No cycling today!

I’d just finished getting the boys to bed last night and was about to sit down for a quiet moment when I heard a familiar rumbling, whooshing sound in the distance.

A few seconds later and there was a thud, following by groaning and creaking as the first of the real winter winds slammed into the croft.

The door to the old cottage blew in, the lighter chicken houses were knocked askew, any detritus lying about the steading vanished in an instant and small branches were sent flying off the trees.

The wind continued all night and was still blowing hard this morning, to the extent that I had to walk bent over into the wind when I did the chores.

Given that whole trees were moving down to ground level, considerable effort was needed to walk into the wind and I watched a couple of vans swerve on the road as the wind hit them, I’d say the wind speed was about 40mph or so.

The wind still had not dropped when it came time to cycle the Wee ‘Un to nursery, so I decided not to chance it.

It would have been risky on a conventional bike with a toddler seat or tag-along, but given the large surface area of the Kangaroo’s cabin, I know I would have been blown along at a great rate of knots while the wind was behind me.

Cycling home, uphill and into a 40mph wind, would have been nigh on impossible (I can just make it home in a 20-25mph head wind), while cross winds would have seen me blown off the road.

It’s interesting to consider what stops a commited cyclist.

The MinusCar project has looked at the issue of cold weather and Michael is quite proud of continuing to cycle when the temperature has dropped to -1C.

He’s also written before about cold and rain, with it being too wet for him to ride at times.

For me, though, cold is not the issue - we’ve been out when it’s -6C and it just takes a little more thought when dressing and then heading out.

Rain, sleet and ice tend not to stop us either, although we’ve yet to try tackling snow.

No, for us the stopper is strong winds.

Many years ago I was riding a racing bike to work along a long stretch of exposed road between my then home and town.

The road had flat fields on either side, with hills off in the distance, down which the wind would blast and then smash across the road with its full force.

I’d made it about halfway to town when a particularly vicious gust picked me up, threw me across the road, over a barbed wire fence and deposited me about five metres into a field.

Bike and I came off unscathed as it was a ploughed field, but ever since I’ve had a healthy respect for wind when cycling.

So today, the Wee ‘Un gets to stay home and play as there is no way I’m about to ride the Kangaroo into or across a 40mph wind.

I know my limits!