JoelS

Here in the Sacramento area, it's been much windier than normal. My wife always had a lot of trouble dealing with it. She's pretty small, at about 105 lbs. We really worked on her technique this year, and she's doing much better. Here's what we worked on....

- Proper posture. Use your core. Don't lean on your hands. Roll your hips forward, flat back, support your weight with your core. For this to work, your saddle has to be in the right position so that you are well balanced over the cranks.
- Relaxed shoulders, arms, neck, etc. and relaxed grip on the bars. Staying loose and relaxed allows your bike to self-correct when a gust hits. You will no longer be fighting the wind, but instead being "with" it.
- The wind is there. This is the attitude key. A nice calm Zen attitude helps quite a bit.

KevinF

Windiest place I've ever ridden was Wyoming. At 10AM, God would hit a switch and the wind would just appear, and the wind wouldn't cease until late at night A wind gust hit me at one point which pushed me clear from the shoulder clear to the yellow line. Thankfully no cars were coming, but then again -- it was Wyoming, and there were hardly ever cars coming.

Descending mountain passes with the wind pushing you around gave you some insight into bike handling skills. The advice above of "stay relaxed" but "lean into the wind" works as well as anything. Tensing up, hitting the brakes, etc. was about the worst thing to do.

Clipped_in

Ha, that's a very accurate description of Wyoming. They say in winter the snow doesn't melt, it just get worn out from being blown around. My daughter and her family are living in Laramie for a few years, and they have some crazy wind stories.

Clipped_in

That's true, lighter people ofteny have a more difficult time in the wind. I usually end up doing a lot of pulling on windy club rides.

mshred

makes sense indeed. thanks for the explanation.

Nachoman

One of my ex riding partners used to weigh 290. He was big and strong. I wouldn't even feel the wind sitting behind his draft.

buffalowings

I just pray I don't pull a Andy Schleck and get blown into a chainlink fence.

kv501

That's all fine and dandy until you get in a situation where you don't have a choice and then aren't prepared for it. A friend of mine will only ride out in a headwind and back in a tailwind for the reason you described, period. He learned a tough lesson the first time he rode an entire 70 mile RAGBRAI day into a 30 mph wind.

It's true that the wind sucks, but you have to be prepared to finish in it too. Plan one of your rides to start in a tailwind and end into it and you'll see what I mean. Riding 25-30 fast miles with a strong wind behind you and then turning around into it to get home can be a humbling experience.

And Rule 5.

mprelaw

Same here. There comes a point when high winds can present problems with control, but 15 isn't even close.

Looigi

Since nobody's yet said it, I will. HTFU

banerjek

I generally like to ride higher cadences (100+) in stronger winds. Gusting mucks up your speed and it seems easier to maintain a consistent effort if you're spinning faster.

Also, never look at your speedometer in the wind. It will goad you into riding too hard and depress you at the same time. I set mine so it only displays cadence and odometer (i.e. good news only).

For people who have to ride a lot in winds, recumbents are mighty sweet. Both head and side winds are 10 times more fun on my highracer than on a traditional road bike.

androidtt

"Hold onto yo butts". I hang on for dear life, make my profile as small as possible, and keep pushing through if it's a race. If it's excessively windy on a training day (>20mph gusts), I'll usually go for a run or swim instead. I'd rather not blow into a car's path in the city. I'm 136lbs and riding on 60+mm's...

generalkdi

I'm a climber and hate wind so much. But I always tell myself that the farther I go into the headwind, the longer I'll benefit from a tailwind. Until wind changes direction....

ricohman

Its been blowing at 30mph for 3 weeks.
When this wind finally dies down I am going to be a speed machine.....

volosong

We get a pretty good wind around where I live, in fact so good that the whole hillside north of us is filled with wind turbines with more being installed every month. The wind is pretty consistent from the west. As others have said, you just put your head down work your way through head winds while tail winds are Strava KOM opportunities. Cross winds? They suck royally. I'd much rather fight a head wind all day than cross winds for a couple of hours. Only thing I know that helps with a cross wind is to slow down.

Before I go out, I check the usairnet.com website. It is geared towards ultra-light and RC pilots. It gives a good weather picture, but the most valuable to me is the wind predicts. It gives the azimuth and velocity in three-hour chunks for two and a half days out. I plan my rides based on the winds, (into the winds out, wind with you on the way home).

caloso

I was going to say, you don't even have to go to the midwest; just come over the hill to the Sacramento Valley.

ricohman

Blah
Its blowing at 76 kmh (47 mph) today. I think I am taking today off. It was 60 kmh last night and that was crappy.
Supposed to increase tomorrow though.

shyonelung

I'm a bit North of you in Sonoma County wine country so we're getting a lot of the same weather. We've all been complaining about the wind this year. Global warming? I have a solution now - go out early. If I get my ride in before 10 a.m., there's almost no wind at all. So for the next couple of weeks, I'm getting my ass out of bed early.

Again, it's not the wind per se that bothers me, it's the gusts. I went out yesterday afternoon and a gust blew me into the road -- thank goodness there wasn't any traffic at that moment. I road out against it and pedaled as hard as I could for as long as I could. Then I turned around, expecting a tailwind and didn't get it for the first 5 miles back -- somehow the wind changed direction on me. Finally, on a turn home, I got the tailwind. Wow, that was really fun.

For the guy who said HTFU, thanks. Really. That's so helpful. You don't know me or what I've been through to even be breathing, much less on a bike. So, whatever.

robble

no need to tkae it with anything more than a laugh. It's the standard answer for any type of physical complaint.

redtires

Since I believe the OP's question has been sufficiently responded to I'll just add this...

Doesn't wind actually weigh the same as still air? I don't think it gets any heavier as it's velocity increases.

robble

try this test..
Sensitive digital bathroom scale on floor. Take reading. Put a super high velocity fan above it pointing down at scale. Turn fan up to turbo speed. Take reading off scale


tada!



though to be technical air weight depends on density which may be affected by velocity.

nkfrench 

Riding uphill on a hot day into head/crosswinds is still more tolerable to me than riding uphill on a hot day with no breeze and high humidity.
It is hard dealing with crosswinds when they are strong enough to grab your wheel when plodding uphill 4mph.
I confess to planning my solo rides based on the wind.
It's fun to hammer the strava segments when you have favorable winds.

crash14me

The only check the weather to see if a storm is coming, beyond that I just deal with it. My window for getting a ride in is usually limited so I take what I can get but I won't do rain or lightning.

bt

my commute is uphill and into the wind both ways.

Tandem427

+1

You can learn a lot about the wind by watching the tumbleweeds. Often with a crosswind coming from my right I will see tumbleweeds launched high over a guardrail and then down at the road and sucked back into the guardrail. I've seen tumbleweeds go all the way across a two lane road plus shoulder before being sucked back.

And when you see the tumbleweeds in front of you going around in a big circle like a merry-go-round, don't try to ride through it even at a slow speed. You'll regret it. Just stop and wait for it to move off or duck and cover if it can't be avoided. You'll have to close your eyes anyway and there's no telling which way the winds will blow the bike around.