CraigB

Tonight's Bumble B shop ride was the windiest yet. NWS webpage on my phone at the start listed 22 mph steady winds out of the north, with gusts to 28. The headwind on the way out continually broke us into several smaller groups and I managed to bridge a few times, but then finally fell off for good as we turned to come home. At one point, with the tailwind I was chasing at 31.7 mph on flat terrain and was still losing ground on the leaders. I've never ridden that fast on a flat road in my life.

Into the wind all I could think of was Marty Feldman's famous line from the graveyard scene in Young Frankenstein: "Could be worse...could be raining." Coming back all I could think of was "if I'm riding over 20 mph, why do I feel like I'm just crawling along?"

Finished the 26.1 miles with a moving average of 17.8, coming in with one other rider. At least there was some comfort to be had in knowing there were still others behind us. For anyone interested, here's the Garmin data.

TrojanHorse

I love a good tailwind... you did it right though - always smarter to go into the wind first. I wore myself out blasting along with a tail wind once and then uh oh, had to make it back.

Nice ride!

jethro56 

I was going west this afternoon around 4 and I swear a gust of wind moved my rear tire a couple inches south.

CraigB

I believe it. I know there were a few times this evening when I was going west and it steered my bike for me. Not where I wanted it to, mind you.

CJ C

wind sucks, its not visual you can never tell when its going to end or get worse. or you get these little stops of wind and are so happy that the fighting is over then all the sudden after a minute of relief it comes back and you want to cry.

the worst is when it feels like you are fighting the wind both out and back in. or when the wind has you cranking away at 100rpm and your HR spiking but your going nowhere at 8-9mph. or when there is no wind at the start of ride so you hammer away only to get a random heavy gust close to the finish after your already spent.

all that said to average 17mph with wind, craig you have become my new clyde idol.

mprelaw

Great fun on a 19 pound frame with 23mm tires.

I'll take 25 mph winds head-on anytime over a 20 mph crosswind.

CraigB

I appreciate the sentiment, but remember a big part of that average was going out into the wind as part of a good-sized group. If I'd done that whole ride solo, my average would have probably been under 15, or maybe even in the 14 range.

jethro56 

Sandbag

Big Pete 1982

That's some tough wind! It seems like whenever I ride on a windy day, it's always in my face!

mocolotion

I just got back from a 30 mile ride up here in New Hampshire in some pretty windy conditions. Unfortunately the way it worked out for me was the first half of the ride I was losing elevation and had the wind at my back. There was about a two mile section where I was spinning at 37 mph, then another where I saw 42 mph for a short stretch. That was fun, however as soon as I turned west to head back home at mile 16 I was pummeled not only by the wind, but also by the fact that I was at the lowest point of my ride and I had about 1800 feet of climbing ahead of me before I got home.

As I suffered up those hills I was thinking that the either the hills or the wind alone would probably be enough for me, but both of them together were making for a serious pain fest. At one point as I rode past the town offices in New Ipswich, the sight of the flags furling in the wind straight at me made me wonder if I was going to make it home. Here I am, but man, that was brutal. It was also 42 degrees, but I'm hoping these April rides will make me appreciate the rest of the season that much more.

CJ C

when its real windy 25-35mph i stay in traffic areas to draft slow cars so its like riding with a group

and a 14mph average into the wind is still dang awesome. and considering clyde status its even more of admirable feat.

vesteroid

Great effort Craig

Hope by the end of the season I can get where you are now. This is my taper week prior to my half next Sunday so just had 6 miles this morning. I ran my fastest time yet by over z10 seconds a mile. Was pretty happy with that. Two weeks from now the bike training starts in ernest.

CraigB

To put this in perspective, I just returned from a morning ride with Jethro over in Charleston, IL, in support of their Exchange Club. A little windy, but nothing like what we've been experiencing over the previous couple of weeks. Long story short, just the two of us, riding without benefit of a group, or doing any drafting of our own, finished the 25 miles with a moving average of 14.4, according to my computer. Granted, we weren't pushing hard, but it was easy to see how the speed drops when you don't have shelter.

BTW, despite slightly chilly temps and overcast skies (and a couple of roads that were a little sketchy due to, in one case, bad pavement and in the other about 3" to 4" of water across the road) , it was a fine little ride with a great riding companion. Thanks, Jethro. I had a terrific time, and the burger for lunch at Joey's afterwards was fantastic.

jethro56 

We were a little faster than I thought. I was guessing 14.0. When you have good company, the effort level seems to be less. The ride did expose how I've slacked off on aerobic conditioning. I'll be including what goes for hills around here once a week. I'll have to admit I felt guilty going home and taking a nap this afternoon while you drove home. I'm thinking we need to find some routes south of Terre Haute to ride. Though they may play banjos around there.