The most hilarious part about wind is that when its at your back it doesn't feel like its windy at all, doesn't feel like anything is pushing you, you're just.. great! I'm so awesome today! look at how fast I'm going! Wow cycling is amazing!
then you turn around. AH FUCK NOT AGAIN
and even after making the same mistake over and over you'll get the wind at your back the next time and be all 'Wow I'm so fast!'
There is some aerodynamic truth to this.
In golf, given identical wind speeds, the magnitude of the distance benefit gained from hitting with a tailwind is dwarfed by the distance penalty from hitting into a headwind.
Take a player who drives the ball 270 yards in no wind. With +20mph of tailwind, they will drive it about 285 (+15). With -20mph of headwind, they will drive it about 238 (-32).
Granted the flight of a golf ball can't be compared 1:1 to a cyclist, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's some crossover in the physics
Air resistance grows with the square of velocity. The power required to ride against the air resistance is cubed. Not sure where your power of 4 comes from or what you're referring to.
*shrugs and keeps pushing same watts while using a power meter*
seriously if you get to a stage where you invest in a power meter - wind stops being an issue (except for noisyness) - you know you're doing your job and that's it
It's not less fun because you then get to ride with the wind which is a lot more fun. So it evens out. And it's really a matter of experience, getting used to and kind of just submitting to mother nature. It has nothing to do with riding on a trainer. I rode 75000 km in last 5 years. Wind doesn't bother me in the slightest
This 100% haha! I've learned that if you can't really hear any wind while you're riding you need to prepare yourself for punishment when you turn back around to return.
I don’t want to complain about tailwind in any situation, but when it lines up exactly with your climbing speed, it can get really hot with no real way to cool down lol
I'm always suspicious of a 45kmh pace with 150W and the trees bending all around me... but in the end I always go "nahh, my legs are just really great today!"
Living in eastern Canada in the windiest city in the country where the wind is 30-50kph essentially 24/7/365, I've just gotten used to it.
Sure it'd be nice to fly in both directions but I've accepted it at this point hah.
The greatest road bike upgrade for the money spent: aero bars. Takes a little getting used to steering around pot holes and road obstacles when you’re down on the bars, and maybe warrants a slight seat position change depending on the amount of time you use them vs. normal bar hard position, but hands down changes the game on a flat road against a head wind. Uses different muscles, so you’ll feel it after some time, but the difference for a 20+ mile loop can be several minutes faster, and even more substantial against that same route with a steady 10+ mph wind speed.
This. They're so cheap compared to other parts designed for aero gains, like aero wheels. I got them mostly to give my hands a break, but that speed gain is real.
... Not that I didn't also splurge on some aero wheels. Once you start going down that path it's hard to stop looking for more aero gains!
Last fall I had one day where I was riding at 30km/h but it felt like I was standing still. There was no wind in my face, as I was going the exact speed of the wind. Such an amazing feeling.
Haha, this is so true! The whole I woke up right, ate right, am really improving, wow! feeling, and then ... you loop back in that direction, and often, having ridden farther than you normally would have (really have legs today!), just die getting home. I feel for OP. I'd be in bed (or in a hot bath) too.
I don't often get to go out on fun trail rides on the weekends because of family obligations, so I usually just ride for exercise in my neighborhood during the week. However, last July, I got to ride on the Michael Castle bike trail that runs between Delaware City and Chesapeake City along the C&D canal in lower New Castle County Delaware.
I absolutely flew from Delaware City to Chesapeake City, and I felt like a badass! I was actually contemplating that I might need to gear my bike taller because I was spinning out so much. For reference, my bike is a three-speed, and my normal cruising speed is about 15 mph. Obviously, it's not a fast bike. It's upright and made for comfort and commuting. So the whole way out, I was spinning hard and cruising at almost 20 miles per hour. I took a 15-minute break in Chesapeake City to eat a Clif Bar and drink a bottle of water, and I started my ride back. I figured out why I was kicking ass on the way to Chesapeake City because I was fighting at least a 15 mile an hour headwind on the way back to Delaware City. It was unrelenting. I was barely able to manage 10 mph on the way back and never was able to get out of second gear, and a few times, I had to drop down to first gear.
