 60. You go ahead, I'll stay here and drink Belgian ale and watch Stargate SG-1 reruns.

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