Wind

volvine

i did my normal 22 mile loop yesterday and got to the top of New Line Bacup turned left heading down hill towards Whitworth and i normally reach between 25-30 mph to almost healey corner not sure how far this is bout 2 miles aprox but anyway yesterday the wind was in the face and i couldn't believe it had pratically 1/2ed my speed down to 15 mph and a real grind it seems the fitter you get the less the wind affects you is this true or is it always going to make me burn out?????????? :oops: :oops: :oops:

Bhima

Depends what you mean when you say "affecting" you. Even the professionals are still affected by wind although, because they're stronger, they can go faster than you in the same amount of wind. You may double your strength but if the wind resistance doubles, it "affects" you in the same way.

Riding into a headwind is like riding uphill, so practice climbing and you'll get stronger in the winds long term. Also, try and practice riding in the most aerodynamic position you possibly can most of the time. You use your muscles slightly differently when riding in different positions.

dg74

Like today in Newcastle. All ready to go and lo and behold, 30mph winds and rain aswell. Looks like another day of wishing I was elsewhere on my bike and hitting the running trails instead.

:evil: :evil: :evil:

Flash 72

I had the same problem yesterday whilst on blackstone edge all that hard work getting up there and still more hard work comng down the other side

Bhima

The wind is mental today! :shock:

Not exactly the best day to test out my new deep-section wheels! Nearly got knocked off sideways going 30mph! Would have been fine if there was a headwind but at least I know what to expect in future!

volvine

i know what you mean Flash lol

DomPro

Stiff breeze down in Surrey as well. Really slowed me down. It was like having air forced down my throat in the headwind.

chronyx

Forced induction? Nice free turbo

phreak

Headwinds do suck, made infinately worse by the fact that you never believe you have a tail wind, you're just having a good day

scottgeniusltd2005

yeah that sucks. you do your normal route and on the way out you think you've made vast improvements since last time, only to find that you had a tail wind, then you're also demoralized whilst grinding into a strong headwind.

Phallus

does anyone else ever dream of (or even better has anyone encountered) the nirvana of winds - tailwind on the way out, then direction changes and tailwind on the way home? it must have happened to someone, just never me!

GeorgeShaw

If you're fast enough, there's always a headwind

Bhima

I never encounter a tailwind more than 25mph - so once you go 25mph and beyond, it always seems like you're in a headwind - the only time i've gone really fast and not felt anything AT ALL was when I drafted my mate's van at 40mph down a bypass!

dennisn

I remember, some years ago, complaining to someone about the wind on a time trial course. His answer was "same wind for everyone". Don't know exactly what he meant
by that, but it made sense at the time.

Dennis Noward

markwalker

same topic different view, do you find energy gels give you wind?

Svendo

I've frequently had a hairy time on Blackstone Edge, going down towards Mytholmroyd on Cragg Vale with the side wind from the prevailing west, but this was far surpassed by the incredible blustery side wind going down A62 on Sunday, where it turns north a few miles before Marsden.
I had a seriously hard time keeping control, getting blown across the carriage way by gusts. First time in ages I've been genuinely scared of crashing or getting run over, and by far the worst wind I've been out in.
Very nearly got off and walked, which would be a first. :shock: Weird turning away from the wind when the bike is still leaning the other way into the wind.
Headwinds are a pain/training aid, but side winds like that are actively dangerous.

k-dog

Phallus wrote:

does anyone else ever dream of (or even better has anyone encountered) the nirvana of winds - tailwind on the way out, then direction changes and tailwind on the way home? it must have happened to someone, just never me!