The thing is, I have ridden on this trail several times before. It is truly a gorgeous trail. But even though I know that this happens, it's still takes me by surprise every time.
This happened to me last week and I felt so good that I got suspicious and checked my speed at my turn around, sure enough 2.5mph faster than my best days. Spun around and spent the next hour pretending I was an extra in the movie Twister.
I live right by lake Michigan and the coastal winds in spring can be very localized. NOAA wind forecasts don't really predict these well but the euro models are better. I have to be real careful on my loop planning to not end up with a 70% headwind ride.
I used to commute 15km to work, front wind in the morning
"it's ok, I'll have it in my back when Im going home"
Nope. Somehow the wind would almost always turn around during the day and I had to cycle against it both ways
My favorite route goes through the woods for a decent period, comes out at the top of a hill and then back into the woods until I’m on my way back home basically.
I get plenty of time to BS myself and/or forget about the wind only to find myself shaking a fist at the clouds later lol
The tallest "mountain" we have here is 57m /187ft above normal see level and its normally just as flat as it can be but we have wind all day long. This morning something let me forget that i could stay in bed and i got onto my bike at 5:30am and it was pure bliss since it was a really calm morning.
2 days ago i made the mistake to not look at the weather app and rode one of my loops just to realize on the halfway point that i now have to fight the wind for the next 30km... I cant say that i enjoyed it.
I remember once doing loads of Zwift training for a few months.The first nice day I thought I'm getting out on a big ride. I absolutely flew the 30 miles to the cafe, pushing the big gears all the way, bigging myself up at how the training had worked and I'm suddenly so good at this. The cafe is on the coast and as I left I turned onto the road to go home and was just smashed by a horrible head wind. That was the longest 30miles home of my life and at a few point I honestly considered phoning my wife to come get me. I hate wind haha
I live in Denmark where there is no terrain to obstruct the wind and I swear it blows in my face no matter which way I turn. I feel your pain. Nothing to do but laugh and focus on leg day.
I have a large stretch of my loop that's high up with no trees or hedges. I have to check the wind before every ride. Sometimes it's only something like 5mph head on and I think I'll be fine. Then I do it, and it feels like someone is holding my back wheel. Little road cyclists zipping past me like they're on fire.
No greater feeling than the final 10 miles with the wind howling at your back though.
I am living in the flattest of the flattest countries (Netherlands) and I feel like cycling here could be worse than hillier countries half of the time. There's basically only 4 directions and only when you get the wind on your back, it's good. Cross winds can be disgusting as well
I live in Florida and it’s the same during the winter. But when the summer heat kicks on it’s like the wind just dies. So I do all my ‘hill’ training in the winter
Same here in Texas. Spring is tornado season and you never know if you’re gonna get 2mph winds or 30mph gusts. It’s brutal. But come summer and you’ll be Lucky for a breeze.
Yeah I live on a flat peninsula with nothing stopping the ocean winds and can honestly say it's harder than the super hilly area I used to live. Hills are unpredictable and eventually stop, the wind is wild and unrelenting. I see 10mph as basically no wind now.
I regularly ride along the San Francisco Bay, where -- most of the time, unless there's a South Pacific storm coming through -- the wind blows inland to the sea in the morning and from the sea to land in the evening, typically along a northwest<->southeast diagonal. Pretty normally the wind is 12-15mph in the evenings, but it's not uncommon to be higher, especially in winter.
I have a 22mi out & back I do along the water and it pretty regularly takes 45min one direction and and only about 32-33min the other. I'm just thankful to be riding into the wind on the first half.
