Riding Position into head/side winds

Clever Pun
Clever Pun Posts: 6,778
edited July 2008 in Road beginners
A friend mentioned that for side winds you should adjust your arms & shoulders to use the wind much like a sailboat would...

Anyone care to shed and light on this?

thanks
Purveyor of sonic doom

Very Hairy Roadie - FCN 4
Fixed Pista- FCN 5
Beared Bromptonite - FCN 14

Comments

  • MattHybrid
    MattHybrid Posts: 27
    Possibly. Here is one piece of text about about side winds:
    "Where should you carry your drink bottle? In the following cases, the base case is the rider riding on the brake hoods. It appears that a drink bottle provides an advantage particularly with strong side winds. One explanation is that the drink bottle provides a "sail effect" that acts to reduce drag"

    if it works with a bottle, I imagine it will work with your arms and body.

    Here's the link: http://www.analyticcycling.com/RiderAeroStudy.html
  • meanwhile
    meanwhile Posts: 392
    Clever Pun wrote:
    A friend mentioned that for side winds you should adjust your arms & shoulders to use the wind much like a sailboat would...

    Anyone care to shed and light on this?

    thanks

    A sailboat adjusts its wing to generate forward force from side winds. It can do this because the sail is an aerofoil - think of it as a wing, with forwards being "up". Your arms and shoulders are NOT aerofoils, so your friends theory is incorrect. I would therefore suggest that you continue to optimise the position of your arms and shoulders for i. hanging on to the bike and ii. not getting a crick in your neck.

    However, riding a safe distance behind your friend in windy conditions should be great for a laugh - if you get one of those gusty uncertain winds he'll look like he has disco fever!
  • Clever Pun
    Clever Pun Posts: 6,778
    meanwhile wrote:

    However, riding a safe distance behind your friend in windy conditions should be great for a laugh - if you get one of those gusty uncertain winds he'll look like he has disco fever!

    :lol:
    Purveyor of sonic doom

    Very Hairy Roadie - FCN 4
    Fixed Pista- FCN 5
    Beared Bromptonite - FCN 14