I've had the opposite.

volvine

Hey Sven a fellow Rochdale cowboy

Svendo

How do volvine.
Yep, the calderdale-cragg vale-blackstone edge loop is frighteningly familiar to me, especially that pot hole on the way down just above the Moorcroft Inn that's getting bigger and bigger! The short sharp descent into Denshaw from Newhey direction is also a firm favourite. Nearly always bust the 30 mph limit by a bit 8) .

nickcuk

I find the wind has a nearly neutral effect - tougher into the headwind but easier with a following wind. Seemed to take less than 1mph off the average for my loop

orderodonata

phreak wrote:

Headwinds do suck, made infinately worse by the fact that you never believe you have a tail wind, you're just having a good day

Head winds suck? Isn't that a tail wind then?

keef66

I keep promising myself that one windy day, with my wife's prior agreement, I'm going to head out the door and cycle whichever direction gives me the best tailwind. After 3-4 hours of that I reckon I'll be at the seaside eating fish and chips and phoning for a lift home

CiB

Svendo wrote:

I've frequently had a hairy time on Blackstone Edge, going down towards Mytholmroyd on Cragg Vale with the side wind from the prevailing west, but this was far surpassed by the incredible blustery side wind going down A62 on Sunday, where it turns north a few miles before Marsden...

Blackstone Edge eh? My in-laws are in Littleborough at the bottom of that hill, and still aren't quite sure why I bring my bike with me and do that circuit up the hill and round through Mytholmroyd & Tod back to Littleborough when we go up to see them. It's a cracking hill esp over Christmas when the urge to get out for a run is niggling. Nicer still is doing that loop then going back up it a second time for a pint at the pub on top, then doing the drop back down. Never done it with any serious wind though.

volvine

you dont want to mate hairy enough especially the nice bend 1/2 way down that i always take too fast even though i know it is comming up lol.
the British heart foundation hold a good event every year called "over the edge" which includes all the good climbs round there including the Mythenroyd hill longest continual climb in england not steep but a long drag especially if said wind in kipper lol usually held in May 52 miles i think Heptonstall hill is a steep little bugger.

Svendo

Haven't found a max speed for that bend if the roads clear yet, other than that determined by my nerve. I like when the wind's not bad and I can light the '30 Slow' sign when you get onto Littleborough, just before the canal bridge.

Over the Edge is May 10 this year acc. to Transpennine CC website, not on BHF website yet though. Sure I'd entered by this time last year. The route takes the 'easy' diversion and misses out the >15% bit with cobbles through Heptonstall itself.

It also takes you through the extra picturesque lanes round the back of Cragg Vale, above Sowerby and Mytholroyd, on the gold route (I make it 52 miles although it's sometimes advertised as 60)

FSR_XC

keef66 wrote:

I keep promising myself that one windy day, with my wife's prior agreement, I'm going to head out the door and cycle whichever direction gives me the best tailwind. After 3-4 hours of that I reckon I'll be at the seaside eating fish and chips and phoning for a lift home

I can do this after 30 mins into a headwind!

Headwinds are strength & character building. What better way to get some extra training in?

Add a few hills and it's great 'fun'. . . . . . or at least that's what I was telling myself for 15 miles this evening.

teagar

Headwind hopefully should force you to adopt a better position on the bike...

suze

Littleborough- Lumbutts-hebden bridge and back up cragg vale, my regular route. the Wind shifted to a side wind going up cragg Tuesday this week. This is the easiest its been this year.

Just got to flatten the bit of road up from Newhey village to home now.

Over the edge clashes with the Fred

Mettan

41 mph max on the flat today..... without seemingly much effort at all...... with a 25-28mph tailwind (apparently, BBC weather) ......- centre of the road - no need to move - 45-60 seconds worth of 38-41 mph on the flat (road length/road direction constrained) - wonderful feeling, great fun - lovely tyre/road surface sound. Corresponding headwinds were truly awful though - found it much easier riding at 40 mph with a tailwind than at 13mph into a 25-30mph headwind.........personally, would rather have light rain than headwinds.

volvine

yes suze the climb out of Newhey i always find really tough even when i get a bit fitter lol

disquieting_museeuws

If you get a group of old testers (time-triallists) together for long enough, talk will inevitably get on to the mythical 'float' morning or evening when there is no wind at all and PB's fall by crazy margins. It's a strange thing to be talked about with reverence and a misty gleam in the eye; many have grown old chasing the 'float', many have lost their way in the pursuit. When I lived in Yorkshire there was a TT course that was reputed to at times exhibit that even rarer phenomenon (the unicorn of cycling), the wind-reverse, where you could set off to the turn with a tail wind at which point the wind direction turned around to blow you home. But that's just dangerous crazy talk, I don't believe it ever happened, and you must never go looking for it - that way madness lies.