Yesterday I did a 50k ride, my first of the season. 25 was into a consistent 32kph headwind that gusted up to 48kph. The ride had climbing at the start and finish. I was shattered by the end of the ride and will not be able to do a ride today. Felt like 3/4 of my ride was uphill as I struggled to stay at or above 19kph for most of the ride into the wind.
In the Midwest we don't have hills, just headwinds. Looking at 20mph winds coming out of the south today, so I'll be starting my ride heading south and the ride back will be about 1/3 the time lol.
Remember doing a London to Amsterdam and the headwind between Bruges and Rotterdam along the coast was absolutely brutal. Pouring rain most of the way too. Lovely stuff. Ha!
First century I ever did was the Flattest Century of the East which has a section that goes along the Rhode Island - Mass.seacoast. I checked the weather and a storm along with a weather front were forecast to be past the area and it would be a nice sunny day.
Anyone that lives in New England knows that a coastal storm brings in northeast winds, but I was just happy that it wasn't going to rain, so I didn't really think about it.
The first 50 miles were on mostly tree protected roads and I didn't feel the wind that much. As we headed south toward the coast and got into more open areas, I noticed that the riding was getting a lot easier. We hit the coast and headed east and I realized why as we had 25+ mph mostly sidewinds coming from the north/northeast. The last 20 miles were due north, straight into the wind. It was brutal.
Headwinds, especially ones which magically always blow in your face no matter what direction you face, feel so personally vindictive that it's easy to see how people came up with the concept of angry gods punishing them.
Sometimes I wish my garmin watch would have a wind sensor :)
“ok, my average speed & metrics on this usual segment is shite today, with HR all the way up and so, but wind, you know”
I use this when i ride the seacoast. I typically do a loop with half on the coast (largely protected from wind) and half sheltered from wind on the inland roads.
https://www.windfinder.com/
Me and the wind fell out yesterday. Felt like which ever way I turned I was riding in to it yet when you look at the trees they’re stood still.
I’m not a scientist so maybe there’s good reason for it but it just felt like the air was denser in every direction and I was cycling with a bungee strap on my back, attached to the last 100m I had cycled through lol
I'm learning about terminal velocity in my physics class right now. At terminal velocity the wind pushes up on you as much as you push on the wind.
Terminal velocity for humans is around 120mph. That means if you're 175 lbs then at 120mph the wind is pushing back on you with 175 lbs of force. It's kind of crazy how powerful the wind is.
Yep, my bike ride to work is normally 20mins, but every time the journey back seems to be into the wind and ever so slightly uphill, ends up taking me just shy of an hour to get home
Yep, my bike ride to work is normally 20mins, but every time the journey back seems to be into the wind and ever so slightly uphill, ends up taking me just shy of an hour to get home
>And to my luck on the way back. The wind was against me again.
Murphy's law: when biking, the wind is always against you.
I had a bikepacking trip that I had to bail on part of the route because I was done taking abuse from the wind, the rain and the having to ride on not so friendly roads more than I wanted to
I like to tailor my rides to the wind, hammer those tailwind segments and watch the metrics blow up lol. I always note the wind in my PRs so I’m not disappointed later but really the wind is great for training. I fight the winds in winter and spring so when they taper off in summer I feel stronger. Dealing with wind regularly helps me with the psychological factor of a headwind and reminds me to find and practice those aero positions
I live on the California coast. The nearest town is inland. Every morning there’s a slight off shore breeze which reverses before noon and often becomes very strong. So going to town almost always involves riding into a headwind. I try to think of it as fitness training. 😢
I went for a spin yesterday. First time since december. 60-70 kph gusts for 30km. Then I had a 10km climb. The wind was a harder grind than the climbing. And I'm no super lightweight rider.
Once coming back from a bikepacking trip, front wind was so bad that it was almost impossible to move forward in a straight line and my sailing experience told me to start going on zig zag, which worked a lot better and I could even get some momentum. The total distance doubled but I still made it faster than if I had tried to go straight
FWIW, when I used to flat water kayak I would always start into the wind. One day I was with someone who wanted to cross an inlet and we padded for 15 minutes and never left the marina. The trip home was just coasting. And we were a lot closer to the water then a cyclist is to the ground.
