mtalinm

Rain can be handled with fenders + clothing.

Studded tires take care of ice.

Lights work at night.

But there is no cure for wind. "Crouching in the drops" only sorta-kinda helps. Yuck - 40-50mph the whole 13 miles home, took an extra 20 minutes and felt like I'd gained 50 pounds.

koolerb

I did a quick (or not so quick) lunch time ride today, about 15 miles. The entire uphill leg was directly into 30 mph wind. Good friggen workout anyway.

dvald001

I find that the best way to deal with a hard wind is to put your head down, grit your teeth, and keep pedaling until you look up 20 minutes later and find yourself in the same friggin' spot.

phulin

On the flip side, I just took a late-night ride out to the harbor and it was friggin' awesome. The view of Boston was amazing, and when you had the wind at your back you just kept upshifting and the pedaling never felt any harder.

Of course, coming home today over the Harvard Bridge was absolutely awful. Terrible cross-wind. Maybe it's my mindset, but I'm way more enthusiastic about inclement weather when it's my choice...

Bluish Green

I agree, wind is the worst. I can deal with most other weather elements, but high sustained winds are brutal.

I find that the wind effect is even multiplied further if you are pushing winter studded tires. It feels like you are riding with one of the brakes rubbing.

Bike Gremlin

Wind is the best. I am happy when it is not blowing in my face and VERY happy when it is blowing at my back. I LOVE the wind. On those occasions when it happens to be blowing in my face i pretend to be climbing a mountain and think of the happy ride back, with the wind at my back.

henkie327

Yesterday had strong gusty winds on my commute. Rain and wind in the back going to work had me flying. But I had to fight the same strong winds on the return leg that completely drained me. I was on autopilot and just tried to keep a steady cadence shifting down and down and down as needed. Luckily it was a sunny afternoon and boy was I glad when I finally got home. Usually it takes me less than an hour to cover the distance, but this time it took me a little over an hour and a half.

scroca

What's all this stuff about drops and shifting?

And why has nobody mentioned headwinds so strong that you have to stand up to pedal while going down a hill?

The worst is strong, gusting crosswinds, especially if you have to ride in traffic. My advice in that situation is to take the lane so you have room to be buffeted side to side while not suddenly swerving into the path of a motorized vehicle.

hyhuu

Headwind allows you to work on or fine tune your arerodynamic position. Tailwind gives a wonderful sensation when you are flying at 20+ mph but it is absolutely quiet, except for the sound of the tires and drivetrain.

agent pombero

I don't like headwinds. My bicycle will never be finely tuned for an aerodynamic position due to its upright riding position.

Steely Dan

as a daily commuter along lake michigan's windy-ass shore, i freaking hate wind.

the thing that bothers me most about savage headwinds is that they don't stop. at least with a hill climb you can push to get to the top because you know the reward waiting for you on the other side, but with wind, it just keeps blowing and blowing right in your face.

and to double your pleasure, how about strong winds and skyscraper canyons? that's always an "interesting" time.

CenturionIM

For me the best part is stopping and going. When I get tired riding into the headwind, I get off the bike and rest a bit. Then while stopped I think to myself, hey the wind is not so bad, let's give it another try.
Hop on bike, and as soon as I accelerate past the 8-9mph mark the wind is there again. grrr.

windhchaser

im not that bad

sternzeit

Worst feeling in the world: Downshifting to keep a decent cadence into a 25mph headwind and the shifter goes "thud" because your already in the lowest gear. Cyclocomputer says 9mph and heart rate is 150ish.

Best feeling in the world: Upshifting to the highest gear because I'm bouncing out of the saddle with a 25mph tailwind. Cyclocomputer says 34mph and heart rate is 90ish.

cyccommute 

I would council that all of you people in the east who don't live where high winds are a regular occurrence be very cautious during high wind events. Here along the Front Range of the Rockies, we get significant wind events all the time. I can even gauge the wind by the sound it makes in the powerlines. However, the winds here have a bit of a Darwinian effect. Anything that isn't nailed down has already blown to Kansas. Any tree that was going to fall over has fallen over and branches that have be blown out of the tree. We get a lot of dirt and dust but very few houses blowing around in 40 mph (sustained) winds with 80 to 100 mph gusts.

But if your trees, houses, cars, little dogs, small women, etc. aren't used to high winds, they could be flying at you. Small dogs and even small women are pretty easy to deal with. A house on the other hand may carry a small Kansas girl with red shoes

alexaschwanden

No wind is better.

David Bierbaum

When it's coming strong from the front, or gusting heavily from the side when you have panniers on, it can truly be said that "Wind Totally Blows!" It's annoying to have such a small ratio of distance gained to effort expended in a strong headwind...

I'm kind of glad I don't live in Colorado now. I'm imagining my feet sticking out from under a house, as a little girl comes out and tells her small dog "Gosh! I don't think we're in Kansas anymore!"

DogBoy

headwind....it happens. Shift gears, go slower, takes longer, you still get there. (Statement applies for wind-speeds up to 30ish mph. Above that, use caution) Also provides excellent excuse to buy a powermeter so you can say "I pulled out 400 watts and smoked this other guy on the commute in" instead of saying "It took me an extra 15 minutes and I only went 9 mph due to the wind, but I did at least pass someone else."

Doohickie

Wind is FRIEND. Make you STRONG LIKE BULL.

paul2432

Truly strong wind can kill you, or at least make riding impossible. When you need to put your foot down every 30 seconds to keep from being blown over it's time to seek alternate transportation.

Interestingly, I've found a sudden lull in a crosswind can be just as devastating as the wind itself when the counter-balancing force to your lean is suddenly eliminated.

Doohickie

It's usually on the ride back that I get the headwinds. I've taken to tacking off the direct headwind direction, riding a few miles out of the way, then riding back across to my neighborhood with a crosswind, and completing with about a mile of wind at my back.

dramiscram

Yesterday morning I had a big 30-40 kmh tailwind and did my 27.2 kms commute in 1h07 with studded tires
last night the wind didn't change so it took me 1h45 to get back home. F****** wind!

tarwheel 

I wouldn't say wind is the worst because I hate riding in pouring rain, lightning, snow and ice. However, wind is the worst weather condition that I frequently ride in. Like others said, wind is worse than hills because at least you get a downhill when climbing. Of course, tailwinds exist in theory but I rarely ever seem to encounter them and crosswinds are almost as bad as headwinds. This morning the wind was howling out of the west, and I had perhaps 2 miles of tailwinds out of my entire 15-mile commute. About 5 miles was directly into the wind, and the rest was crosswinds. I suffered.

Burton

Guess it depends - strong steady winds out of the west here this morning. Full garbage cans were being strewn across the roads. I was in low gear, lifting the front wheel off the ground ocassionally - and going nowhere fast! It was kinda fun cause I only had a half dozen blocks to go and the ride back almost didn't require pedalling! But could've been pretty annoying if I actually had to go across town.

fietsbob

Velomobile ! sitting in a streamlined bubble.