Maintaining power in a headwind
This is going to sound very strange but I thought I'd risk general ridicule and ask anyway.
On weekdays, I really have one route to ride - it is a loop and I go with the wind on the way out and against the wind on the way back. I have noticed that is MUCH harder to maintain the same power going against the wind.
Take today - my ride was supposed to a tempo ride: 60 min @ 180-200W with some sprints thrown in. On the way over, maintaining 200W was quite easy. Legs felt good, HR nice and low... felt great. On the way back, it was a struggle to even maintain 180W - the RPE felt a lot higher. This wasnt b/c I fried my legs. I got back and had around 10 min left, so I did a shorter loop. Again, with the headwind, even 220W was easy to hold. Turn around and the RPE just went a whole lot higher.
And it isnt just today. I have noticed this over the past month or so. Wtf? Power is power, right - and as long as I am putting out the same power, the perceived effort should be more or less the same. What gives, any idea?
TIA,
V.