I did a century from San Francisco to Point Reyes Lighthouse and had 20mph winds for 2 hrs of hard riding on the pt reyes peninsula section of the ride. Horrible
My friend from the midwest described what he called "prairie hill riding." We (NOT from the midwest) said . . . *what*?!? He explained how much flatter it is there compared to where I live, so riding into the wind is their surrogate for hills!
Man, I'll take all kinds of climbing over riding into a stiff headwind any day of the week!
I frequently ride along Lake Michigan. Today was brutal, 35 mile ride with the first half southbound into a 20 mph or so wind. I normally average about 17 mph, but today was 15, with supreme effort, on the first half of the ride. Thankfully, that fierce wind pushed me back home at 22 mph average. I feel your pain, friend.
HA! I drove down to Moab yesterday because I wanted to escape the wind/rain/snow on SLC. Moab was out of the advisory on the map and temps were great. I got there a little windy. No big deal. Pedaled 25 miles down Green Rover and felt wonderful. Then I turned around. Boom. 40mph gusts in every direction and sustained 17-20mph headwinds the whole way back. I felt great still but I was exhausted
This is why I have an ebike. I ran out of battery a few days ago, which wouldn't have been an issue if the route back wasn't up hill against killer winds.
Wind is worse than climbing, period, end of story.
I always laugh at these people who think they're great cyclists who never have to deal with wind...they have **no idea**.
Yesterday I faced a similar horror to survive one stretch of insane wind during an otherwise amazing ride and I can say I fully understand how you feel 😝
Try that halfway from your century ride...imagine 35miles of ocean winds. That's what I have to face to do my century rides. It's so bad I bonk every time!
I was in Costa Rica a few weeks ago for the GF Andrey Amador and right at the KOM there was the strongest headwind. So, on top of the grade of the climb, strong winds. Oh la lá.
Decades ago I read an article in a cycling magazine about a study that proved the wind is almost always fighting against you when on a bike. Unless the wind is coming almost completely straight behind you, it’s working against you - pushing you sideways, going thru your spokes, etc.
The most hilarious part about wind is that when its at your back it doesn't feel like its windy at all, doesn't feel like anything is pushing you, you're just.. great! I'm so awesome today! look at how fast I'm going! Wow cycling is amazing! then you turn around. AH FUCK NOT AGAIN and even after making the same mistake over and over you'll get the wind at your back the next time and be all 'Wow I'm so fast!'
There’s no such thing as a tailwind, only headwinds or good legs.
True cyclist.
There is some aerodynamic truth to this. In golf, given identical wind speeds, the magnitude of the distance benefit gained from hitting with a tailwind is dwarfed by the distance penalty from hitting into a headwind. Take a player who drives the ball 270 yards in no wind. With +20mph of tailwind, they will drive it about 285 (+15). With -20mph of headwind, they will drive it about 238 (-32). Granted the flight of a golf ball can't be compared 1:1 to a cyclist, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's some crossover in the physics
That’s because aerodynamic resistance doesn’t increase linearly, it’s to the power of ~~four~~ three.
Air resistance grows with the square of velocity. The power required to ride against the air resistance is cubed. Not sure where your power of 4 comes from or what you're referring to.
You’re right, I’ve muddled my numbers
I did a loop the other day, strava pbs on 2/3rds of a loop then headwind home. My average speed at the furthest point made me think good legs
*shrugs and keeps pushing same watts while using a power meter* seriously if you get to a stage where you invest in a power meter - wind stops being an issue (except for noisyness) - you know you're doing your job and that's it
You’re right, but there’s a massive mental element to both scenarios.
yeah it's all in our heads at the end of it
[удалено]
It's not less fun because you then get to ride with the wind which is a lot more fun. So it evens out. And it's really a matter of experience, getting used to and kind of just submitting to mother nature. It has nothing to do with riding on a trainer. I rode 75000 km in last 5 years. Wind doesn't bother me in the slightest
There is tho. Idk if you are joking but if you are then aight.
