I HATE the wind!
 

But I can't let it stop me. If I only rode when it wasn't cold or raining or foggy or windy, I would get much riding in at all. Fill in the blanks with your own local, prevalent weather conditions and I'm sure you all say the same thing. So we perservere. But the past few days have been nuts here on the coast. Winds out of the N/NW avergaing 16mph and gusting up to 20-35mph. I have been WOIKIN' I tell you. My after work rides are 50% straight into those N/NW winds and they really work you over. I've been striving to keep my revs up to between 85-95rpm and when those winds hit head on, I can really start to feel the burn as I push harder to spin those 90s... and then -BAM!- you get hit with a few seconds of 30mph blast and just watch the speedo and the revs drop. So, I kick down the gears until I can get the 90s going again and it goes that way all the way home for 5 or 6 miles. Then I start heading east , thinking I'm free but, no, the wind shifts now to a NE wind. Between that and the short, steep climbs I've been hunting down, I am feeling it today. But I feel good, too, because I got out there and DID it; I won't let it beat me. I figure I can get out there and gripe about it or just say "Bring it on, I won't let you beat me!" and it's actually a wonderful sense of accomplishment. Of course, the great part is: if half the ride is INTO the wind, then the *other* half is.... oh yeah, baby. Luckily I have a couple of days to recover ( no riding tonight or tomorrow :( ).

I hate the wind too. It's much worse than hills, where you can at least see when you'll get hammered.

My favorite ride takes me across a busy and exposed bridge with a fairly narrow bike path. Yesterday the wind was gusting badly and I was really scared I would be blown into the (60+ mph) traffic lane.

And only half the ride is into the wind, but only if you're luckier than I usually am. Most of my windy rides seem to be into a constant side or headwind.

At least here on the "flats" of Kansas the wind 'usually' only blows in one direction so you can ride into the wind first then have an easier ride home. No I don't like wind either but if you are going to ride you have to consider that the air moves ...even without wind, when you are going 20 you are pushing 20mph of wind that you yourself create by going against air. So if you add that to the.... i am getting too scientific for my own mind.......................peace

Ditto on dislike of wind. Currently gusting to 30 mph, so I'm inside doing taxes. Saturday 5 to 15 mph gusts, that I can handle. Unfortunately it has also been raining. I noticed many of the trails thru the woods, the wind is suppressed by the trees. But the trails are mud this time of year, and I don't wanna be.

I don't dislike the wind- I hate it but like you I have been stuck with it. This weekend will be different- Just an Easterly at around 5mph instead of the northerly at 20+. Looks like the only thing missing this weekend is the foul weather we have been having so hopefully can get out for a decent ride instead of a quick 30 miles over the hills.

15-20mph here every day since October. The weather has been warm and dry but very windy. I start out the week thinking it doesn't phase me but by Friday I am so worn down from it that I have psych up to go out. Yesterday was good though <10mph and right now its only 5mph (keeping my fingers crossed) so maybe the trend is changing. Of course it was 88F 65% RH and right now it is 85F 60% RH so it looks like we are trading wind for hot and humid. I prefer hot and humid.

Hey SaiKiaTai - I thought California was always about 70 degrees with no wind and no hills, or at least not the uphill half of them! And the roads lined with beautiful women in bikinis, and ..........Heck, I'm disappointed!
But yes, I hate wind too, more than rain cold weather or anything else. I just came back from about 8 miles along the backroads with my dogs, and I was downright glad to get home. Gusty cold - Of all the months I think I hate April more than any. April wind, not April showers. Bah Humbug!!
But at least it's nice to get out and ride a bit after the winter.
Keep peddling, hopefully downhill with the wind.

Ha! Yeah, well there's California and then there's California. Most people think of California as being LA or San Diego and, believe me, Northen California -especially here on the coast- ain't that. And I like it that way.

I would rather have a 20 mph wind anyday to 20 degrees weather. You can still ride in the wind, but when it gets that cold it is just painful to ride in.

Good point, head wind.

I guess.

Geez: What if you have 20 degree weather and 20 mph winds? If you don't know, then move to Laramie, Wyoming for one year. :(

Those numbers look real good. Too bad they're not kph and centigrade

Make peace with the wind. You will get a lot more rides in.

It won't kill you either, I promise.

Today, while going to a friend's house I was hit with 30 mph wind. By the time I got to the last 4-5 miles I was exhausted and cold. Tomorrow is another windy day. I am trying to think pleasant thoughts but riding in the strong head winds is not one of my pleasant thoughts.

Gas, the price of a can of beans

Did a fifty miler a couple of weeks ago. Stiff headwind all the way out, coming back, it turned around half way home, so I got 12 miles of headwind going home, too. I wonder if I'll ever learn to like it?

Knocked off?
 

Has anyone ever been knocked off? I used to avoid wind, but today just went for it in 28 mph gusts. I didn't mind the work, but I felt like teh cross wind gusts were going to take me out. Does that really happen? It sure moved me sideways on the road.

Well yesteday mornings ride it as 77F & 80% RH at 7:00a with 15mph South wind with gusts of 20-25. This morning it is 49F with a 12mph North wind gust to 20mph. So even when the fronts go through the wind remains the same.

I have a theory about wind and other weather phenomona: Let 'er come. It's not like there's really a viable alternative. Oh yeah and smile while you're doing it. (That's what I used to tell the kids when they had to do something they hated to do - it's still good advice, if only I could learn to take it myself).

"They call the wind Maria"

Most years, from late February until sometime in May, the wind is howling in Texas. That's not to say it doesn't blow the rest of the year here, because it does, but it's worse those months. My wife skips quite a few rides because of the wind, but as long as it's not over 25 mph, I usually ride. I don't like it, but it's just another part of the challenge.

The calculations (http://www.kreuzotter.de/english/espeed.htm) are interesting. To push my weight (192lbs) into a 20mph headwind at 17mph takes 456 watts. No headwind only requires 131 watts. This is about the same power required to go up a 4%-5% grade

Floyd - I call wind in Kansas big hills! Interesting that while bucking a long southerly 30mph wind, you start to beg for a steep climb to get into a calm.

We rode 40 miles of Skyline drive today. Front Royal to little Hog Back and then back. Temps in the 30's, 30-40+ mph gusts, snow. At one point we were pedalling hard to maintain 10 mph down a 6-8 % grade. Wasn't really too bad until you came to the overlooks/corners, then WHAM!
But, we were in town, had the time, and had been wanting to see what real hills were like. If it had been raining, we would've scrubbed- I'm glad it wasn't and we got the chance. Coffee sure hit the spot when we were done.
To add insult to injury, back home it was in the 70's and sunny, with 10 mph winds...

GRASSLANDER..you NAILED it, I looked -in on this post a few times for 2 days and have been tempted,now I'll say it. Wind IS like climbing,I hate it.I hate less these days because I live in a flat county I used to live in the mountains. Even back then,with the wind, I'd think of this for inspiration: many,many championship bicycle racers, the Tour,Vuelta others,as well as the classics have been Flemmish.Their part of Belgium is flat.I used to wonder ; how could have these individuals reached the degree of success in the races including mountain stages. some time ago,I read a quote from a begian racer stating that they used the winds to train northern Belgium(the Flemmish region NOT Wolonia) has few big hills and no mountains to speak of