Colnago Mixte

So. Have you ever had a descent that went right smack into a headwind? And you have to FIGHT just to get to the bottom of said hill? Now that's demoralizing.

hsuehhwa

I agree with you.

The bottom line is you can't stop headwind, you can't stop headwind reducing your speed (unlike climbing you'll see elevations). The "NEXT BEST THING" would be have a power meter that's giving you a relatively independent evaluation of your effort.

seypat

It's just like a long climb, except there is no descent on the end. When I mean a long climb, I'm talking about a 2-3 hour climb. Nothing but climb. No different than a 2-3 hour ride into the wind. On both you are counting your gains by 1/4 miles, telephone poles, etc. You are trying to make it to a landmark out in front of you. The main difference for me is that I can go a little faster in the wind. The climb burns my legs faster also. As for riding in the wind, I have plenty of experience with it. I grew up where this event is:

https://www.hh100.org/

This ride offers an option to do the 13-14 mile mountain climb only. You could test it out for yourself. Come down and do it with your Addiction buddy Dan. Visit the relatives and make a vacation out of it. It is considered by many as one of the better riding events in the country.

The 9th Annual Storming of Thunder Ridge - May 20, 2018 - Storming of Thunder Ridge Storming of Thunder Ridge - www.stormingofthunderridge.org

I had this pre-swim for a tri that was in the James River a few years ago, We were supposed to go in at the exit point, swim upstream to the starting point(600 yards) then swim/float back to the exit point. There had be a lot of rain so the river was up with a strong current. The current was so strong, that only a couple of swimmers made it to the turn around point. Most, including me only made it about a hundred yards. They blew a whistle after 40 minutes and made everyone float back to the start. I would swim for 5 minutes and still be next to the same landmarks along the shore! It made for an easy swim at the event. you could just float and still get to the exit point fairly quickly.

fietsbob

Motor pacing .. you ride behind the guy on a motorbike , so you don't have to break the wind yourself.

Paul Barnard

It is not at all just like it. I can never recall a spectacular view that rewarded a 3 hour long pedal into a headwind. I get one with all of my long climbs. I can never recall looking back a trees waving in a stiff breeze and thinking "I conquered that." I don't know of any websites that rate headwind rides. There are many climbing related websites. I can't think of any race that has a King of the Breeze category. As I peruse these forums, I often see threads devoted to the thrill of conquering a climb. Few celebrate bucking headwinds. People plan trips around conquering climbs. I don't know that I have ever heard of a cyclist who planned a ride to coincide with strong headwinds. Wind sucks. Mountains are cool. That is all.

Seattle Forrest

I leave my Garmin on the power screen, and wind really isn't very demoralizing at all.

EventServices

that's the problem!

NoWhammies

Yah, I can't equate riding in to wind to a climb. Sorry. A climb has a definitive start and end. Plus there is the reward of doing the descent. A headwind is just a demoralizing, punishing force that you never know when (or if) it will even end. I'll take a hill climb ANY day a headwind.

That said, I do agree with those of who said that looking at your power output is one way to at least make the best of a bad situation.

mcours2006

70-85 km/h head wind gusts on the way home today. Dreading it already.

hsuehhwa

It probably has something to do with Strava. Strava has dramatically changed recreational road cycling. You can quantify and therefore brag about elevations and average speed, but NOT a big headwind.

If you're in a long (1-2 mi), steep (>9%), and relatively straight descent, headwind is not necessarily a bad thing. It helps you slow down.

seypat

I apologize people, I had to go out and work instead of goofing off on a Friday afternoon. NASCAR is in town this weekend, Hard to get around with all of the traffic.

As for me comparing a climb to a ride into headwind, I was commenting only on the physical aspect of it. The overall experience, that varies from person to person. I don't care for climbing, but riding into a strong headwind doesn't bother me that much. That being said, I have done both of the rides I linked above. If I had to recommend one or the other based on nothing more than the route and riding conditions, I would choose the climbing route for exactly the reasons people have stated above. At least the climbing route has some pretty scenery/views and descending.

wipekitty

I think my signature says it all

Getting aero definitely helps with headwinds, though I still don't like them. The sideways wind gusts on the ridgetops really get me, though - I feel like I'm going to get blown straight off the road!

Robert A

Well also if a wagon wheel broke, they's just stop and then freeze to death during the inevitable hard winter. They'd be found (dead) years later, then wind up becoming famous for their exploits.

CliffordK

Wind is great...

As long as it is behind oneself.

I had a pretty good 150 mile or so ride this early spring. A little light sleet, the weather would have bitten into me if it had been blowing into my face (as it often does on my northbound rides), but instead it was like riding in a bubble. Just PERFECT. The occasional corner and crosswinds were rough, but survivable.

Colnago Mixte

And?

Abe_Froman

You forget about the situations where you can brag about holding 30mph on a flat segment. No need to mention the 25mph tailwind

SylvainG

Had some very strong wind too but tail winds Did some pretty good time on Strava. Got home a few minutes before major rain/wind storm. F2 tornado about 10 kilometers from my place, lots of power outage.

mcours2006

Yeah, the wind wasn't as bad as the numbers indicate. Still strong, and almost blown off a couple of times with sudden gusts, but made it back in one piece before the rain hit as well.

Here's to timely departures.

colnago62

lyrictenor1

One thing that helps me is having a page on my bike computer that doesn't display speed, but it has power, cadence, heart rate, etc. That way I can set my pacing based on power or heart rate, and not get demoralized by seeing the low speeds.

Voodoo76

Not at all. I head out on an hour & 30 route and end up with an hour & 40 ride, bonus!!

McBTC

True... I think avg. mph pretty much captures all of these elements. On a Cateye I choose RPM as the main display so I don't get actual mph but I don't miss ithat. I had a ~9 mph headwind off left shoulder yesterday as is usual on the return leg of the ride but I didn't mind it at all as I was on a record average mph pace, which was a motivating-- more so than flipping through other available stats like maximum mph.

Riveting

Wind means next to nothing to me (as long as I don't have an ETA to contend with like on a commute to work, but if there's headwinds I just start the commute earlier). I ride with a power meter, so if my training plan says today is my day to put out 230 watts on extended pulls, that's what I do. A headwind (or uphill) just means I'm going slower, and a tailwind (or downhill) means I'm going faster, but either way I'm putting out 230 watts. Even without a power meter, this can easily be done in the same manner if you effectively know how to ride-by-feel/RPE.

KraneXL

If you want to avoid the winds ride at the crack of dawn, before they develop. In any event, the predominant wind is only going to come from one direction at a time. If you feel anything different then its like the eddies and current around buildings and such. I suspect you may have a lot of different topography where you live. That could explain the multiple changes in wind direction you seem to experience.

Here in LA we get the prevailing west winds that blow from the southwest. Riding towards the cost they're not that bad, but riding eastward it feels like I'm jet propelled. Just the boost that's greatly appreciated on your return trip.

zacster

A few years ago I decided to make peace with the wind. I offered up my first born, and the wind offered up matching tailwinds to the headwinds. The deal was made, my son is still PO'ed at me.

And seriously, I decided that I was just going to ride as hard as I could sustain and not look at MPH. When I got a power meter this year it made it that much easier since now I just ride for power, not speed. It is fun to ride at 30mph, but if you have a tailwind or are going downhill you aren't getting a workout doing it. It doesn't matter if I'm putting out 200 watts and only going 10mph vs. 200 watts at 20, unless you have a time crunch.