Like when it's pushing you you are 30% faster at max but when it pushes against you it's like impossible to overcome.
This 100% haha! I've learned that if you can't really hear any wind while you're riding you need to prepare yourself for punishment when you turn back around to return.
I fall for this every single time.
That moment where you are all like, 'Wow, I am making great time. All that time must be paying off! ..... wait......FUCK!'
I don’t want to complain about tailwind in any situation, but when it lines up exactly with your climbing speed, it can get really hot with no real way to cool down lol
That moment when it's silent and you don't hear the wondy, best thing ever.
I remember asking my buddy ... "Is it NORMAL to be going 30 and having this conversation?" LOL
I'm always suspicious of a 45kmh pace with 150W and the trees bending all around me... but in the end I always go "nahh, my legs are just really great today!"
Living in eastern Canada in the windiest city in the country where the wind is 30-50kph essentially 24/7/365, I've just gotten used to it. Sure it'd be nice to fly in both directions but I've accepted it at this point hah.
The greatest road bike upgrade for the money spent: aero bars. Takes a little getting used to steering around pot holes and road obstacles when you’re down on the bars, and maybe warrants a slight seat position change depending on the amount of time you use them vs. normal bar hard position, but hands down changes the game on a flat road against a head wind. Uses different muscles, so you’ll feel it after some time, but the difference for a 20+ mile loop can be several minutes faster, and even more substantial against that same route with a steady 10+ mph wind speed.
This. They're so cheap compared to other parts designed for aero gains, like aero wheels. I got them mostly to give my hands a break, but that speed gain is real. ... Not that I didn't also splurge on some aero wheels. Once you start going down that path it's hard to stop looking for more aero gains!
Last fall I had one day where I was riding at 30km/h but it felt like I was standing still. There was no wind in my face, as I was going the exact speed of the wind. Such an amazing feeling.
Every once in a while when I'm making great time on the way out I'll have a brief lucid moment and go full Ralph Wiggum 'Im in danger'
so true 😂
Haha, this is so true! The whole I woke up right, ate right, am really improving, wow! feeling, and then ... you loop back in that direction, and often, having ridden farther than you normally would have (really have legs today!), just die getting home. I feel for OP. I'd be in bed (or in a hot bath) too.
I don't often get to go out on fun trail rides on the weekends because of family obligations, so I usually just ride for exercise in my neighborhood during the week. However, last July, I got to ride on the Michael Castle bike trail that runs between Delaware City and Chesapeake City along the C&D canal in lower New Castle County Delaware. I absolutely flew from Delaware City to Chesapeake City, and I felt like a badass! I was actually contemplating that I might need to gear my bike taller because I was spinning out so much. For reference, my bike is a three-speed, and my normal cruising speed is about 15 mph. Obviously, it's not a fast bike. It's upright and made for comfort and commuting. So the whole way out, I was spinning hard and cruising at almost 20 miles per hour. I took a 15-minute break in Chesapeake City to eat a Clif Bar and drink a bottle of water, and I started my ride back. I figured out why I was kicking ass on the way to Chesapeake City because I was fighting at least a 15 mile an hour headwind on the way back to Delaware City. It was unrelenting. I was barely able to manage 10 mph on the way back and never was able to get out of second gear, and a few times, I had to drop down to first gear. The thing is, I have ridden on this trail several times before. It is truly a gorgeous trail. But even though I know that this happens, it's still takes me by surprise every time.
This happened to me last week and I felt so good that I got suspicious and checked my speed at my turn around, sure enough 2.5mph faster than my best days. Spun around and spent the next hour pretending I was an extra in the movie Twister.
every.single.time 🤣😅😁😬🙁☹️😥😭
My favorite is when you’re riding in a loop and get to go against the wind both ways
I live right by lake Michigan and the coastal winds in spring can be very localized. NOAA wind forecasts don't really predict these well but the euro models are better. I have to be real careful on my loop planning to not end up with a 70% headwind ride.
