Originally Posted by
noglider
Are you, perhaps of a brawny physique? I'm thin, so I guess I have a high surface area to mass ratio. Winds affect me fairly heavily. My friend is a similarly strong rider. I have the edge at climbing. I asked him about headwinds, and he responded as if he hadn't heard of them. He's heard of them, but he doesn't really notice them. I think if you're bulky, you have a lower surface area to mass (or surface area to power) ratio.
I remember once, riding with woman who was probably 110lbs soaking wet - about half my weight at the time. We were swapping pulls and we had just reached the top of a mile-plus descent of around 1-2%. She figured it was her turn, so she took the lead and tried to pull, pedaling like mad with me behind her constantly braking to keep from rolling over her. I told her, "Here, let me" and just pulled the rest of the way down the descent. I knew the basic physics, but seeing her struggling to reach 20 mph on a road where I could coast up to 25+ was revealing. I weighed twice as much, but didn't have twice her frontal area.