Road Cycling - Headwind sucks!!

My God I just can't believe how hard it is to ride into the wind!! I was a mile from home yesterday after about a 12 mile ride. When I turned south I was facing directly into the wind. I really didn't know if I was going to make it back home or not! Give me a big-@$$ hill any day!!! I'll be hurting when I get to the top but at least there is A TOP. With the wind, it just goes on and on and on. Maybe some of you all like the wind but this relative beginner HATES IT!! :(

My freakin' legs are still hurting!!! :eek:

I kind of like the occasional strong headwind -- but on the outbound leg -- it's good training and I find that I feel like I've really achieved something when I keep my average high. One place I really like to train is the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit. It's in the middle of the Seaway and when the wind gets up, it reall whips along the back stretch. Good interval training.

A good headwind isn't bad, a crosswind will kill you.

Yeah I hate those crosswinds. The only thing that I don't like about a headwind is that I can't go as fast. A few rides ago, I was out one windy day, and the fastest I could go was 17 to 18 miles per hour because the headwind was just too strong to go any faster.

I agree with velo's comments, but where I've found to ride thus far and the way it's gone over the last couple of months, a headwind from 15 to 20 or so mph on the RETURN leg has been typical. Never thought I'd like going uphill, but at least the wind is blocked to a degree. I can't justify driving farther out so I'll have the wind at my back on the return. Oh well, maybe the direction will be different come summertime.

Give me extreme heat, give me extreme cold, give me rain or give me sleet. Give me anything but wind. I hate it, its just no fun at all.

I guess I now have a better understanding of what this "peloton" business is all about and why they can almost always catch a breakaway rider at the end of a race. :beer:

Find a good gear and repeat "the wind is my friend, the wind is my friend".

And another thing that sucks.............LACTIC ACID! :( The back of my thighs and my butt are KILLING ME! :D :D :p :p

I guess thats why my fiance calls me a freak. I love the "pain". It just means you are getting better and stronger.

"Headwind sucks!!"

No, they blow!

I just got in from a 35 mile ride and it seemed that all but 12 of it the side wind was so strong it was a killer. The best advice I can give in a windy ride is quit looking at the speedo, keep in a gear that lets you spin and focus on form rather than speed. You will make your mark that way. We actually have a long sloping strech of road that I have ridden many times up hill 50% faster than down on the way back home!:eek:

Going into headwinds- gah! Drives me nuts, and it seems that the wind always picks up just as I set out on a ride. Sometimes, though, I like to use the opportunity to wind-train and I have gotten stronger, but sometimes I just get **^&%^(&&^% sick of always grinding into the west wind! Sometimes I like to get up to a decent speed!

Originally posted by fubar5
A good headwind isn't bad, a crosswind will kill you.
thats so true! i l ive in a coastal area so we have a lot of variable winds , the best bit is when you have a calm day & theres no wind it feels like youve got a tail wind :D . as i said somewhere before ,i have biopace on my main bike & while i dont think their the best ,i find the smaller 42 ring is good for pushing a headwind for long periods, but different strokes for different folks!;)

I have been griping to myself about the wind a lot lately. This is my first winter riding (just started in June) and it seems to be always windy, and always in my face. Its hard enough to climb at my weight, and I have pretty broad shoulders so it makes a great cross-section for the wind to push against. I swear it literally feels like a hand in my chest pushing me backwards.

I did manage to really catch a nice tailwind today which literally blew me up that last hill on the way home. I was going at least 4 mph faster than I usually can haul my bigness up that hill.

I actually found myself wishing I had a sail to throw out and catch more of the wind :)

I love headwinds. The more the better. The only time I don't like them is when they come from the north - around here that adds a good 5-6 degrees C to the temperature.

Headwinds are great training tools. During training, it doesn't matter how fast you go all the time....but working your circles will produce power and speed when the winds die down (next season for most of us)

I have to agree with that, it does give you the opportunity to train, and there is no doubt it's had its benefits. I noticed I was stronger, but there are times when you just dont' feel like grinding into the headwind. But then you're rewarded on the way home when the wind is behind you, unless it changes direction.

Originally posted by Chris L
I love headwinds. The more the better. The only time I don't like them is when they come from the north - around here that adds a good 5-6 degrees C to the temperature. As soon as I saw a thread about headwinds I knew that Chris would be posting.:D

I agree. Headwinds can make for an uncomfortable ride.
As others have suggested I find it best not to push to big a gear, to spin at a speed you feel comfortable with, also it helps to tuck into as much of a position of least resistance, hands down on the bottom of the drops, this feels quite uncomfortable for a long period of riding, but the more you persist with it your body adapts and flexability for such a position increases.
At first I struggled to cover a mile in the drops, but now after much headwind cycling I can persist for several miles without need to change position.

Enjoy it all. Granted headwinds can take your ego away, but they tend to really help you build. So downshift, go slower, spin

Had one of those rides today: every uphill, a headwind. Every downhill and flat, a crosswind (at least it felt so). I think the wind today was gusting around 25-30 mph. Felt good to be out, though.

Will be riding in southern NY tomorrow and the forecast is for a high of 39F and windy with gusts to 35 mph...oh well, like the temp, but not the wind, but a day out riding is still a day out riding!