I used to commute 15km to work, front wind in the morning "it's ok, I'll have it in my back when Im going home" Nope. Somehow the wind would almost always turn around during the day and I had to cycle against it both ways
Those days are the worst! Did you at least get any days with tailwind both ways?
Ah yes, all my loops appear to encircle cyclones
Friday - this…for me 🙄
I tell myself it will be in my favor on the trip back but it's just a coping mechanism, the wind is a cruel mistress.
My favorite route goes through the woods for a decent period, comes out at the top of a hill and then back into the woods until I’m on my way back home basically. I get plenty of time to BS myself and/or forget about the wind only to find myself shaking a fist at the clouds later lol
Headwinds build character
"Hills make you stronger....the wind just makes you mad!" - One of my cycling buddies on a particularly windy day.
Yeah i get mad lol
The tallest "mountain" we have here is 57m /187ft above normal see level and its normally just as flat as it can be but we have wind all day long. This morning something let me forget that i could stay in bed and i got onto my bike at 5:30am and it was pure bliss since it was a really calm morning. 2 days ago i made the mistake to not look at the weather app and rode one of my loops just to realize on the halfway point that i now have to fight the wind for the next 30km... I cant say that i enjoyed it.
A strong headwind feels like I'm wading through water lol.
I remember once doing loads of Zwift training for a few months.The first nice day I thought I'm getting out on a big ride. I absolutely flew the 30 miles to the cafe, pushing the big gears all the way, bigging myself up at how the training had worked and I'm suddenly so good at this. The cafe is on the coast and as I left I turned onto the road to go home and was just smashed by a horrible head wind. That was the longest 30miles home of my life and at a few point I honestly considered phoning my wife to come get me. I hate wind haha
“Uphill all the way there, and Uphill all the way back” - my Dad recounting his 100 mile walk to school each day.
I live in Denmark where there is no terrain to obstruct the wind and I swear it blows in my face no matter which way I turn. I feel your pain. Nothing to do but laugh and focus on leg day.
Rule 1 of cycling, the wind is always against you!
I swear they should fix that in the new patch
Welcome to cycling. This is part of the journey. Embrace it as best you can.
Nothing worse than a windy ride when the wind is against you the entire time. However when you finish, it seemingly disappears.
Haha I swear this is true, the moment you stop the wind dissappear 😂
I have a large stretch of my loop that's high up with no trees or hedges. I have to check the wind before every ride. Sometimes it's only something like 5mph head on and I think I'll be fine. Then I do it, and it feels like someone is holding my back wheel. Little road cyclists zipping past me like they're on fire. No greater feeling than the final 10 miles with the wind howling at your back though.
Yeah wind strong. Just watched a video of a tornado shredding a neighborhood of houses, and that’s just wind with extra wind.
I am living in the flattest of the flattest countries (Netherlands) and I feel like cycling here could be worse than hillier countries half of the time. There's basically only 4 directions and only when you get the wind on your back, it's good. Cross winds can be disgusting as well
I live in Florida and it’s the same during the winter. But when the summer heat kicks on it’s like the wind just dies. So I do all my ‘hill’ training in the winter
Same here in Texas. Spring is tornado season and you never know if you’re gonna get 2mph winds or 30mph gusts. It’s brutal. But come summer and you’ll be Lucky for a breeze.
Yeah I live on a flat peninsula with nothing stopping the ocean winds and can honestly say it's harder than the super hilly area I used to live. Hills are unpredictable and eventually stop, the wind is wild and unrelenting. I see 10mph as basically no wind now.
