BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Leaving downtown at 5, hoping for a stiff tailwind to blow me back to Squirrel Hill.

hoping for a stiff tailwind to blow me back to Squirrel Hill

I'm hoping for the same, but expecting a ferocious headwind.

Storm fronts like this one are not pleasant. Ignoring the tremendous rain that often accompanies them, the winds can kick up a lot of stuff from roadsides, and tend to make steering of cars difficult and/or unpredictable.

I would sit out the storm front's passing, which typically lasts 30 minutes, and then just deal with steady rain, wet streets and big puddles. And the stiff wind.

This is a good time to ask the question, is my safety and comfort worth $2 or $2.75? Might be a good time to try out the bus racks, if you haven't before.

Tornado watch issued. Don't F with this storm.

threadjack (or thread merge?)

bicycle + tornado = http://tinyurl.com/2f5qoo5

Looks grim; I'd say maybe another 1-2 h before we're in the middle of the storm.

http://www.wunderground.com/wundermap/?lat=40.44432068&lon=-79.95491791&zoom=10&pin=Pittsburgh,%20PA

Having ridden through several nasty storms, and our date with the hurricane a few years ago (nothing like riding through water deeper than your hubs!), I concur with Stu's advice.

To reiterate, sit out the storm front, THEN catch the bus rack. You're still going to have the wind blowing cars and trucks around, and there ain't a whole helluvalot they can do about it.

I'll be waiting this one out.

Be safe, everyone.

5:10 p.m., the front has passed FedEx (near the airport). It's about 10 maybe 15 minutes of Just Never Mind The Umbrella, then it goes back to plain old rain and wind.

i got a nice tailwind outbound until i hit the hill up liberty when it hybridized between a crosswind and a headwind. uggg

At home, watching the western sky turn dark grey. The wind is picking up. A huge flight of ravens just passed over the house. Lights flickered; VPN just disconnected. Rain starting to beat on the windows. Yikes. Time to find some candles and pour myself a nice glass of wine...

I bailed home and made it home with plenty of time. The front passed with lights flickering. We got our candles out.

From a window overlooking the Mon, I watched the front pass though. It was kinda cool, and not as bad as I expected. Of courese, I was inside watching it, not outdoors in it.

It just looks rainy now. I'll be riding in it in just a bit.

I've just been sitting in the dark crying into a glass of bourbon while Ahlir celebrates.

Did anyone else get caught out in it?

I thought I would be OK leaving the Strip for Brighton Heights at 5:00...didn't realize how far behind the radar images were. I started to take the trail so I could watch the clouds roll in and quickly turned around when I realized the wind just might blow me into the river The brunt of it hit while I was riding from the North Shore to North & Brighton.

Traffic was heavy (I think a lot of people rightfully avoided the highways) but fortunately well behaved...I just had to concentrate on staying upright and made it home OK. Next time, though, I'm going to pay more attention and either leave earlier or wait it out.

RULE 9: If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.

unsurprisingly that turned out to be a whole lotta nothin'. 5 minutes of tropical rainfall followed by typical drizzle. ah pittsburgh.

It's not over just yet. More ugly weather coming.

Once the front passed, there was less wind than I expected, but more rain than I expected. It was only drizzling around 6p in Robinson and around 7p Downtown, but it absolutely poured in McCandless around 8p. Now close to 10p, it's still raining steadily.

Dan, what is the website that gives that radar display?

http://www.wunderground.com/wundermap/

i usually use http://fullscreenweather.com (same site, just a slightly different presentation)

Yea, same link that Ahlir posted, just zoomed out a bit and adjusted a few settings.

I rode home at around 7. It wasn't raining hard, and not very windy. Pretty peaceful ride with all the power out and the streets super dark.

Weather underground is the original internet weather site. They used to have a telnet interface -- maybe still do. Pretty cool stuff.

it didn't seem too bad to me. We didn't lose power, or even our internet connection, and it just seemed like a regular rainy night to me.

I totally got nailed by this. Ambridge to Brighton Heights by way of 51. Rarely am I jealous of motorists stuck in traffic, but every car looked warm and cozy. The wind over the bridges was the worst part. Good times!

@quizbot -- I'm a Bad Ass!!!!

Caught the beginning of the storm on my way to Oakland around 6pm -not bad. After stopping Carnegie Mellon for a lecture, I went from Oakland to Lawrenceville at 8pm, and it was hitting hard! My shoes got so heavy from the rain it was hard to pedal, and was more hydroplaning than riding... kept my hands on the breaks at all times....

Made it home a soggy mess, and it was intense at times specially when it got dark and the tepid rain would cloud my vision, but MAN that was FUN!!!

Bikeygirl = Badass!

@Jeff (and others), while this storm seemed to fizzle a little before it made it to Pgh., I wanted to thank you for posting the warning. I live west of the City, so had been monitoring the hourly weather forecasts to determine how late I really wanted to work before riding home. Made it home 20 minutes before the wind kicked up. While I was on top of this one, I might not be on top of the next one..... big wind is my bigggest fear in riding in a storm.

@Sara you are welcome. So many of us are monitoring this board all day long I figured there was no better place to post the info--and it sure looked vicious coming across Ohio.

Glad everyone made it ok