How windy is too windy on the bike?

I always at least try.  If I feel unsafe (i.e. crosswinds) then I might bail - or, if I see large debris flying around up to and including a tornado.   General hard wind?   Yeah, it stinks but I go hoping for a tailwind at some point.    I regularly ride in 20-25 mile winds with gusts, it's pretty much expected in the afternoon.

I can ride in that, but it's more a question of whether I want to. If you're not really sure of your handling start in a more protected area. Stay away from busier traffic areas. If it's too much then go back inside. 20-30 mph average is no joke.

And in general, more size tends to help with this, as in, the wind has less of an effect. Sand blows more easily than a boulder.

As a big guy you'll fare better in crosswinds than the little sprites.  The reason is that your surface area increases by the power of two as you get bigger, but weight increases by the power of three; so bigger athletes have less wind force per pound to contend with.

This is why you'll see the male pros generally run deeper wheels in Kona than the top women.

To ride well in crosswind gusts keep a light grip on the bars, but also make sure to put enough weight on the front wheel (shift forward a little).

I just think about this one with Calvin and Hobbes: 

http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/05/06

No seriously, it's not so much the wind as the gusts, you can work against a steady head wind, you can work against a steady side wind, but but the sudden gusts winds hand blow you to the other side of the road, especially at high speeds.

Take a look at the route, google street view is great, and check if there are nice tree cover or buildings along the route, it might not be that bad.

Cheers, Erik

Somewhere around this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8qgjyqibwY&hd=1

make sure to watch past the 47 second mark....

i did a ride like that 2 months ago.  it was brutal.  however, the next ride when there was no wind felt amazing.  

if its just wind i would go for it, its only going to give you the experience of riding in tough conditions and make you are better cyclist for it.

besides, Rule #9

It's probably not going to be much of a fun ride at that.  But I will say last year I did a 30 mile ride in 50-60 MPH gusts and probably 30-40 sustainted.  At one point when a lid from a kids sand box came flying at us like a frisbee I thought maybe we should not be out there. A few times I was holding on for my life.  Glad I did it but was glad when it was over. Probably would have been a better day on the trainer.  Even then though I hate that darn thing.

Ha! I had to chase my trash can down this afternoon!

I rode in 25 mph sustained, 35 mph gusts yesterday afternoon. I spent most of the time laughing. It was actually a lot of fun. Totally hard. But I kept repeating to myself, "Hard is good. Hard is good."

Also, look for tree rows for recovery, but watch out for them, too. I noticed that the wind seems especially gusty the first few seconds before the tree row and especially the first few seconds after the tree row.

And gaps in tree rows are just evil.