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I have a decent handle of most common aspects of riding except one. Riding at 65 with winds around 25 to 30 mph. If I cannot get use to it, I won't be doing the riding that I wanted to.

On a curve I slowing way down during the turn, then excellerate hard out of the turn. After the past three weeks, I seem to get no confidence from daily practice. I feel as each turn could be my last.

Other typical practice excercises are comming along just fine. I can ride in the city and country (55 mph, less traffic) fine.

Besides just getting out there and risking my life. Do any of you have any tips to practice battling the winds at speed? Practice excercise?

I feel your pain!!!!!!! When I ride and its windy, I am gripping the handlebars so hard my knuckles are white, and my hands are sore later. I hope someone has some good tips on this!

I relax my arms and elbows, grip the tank with my legs and let the wind batter. Lean into it as you need to. If the arms are loose they act like shocks and the wind smacking my body dosn't batter the bike as much.

I hit a heavy wind at the bottom of the mountain every day. It works out.

IcyHound wrote:I relax my arms and elbows, grip the tank with my legs and let the wind batter. Lean into it as you need to. If the arms are loose they act like shocks and the wind smacking my body dosn't batter the bike as much.

I hit a heavy wind at the bottom of the mountain every day. It works out.

If I keep my knees tight on the tank, I feel like I lost my balance bar. If I let the wind take me where it wants I'll end up in the wrong lane or off the road altogther. I have to counter it somehow and quickly.

flw wrote:

IcyHound wrote:I relax my arms and elbows, grip the tank with my legs and let the wind batter. Lean into it as you need to. If the arms are loose they act like shocks and the wind smacking my body dosn't batter the bike as much.

I hit a heavy wind at the bottom of the mountain every day. It works out.

If I keep my knees tight on the tank, I feel like I lost my balance bar. If I let the wind take me where it wants I'll end up in the wrong lane or off the road altogther. I have to counter it somehow and quickly.

Wrap yourself in bubble wrap, find a country road on a windy day, and report back

flw wrote:If I keep my knees tight on the tank, I feel like I lost my balance bar. If I let the wind take me where it wants I'll end up in the wrong lane or off the road altogther. I have to counter it somehow and quickly.

First, relax. No one can ride up tight.

Second, when the wind blows you left, steer right. When the wind blows you right, steer left. No matter what you think unless a tornado literally touches down next to you you're not going to get blown off the road.

There's no secret. Just relax.

The technique is as Icyhound stated. (This is also the technique for steel grate bridge decks, etc.) It took me about 1 1/2 years to get the relaxation down to get the most out of the technique. Bikes are subtle and sensitive mechanisms -- it doesn't take much body tension to throw off the feeling of control. If I'm not sure of myself, e.g. sudden gusty winds, the tension comes sneaking quickly back in. It took me awhile to become sensitive and recognize it for what it is.

flw wrote:If I keep my knees tight on the tank, I feel like I lost my balance bar. If I let the wind take me where it wants I'll end up in the wrong lane or off the road altogther. I have to counter it somehow and quickly.

I'll bet a decent sum that you're getting tense on the bars, possibly without realizing it. This magnifies the effect of the wind gusts on the bike - the wind catches your body too and you start making subtle little unintended steering inputs.

Riding in a heavy cross-wind is never fun and small bikes tend to compound the problem. Be aware of your lane position relative to passing trucks and going through underpasses as you can easily find yourself in the ditch from the sudden lack of or blast of wind. Other than that......practice.

flw wrote:

IcyHound wrote:I relax my arms and elbows, grip the tank with my legs and let the wind batter. Lean into it as you need to. If the arms are loose they act like shocks and the wind smacking my body dosn't batter the bike as much.

I hit a heavy wind at the bottom of the mountain every day. It works out.

If I keep my knees tight on the tank, I feel like I lost my balance bar. If I let the wind take me where it wants I'll end up in the wrong lane or off the road altogther. I have to counter it somehow and quickly.

Where does your riding position have you and your legs in relation to the bike? e.g on my ninja my knees are already right next to the tank, so gripping it is easy. On my harley to do it I would have had to slouch in my seat to have my legs get any sort of good grip so that was be no good. I found I felt best in the wind when I kept myself in good posture and just "sat up" more overall and try to keep my arms loose.

Is your turning issue a problem in the wind or with all turns?

A good way to learn to relax your arms is pretending that your handlebars are eggs. Squeeze tight and you crush them. When your hands aren't tight, your arms typically aren't tight. Any tightness and hte wind blowing you translates directly into steering input. Chances are a bit of the back and forth is probably caused by you being too tense as already mentioned.