Ok, so how about the headwinds that are so strong that you have to shift down when cresting a hill and beginning the descent, because you are no longer in the lee of the hill that you were climbing? Slower going downhill than uphill... Anyone else ever have that? It sucks!

Thanks for the tip - I'll probably give this a try over the weekend. I find myself that far north every now and then, and love a good downhill ride. This one sounds a bit like Lake Washington Blvd, going south from the Arboretum. Except that the best part of that descent goes by so quickly.

Tail wind dance? Oh, come on, it's not complicated. Try this, I promise it will work:

Stop the bike at a 4-way intersection and get out of the way of traffic. Close your eyes. Insert one finger (I prefer a clean one, but it's your call) into your mouth and make it as wet as possible; then remove it from your mouth and point it skywards. Relax, and concentrate your consciousness in that finger until you feel one side of it getting colder than the rest. Focus on that cold feeling. Now turn your bike so its back wheel is pointed in the direction where your finger felt cold, and ride! You now have a tail wind.

I've found only one problem with this method, namely: it often doesn't get me where I want to go. Still working on that.

Oh yes...that really blows.

Somebody around here's been really jacking up the dance. We've had snow several days this week

I love a good mid afternoon cold front here in Texas. I experience them a couple of times a year where the cycling gods are smiling on me and provide the nice breeze from the south in the morning and then a cold front blows in with a stiff wind out of the north in the afternoon... Priceless!

Tried it yesterday morning going to work. You're right, it does produce a tailwind, but I ended up all the way out in Saudi Aurora...

Here in South Jersey, we don't dare do a tail wind dance for fear of ticking off the wind gods . We have one area where we do group rides that has us with a head wind going out and coming back. I call the wind here the "Jersey Hills", as it is an inevitable part of the ride.

This is another crazy thread. You folks kill me.

There is no such thing as a tailwind, as I have commented on in the past on my blog: https://www.justaguywhoridesabike.com...-tailwind.html

I almost ran into **** the other day while having 30 mph wind in my back. Scary. In the top gear of 27 and you're still trying to shift up....

Exactly. I live in West Seattle (just north of high point - you know the Real High Point of Seattle proper) and ride to Eastlake. Now, it's not so bad on the way in, but most people don't like riding up Western and then have to deal with Blanchard. But now it's a piece of cake, even though I'm always sweaty by the time I get to work. So it's uphill both ways for me too, but a harder uphill on the way home.

In the winter there's a headwind from the North usually. But oftentimes it's from the SW and I get a speedy ride to work in the spring. Headwind on the way home however, so I have to conserve energy for the hills and don't go as fast on the straightaway.

The best hill I go down is Genessee just off of Avalon. I've been riding that route since getting tired of the stop sign at the bottom of Yancy. I made it up to 35.5 mph on Friday then touched brakes b/c I was totally freaked out solely due to increasing speed factor. I will get to a point eventually when I don't have to touch brakes and can thus make it over the next short hill with nary a pedal or two.

Every day before I leave I check https://sfports.wr.usgs.gov/wind/streaklines.shtml

I work on the edge of the inside edge of the bay and live to the east. Normally have a pretty nice tail wind to blow me to the foothills. At that point the wind doesn't help much

I cringe to think what meteorological conditions would result if all the biking state workers in Sacramento who live in Davis and all the biking U.C. Davis staff who live in Sacramento did any kind of tailwind dance. Either some kind of mushroom cloud or black hole would result mid point on the Yolo Causeway.