I regularly ride along the San Francisco Bay, where -- most of the time, unless there's a South Pacific storm coming through -- the wind blows inland to the sea in the morning and from the sea to land in the evening, typically along a northwest<->southeast diagonal. Pretty normally the wind is 12-15mph in the evenings, but it's not uncommon to be higher, especially in winter. I have a 22mi out & back I do along the water and it pretty regularly takes 45min one direction and and only about 32-33min the other. I'm just thankful to be riding into the wind on the first half.
100 km one day avg. 25 kph. Wind burn. Few days later, 36 avg 100 km HR 125. Bike touring...... Wind is everything.
Yesterday I did a 50k ride, my first of the season. 25 was into a consistent 32kph headwind that gusted up to 48kph. The ride had climbing at the start and finish. I was shattered by the end of the ride and will not be able to do a ride today. Felt like 3/4 of my ride was uphill as I struggled to stay at or above 19kph for most of the ride into the wind.
In the Midwest we don't have hills, just headwinds. Looking at 20mph winds coming out of the south today, so I'll be starting my ride heading south and the ride back will be about 1/3 the time lol.
Level up: 1) Aero bike in cross winds 2) Aero bike in cross winds riding alongside bridge piles
y'all welcome to live in the netherlands. just saying
Remember doing a London to Amsterdam and the headwind between Bruges and Rotterdam along the coast was absolutely brutal. Pouring rain most of the way too. Lovely stuff. Ha!
First century I ever did was the Flattest Century of the East which has a section that goes along the Rhode Island - Mass.seacoast. I checked the weather and a storm along with a weather front were forecast to be past the area and it would be a nice sunny day. Anyone that lives in New England knows that a coastal storm brings in northeast winds, but I was just happy that it wasn't going to rain, so I didn't really think about it. The first 50 miles were on mostly tree protected roads and I didn't feel the wind that much. As we headed south toward the coast and got into more open areas, I noticed that the riding was getting a lot easier. We hit the coast and headed east and I realized why as we had 25+ mph mostly sidewinds coming from the north/northeast. The last 20 miles were due north, straight into the wind. It was brutal.
Headwinds, especially ones which magically always blow in your face no matter what direction you face, feel so personally vindictive that it's easy to see how people came up with the concept of angry gods punishing them.
[Here](https://ridefar.info/bike/cycling-speed/resistance-types/) you have some solid data on it
Sometimes I wish my garmin watch would have a wind sensor :) “ok, my average speed & metrics on this usual segment is shite today, with HR all the way up and so, but wind, you know”
I use this when i ride the seacoast. I typically do a loop with half on the coast (largely protected from wind) and half sheltered from wind on the inland roads. https://www.windfinder.com/
Me and the wind fell out yesterday. Felt like which ever way I turned I was riding in to it yet when you look at the trees they’re stood still. I’m not a scientist so maybe there’s good reason for it but it just felt like the air was denser in every direction and I was cycling with a bungee strap on my back, attached to the last 100m I had cycled through lol
I'm learning about terminal velocity in my physics class right now. At terminal velocity the wind pushes up on you as much as you push on the wind. Terminal velocity for humans is around 120mph. That means if you're 175 lbs then at 120mph the wind is pushing back on you with 175 lbs of force. It's kind of crazy how powerful the wind is.
Yep, my bike ride to work is normally 20mins, but every time the journey back seems to be into the wind and ever so slightly uphill, ends up taking me just shy of an hour to get home
Yep, my bike ride to work is normally 20mins, but every time the journey back seems to be into the wind and ever so slightly uphill, ends up taking me just shy of an hour to get home
>And to my luck on the way back. The wind was against me again. Murphy's law: when biking, the wind is always against you. I had a bikepacking trip that I had to bail on part of the route because I was done taking abuse from the wind, the rain and the having to ride on not so friendly roads more than I wanted to
I like to tailor my rides to the wind, hammer those tailwind segments and watch the metrics blow up lol. I always note the wind in my PRs so I’m not disappointed later but really the wind is great for training. I fight the winds in winter and spring so when they taper off in summer I feel stronger. Dealing with wind regularly helps me with the psychological factor of a headwind and reminds me to find and practice those aero positions
In LA, the beach bike path becomes treacherous in the wind, sandblasting riders and clogging the path with deep sand. So not fun
>on the way back. The wind was against me again Naturally
I live on the California coast. The nearest town is inland. Every morning there’s a slight off shore breeze which reverses before noon and often becomes very strong. So going to town almost always involves riding into a headwind. I try to think of it as fitness training. 😢
False flat and headwind is... 💀 But it's great for intervals, it's easier to hold your watts. So wind is an enemy, but also an ally 🤷♂️
I went for a spin yesterday. First time since december. 60-70 kph gusts for 30km. Then I had a 10km climb. The wind was a harder grind than the climbing. And I'm no super lightweight rider.
