Fifty Plus (50+) - It kinda blows...

...when that head wind you've been battling all the way up from home turns into the cross wind that tries to blow you over while waiting to cross the six lane highway on your way to work.

Just sayin'

Then again, some people had problems with wind and golf balls Friday.

My rides on Long Island, NY frequently start on the south shore in Nassau County (western section not the city), taking me north to the hills, usually with a head wind when it's a nice day , as prevailing winds will be NNW. If the ride is long enough, which they are in the summer, I then get the on-shore breeze off the Atlantic sometime around 11AM, so head wind going out and head wind going home. Only way to avoid it is to get out before 7 so a 4 hr ride sometimes misses the ocean wind. That means getting up early. I'll take the wind.

SB

That probably wasn't a headwind on the way out so slow down.

5mph tailwind when you are travelling at 25mph will give you that 20mph headwind.

It is summer over here--well at least the temp is up and the sun keeps shining. Most years we have a Southerly as the prevaling wind. This year it is a South Westerly to West wind so all the routes have been messed up. Try to go out with a headwind to take advantage of a tailwind home- but west is flat and open and boring. Always have a difficult ride with crosswinds now and they are not good.

Just a passing gripe: I live near Reno, Nev., and commute 12 miles to work a few times a week. Because the ocean is to our west (~175 miles, but still a factor) and the desert to our east, we often have light to mod headwinds blowing straight into my face on the way in. Not really a problem, but a constant annoyance. Then the desert heats up, the air rises, more air rushes in to fill the void and we ALWAYS (from about April to August) have 20-30mph headwinds going home. On a still day I can make the climb from work to home in 48-50 minutes. On a typical windy summer afternoon it takes an hour to 1:10.

I don't much care for the wind either. The other day it was 111 and I was about cooked. Had two flats that day and was running late after a stop at the LBS too. I had a tail wind of about the same speed that I was going. That means there was not a breath of air moving over my body. I didn't know I would ever curse a tail wind. Well at least it wasn't a head wind.

I know it is hot when I welcome a head wind on the final leg of a long ride when I'm out of gas and can't turn the pedals fast enough to get some air flow over my overheated body without Mother Nature blowing in my face.

Just think how boring cycling would be without wind or hills.