Today opened with a beautiful spring morning, about 53F and calm. I rode the bike to work (3.5 miles of mostly rural two lane). Came home for lunch, a little windy but about 77F. Went back to work and put the bike on the center stand to work the afternoon.
When I came out of the building to go home, the wind was now in the incredible range. I look over to see my bike on its side in the grass, having been blown off the center stand. It was parked on the sidewalk next to the grass, and fell into the grass, miraculously not breaking anything. I picked it up and started it so I could move behind a minivan to get my helmet on. I was afraid to not sit on the bike (helmet was in the GIVI top case) for fear it would blow over again. Got helmet and gloves on and started home. The first leg is west (wind at my back) and isn't too bad.
Then I turned north for a mile and a half... scary. Narrow-ass two lane with no shoulder and potholes along the edge. I have to ride near the center so the gusts don't move me to the edge. When a gust dies down, my lean pulls me into the oncoming lane. Fortunately traffic was light. Turn east again and ride Another couple of miles with wind at my back, then another scary half mile north to the house.
I got home and checked the Weather Channel website for wind. Wind from the W at 40mph with gusts to 48mph. That would explain the difficulty!
i can feel the heavy winds in my corrolla sometimes so i can only imagine trying to navigate on a motorcycle. :o
Man it was like that here in Florida on Monday! We had wind gusts 46 miles an hour and was been blown all over I-4 SCARY! Been very fortunate that my bike hasn't been blown over by wind just idiotic neighbors!
Mary
Yeah i feel ya TG. last saturday the gusts got up to 50 and in the valleys a little over. I felt like a bobble head for 2 hours :icon_lol: :icon_lol:
TG you guys don't have any fires down your way do you. Couple guys on the shooters board in midwest city have lost everything.
No fires here this week, thank goodness. We had one last month that burned 105,000 acres near Taloga. I rode through the area a week after the fire. Unbelievable destruction. The area is sparsely populated, but many cattle and wildlife died.
Over 100 homes burned in the Midwest City area yesterday and last night. They're saying it was worse devastation than the 1999 F-5 Tornado that also hit the city.
Newspaper story:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20090410_12_A1_Jhrwrh180779 (http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20090410_12_A1_Jhrwrh180779)
Not sure which TG you were referring to? Kinda ironic we are both TG's right! We've had a couple in the Central Florida area. Not too bad though yet we are still in dry season here which sadly I enjoy. I don't like getting wet at 3 o'clock every afternoon!
What really got me with the wind at one point I was riding on a slower road with my visor up and a high gust caught the helmet just right and really cranked my neck. Had a headache at work the rest of the night. Ugh!
mary