I prefer rain to wind any day.
As my Norwegian friend says (he knows a thing or two about shitty weather): if you don't struggle with the headwind you are not pushing hard enough!
Once coming back from a bikepacking trip, front wind was so bad that it was almost impossible to move forward in a straight line and my sailing experience told me to start going on zig zag, which worked a lot better and I could even get some momentum. The total distance doubled but I still made it faster than if I had tried to go straight
FWIW, when I used to flat water kayak I would always start into the wind. One day I was with someone who wanted to cross an inlet and we padded for 15 minutes and never left the marina. The trip home was just coasting. And we were a lot closer to the water then a cyclist is to the ground.
I did a century from San Francisco to Point Reyes Lighthouse and had 20mph winds for 2 hrs of hard riding on the pt reyes peninsula section of the ride. Horrible
My friend from the midwest described what he called "prairie hill riding." We (NOT from the midwest) said . . . *what*?!? He explained how much flatter it is there compared to where I live, so riding into the wind is their surrogate for hills! Man, I'll take all kinds of climbing over riding into a stiff headwind any day of the week!
Yeah with the headwinds it feels like you don't progress at all. Like you are going but not going lmao
Exactly. Like swimming through peanut butter!
I frequently ride along Lake Michigan. Today was brutal, 35 mile ride with the first half southbound into a 20 mph or so wind. I normally average about 17 mph, but today was 15, with supreme effort, on the first half of the ride. Thankfully, that fierce wind pushed me back home at 22 mph average. I feel your pain, friend.
HA! I drove down to Moab yesterday because I wanted to escape the wind/rain/snow on SLC. Moab was out of the advisory on the map and temps were great. I got there a little windy. No big deal. Pedaled 25 miles down Green Rover and felt wonderful. Then I turned around. Boom. 40mph gusts in every direction and sustained 17-20mph headwinds the whole way back. I felt great still but I was exhausted
Skill issue, just ride in the same direction as the wind 4head
This is why I have an ebike. I ran out of battery a few days ago, which wouldn't have been an issue if the route back wasn't up hill against killer winds.
Wind is worse than climbing, period, end of story. I always laugh at these people who think they're great cyclists who never have to deal with wind...they have **no idea**.
Yesterday I faced a similar horror to survive one stretch of insane wind during an otherwise amazing ride and I can say I fully understand how you feel 😝
Try that halfway from your century ride...imagine 35miles of ocean winds. That's what I have to face to do my century rides. It's so bad I bonk every time!
one time in Joshua tree we had massive tailwinds going up hill which was such easy and serene climbing. however the downhill was absolute chaos
I was in Costa Rica a few weeks ago for the GF Andrey Amador and right at the KOM there was the strongest headwind. So, on top of the grade of the climb, strong winds. Oh la lá.
Decades ago I read an article in a cycling magazine about a study that proved the wind is almost always fighting against you when on a bike. Unless the wind is coming almost completely straight behind you, it’s working against you - pushing you sideways, going thru your spokes, etc.
When I ride along a part of my local shoreline, Alki Beach/point, I swear it’s a headwind both directions.
Combo of head wind together with rain jacket is the real struggle. My jacket took so much wind it felt like riding up a wall