Any tips for fighting a headwind?
 

Here in Lansing, the wind has been steadily blowing from the west 15-20 mph more days than not this summer. Great for the ride into town on my commute or to meet up with a group ride, soul-sucking when going back home. To add insult to injury, the road condition is awful and the grade going from east to west easily averages 1-2% over rolling terrain, often hundreds of yards of climbing followed by a short and much-appreciated dip before going back to climbing. The distance I have to head straight west is usually about 9 miles.

I'm already wearing race cut jerseys and riding in the drops, so I'm about as aerodynamic as I can get. You can't shift down and spin up a headwind like a hill. Do any of you who deal with similar situations have some good MENTAL preparation tips? I find it extremely demoralizing to be putting out over 200 watts for miles only to creep along at 11.5 mph. (If you don't believe that's possible, start monkeying with the numbers http://www.kreuzotter.de/english/espeed.htm).

I've noticed the same thing in fast group rides - no headwind, I can get out and pull for several minutes easily at 18-20 mph. Ask me to go into a headwind, though, and the second I get to the front I start dropping pace. And it's not physical, it's mental. Fighting the wind makes me want to get off the bike and hitch a ride home. I had the same problem in track FWIW.

Any tips besides "Get a skinsuit and time trial helmet" and "embrace the suck" would be really helpful.

You forgot HTFU! :P

If the problem is mental, there are no physical tips that will help you. Sometimes it helps me if I start paying attention to my cadence so that the wind is not a distraction. I do the same when climbing hills, I do not even look at the crest of the hill and just concentrate on my cadence.

Wind and Flats are part of bike riding.

Have fun with your bike rides.

I commute on a fixed gear on that route, so I think I'm pretty hard lol. It's not the leg pain that's agonizing, its the combination of leg pain and then looking down at my computer to realize I would probably be faster getting off and running.

Cover the speed, concentrate on cadence.

You could be much faster if you were 20 years old.

I find a head wind more demoralizing than hills too. All I can say is keep an eye on your computer and don't let your speed drop. And ride in the woods. Trees block wind.

I'm 26, "old man" is a nickname I picked up in my undergraduate fraternity. :)

I've actually gotten faster since I was 20! Of course, back then my body was constantly banged up because I played college lacrosse. It took until about age 24 for my knees and stuff to start working properly again.

The "cover the speed concentrate on cadence" is an excellent idea. Don't know why I didn't think of that. Thanks.

Your problem is in The Title of your thread.

I use the Wind as a training tool.
I have a triple crank, stand up, lean into the wind and use my weight to move forward.

Do you have a geared bike?

Why not? That's exactly what I do. Watts and cadence are watts and cadence.

As for mental, I got a power meter. I don't look at speed, it's just a nice number at the end of a ride which I like to look at. You'll be happy knowing you're putting your wattage out, and the speed means nothing.

BTW, when i have interval days sometimes I specifically save them for the headwind portion of my route. Otherwise I'd be zipping along at 30mph for a few minutes at a time and I end up covering too much ground. I'll inevitably I'll have a stop sign or crosswalk or something come up.

Yes, check my sig.

According to the handy dandy calculator I found, if we were equivalent sizes, standing up into a 15 mph headwind and climbing a 1.5% grade, pedaling at an 80 cadence, would require an average output of 300+ watts for 45 minutes (which is how long it takes to go 9 miles at 12 mph). If you can do that on a daily basis sir (and I'm not doubting you can), my hat is off to you - even more if you're mashing the big ring forward into that. WOW!

But I certainly can't, especially when that last 9 miles is at the end of a long day.

Looking at my wattage (and kCals burned) for the day in its entirety did make me feel quite a bit better today (I had 36 miles in at a pretty good clip before my return leg). I'll have to start doing that on a regular basis. Unfortunately I'm in law school and just don't have the extra dough to drop on a power meter. YET.

I fight those kinds of windy days all the time. You mention watts, do you measure your power? If you do that makes it easy. Just focus on hitting your target watts & cadence and ignore your speed. I find it easier to keep the watts up going into the wind vs with it. If you maintain the same watts in each direction you'll find your average speed increases.


And yes, a constant headwind is mentally debilitating.

I see you posted at the same time as I did, no power. Focus on cadence into the wind and push harder with it. A common tendency is to coast with wind because the speed looks good.

The around and go the other way.

Any tips for fighting headwind...Just one:
 

Out and backs. Out into the wind, back with it.

It a headwind home for me as well - typically a very light landbreeze in the a.m. heading inland, then 15 - 25 onshore in the evening; one gets used to it.

On the way home, I head out to Morro Bay, then double back and go home on Los Osos Valley Road - so, two upwind legs, one short downwind legs

every
freaking
day

Some days it's still in the morning, or even a slight tailwind, aawesome.

When there' storms brewin', then the winds are mixed.

In the late Summer and Fall, often the daily winds subside some.

So, here's the tip: savour the Spring winds, which ramp up to a steady 25-30, and then gust you with a 35-40; one those days, you just laaugh, then when they ramp back to "normal," it all cool.

Oh yeah, wear a skullcap and pull it over your ears; the farking noise is a big part of the problem.

If it's at all chilly, a helmet cover makes a big difference for your comfort AND speed.

That is all

...except on weekends and holidays, when one can ride in the sweet spot of the day, and piss on the ***ing wind!!

Just watch the wattage and stay aero. Htfu

Keep in the drops, don't try to mash too much-spin, choose routes that break up legs into the wind, stay in forrested and not open areas if possible, embrace the wind as your hill equivalent.

I agree that the mental aspect of riding into the wind is a huge part of it. I'm not a great climber, not super fast on the flats, but if it's windy I do o.k.
Years ago I wouldn't have said that as I let the wind get me down. I don't mean to say I enjoy it, but I kinda got over the downer part of wind.

Downshift and smile. At least you're riding and not sitting in front of a computer.

We've had the same kind of summer up here in Boyne City. It's windy every day. I have discovered that the first law of Murphy's Law of Cycling states that if you have a headwind on an out and back ride, you will have a headwind on the return home. We've got hills where wind swirls around who knows where, lakes/sun convection dynamics.....it's always windy. And yes, somedays where I was looking back to see when a jogger was going to drop me.

Just ride in the drops every chance you get and someday it wont be as windy and you'll be sailing along 25mph like a TdF'er without a care.

Ride on.

I do this too. See, for example, my ride this afternoon. http://app.strava.com/rides/20421069

You mentioned you're as aero as you can get, so I'll assume you don't have a pannier or other high-drag equipment to bail. And even if you did have a pannier, it would probably be out of necessity if you have to carry work clothes, lunch, and layers for different weather in Michigan.

So with those assumptions out of the way, an aero bar would be the biggest single step forward in efficiency. Mentally, you can look at it as your secret weapon. Hah, take THAT, wind!! I'm an aerodynamic doper and I'M NOT SORRY AT ALL!! :thumb:

Also, repeat to yourself: If it was good enough for Eddy, it's good enough for me.