Commuting - Oh god, the wind!

I just got home. As some of you may know from my earlier thread, I did my first round trip (34mi) commute today.

The morning commute went great. My legs were a little more tired at work than I thought they'd be, but not so bad that I was worried about it. So, what do I find when I go to ride home? 18-23mph headwinds the entire way home. It took me an hour and 45 minutes to go 17 miles. I just got home. I'm so tired right now, and so hungry!

Same thing here. It's the same thing in Chicago with that wind off the lake. It's terrifying. Bleah. But you get used to it, and you learn how to ride in the wind by spinning.

Koffee

Don't fight the wind. Treat it as a longer ride and ride slower.

...by spinning.
Koffee
I'm riding a single speed. :p

Then learn how to spin on your singlespeed.

Koffee

Same thing here. It's the same thing in Chicago with that wind off the lake. It's terrifying. Bleah. But you get used to it, and you learn how to ride in the wind by spinning.


The problem is that "spinning" won't necessarily make a 17 mile commute go any faster. When the wind/slope keeps you down below 8MPH while your exertion level is still up at the 25MPH level, it gets very discouraging. :(

Spinning doesn't always make you go faster, unless you're efficient at it, but it saves A LOT of wasted energy.

Koffee

Mash through the wind, spinning is for girls.

Good for you notfred! Congrats on the commute both ways! I'm still gearing up for mine (40-mile round trip), and I hear ya about the wind. I love and appreciate those CALM days now!

I to live in NorCal, and this is the time of the year for the Westerlies. ITs going to be like this for the majority of days until late Spetember. You just have to get in the right frame of mind. Accept the wind as a challenge, dont get stuck on average speed- too depressing. Its great time to work on your aero posistion, stretch you back, try to go longer and longer and longer in the drops. Bottom line is the wind is there, and you just have to do the zen- by one with it.

The 1 constant I've learned since I've started commuting, the wind is never, ever in my favor. I've caught a nice tailwind once, everything else regardless if I'm coming or going is a headwind. I'm learning how to manage it better & now sometimes I actually find it fun getting into a nice headwind. What I really hate is barreling down a nice hill and getting caught in an unexpected cross-wind. Nearly got blown off the road 1 day. :eek:

Go head, eat some good food and rest - you've earned it.

Have you noticed you never get that fierce headwind when you're feeling strong? I keep my head down, my arms tucked and cadance up in a lower gear. So far I've always made it home.

After expereincing gusts that can blow you over. Normal wind seems like a cake walk. Just because it wears you down, at least you can ride.

I just go to the drops, put my head down and grind on. It's brutal sometimes.

My 30km each way commute starts monday - my wife got a new job (yay!) and needs our car. I know I am fit enough, but cannot help but feel some apprehension about the weight of the bike with my change of clothes etc etc on it (I have NEVER ridden with bags on the bike.... ever...) ;p At least for me, the prevailing wind will push me TO work, and not home. Whew.

Today saw some severe wind in the Reno/Sparks area. I rode from my office to a friends house 3 miles away and had a head wind and part of it was up hill to boot. This of course on my fixed gear. Flipped the wheel so I went down to 65 gear inches from 74, that helped but even by the time I got to my friends house I was whooped. Felt like a ride twice as long as that 3 miles, at least. Then I rode home from their house, which was about 7.5 miles. The wind was to my side most of the time and boy was it terrible. I had to fight to keep a straight line! Then it started raining, and where was all my rain gear? That's right, at home..... fortunately I only had to endure about 15 minutes of that....

The wind surrenders to me* and my workhorse.








*I cheat.

I will agree, that the wind is never there in my favor either. Maybe the wind is trying to tell me that I need to work on my endurance a little bit more before it will cut me a break.:rolleyes:

Here on the "pancake flat" eastern shore of Maryland, we get some serious sustained winds near 20mph along with gusts up to 30mph nearly all the time coming off the Chesapeake Bay. It is a part of the "landscape" in my mind, just as the hills were when I used to live in southwest PA. You learn how to deal with it, find your groove and push on. It makes the destination that much sweeter once your done!