@Birch Creek – Like
I also miss having the comment box appear right next to the comment I am replying to…
Neither is a complaint – just things on my wishlist.
Said the straight man to the late man,
Where have you been?
I’ve been here and I’ve been there and I’ve been in between.
I talk to the wind, my words are all carried away.
I talk to the wind; the wind does not hear;
The wind cannot hear.
One time I was doing a ride on a windy day. The going out side was downwind, because routes the other way were limited by an interstate. Coming back, I was able to get up to 6 mph on the hills, then slowed to 4mph when we got back into the wind.
Preach it, brother!
“When you are hot, be thoroughly hot. When you are cold, be thoroughly cold.” (part of a zen koan)
I have one route, about 70km, which I ride quite often (there and back). About 95% of it is across the fields and such – open space, no protection against wind. I get headwinds mostly (or something diagonal to my direction, but mostly from the front, even if not directly). Maybe some strange “luck”, maybe higher purpose (to teach me a lesson, better saying, many consecutive lessons…), whatever you prefer to believe.
Surely has taught me a lot!
You can’t really “fight” a headwind (in the sense of hoping to win over it in the end). Well, for some distance, maybe… but not for three hours (and more, depending on the force of the wind) straight. No, not really. You need to find a certain mind-setup to ride in such conditions, if you don’t want to get to your destination utterly frustrated.
Very good lessons, indeed.
Headwinds aren’t so bad when they become tailwinds on the way home. The ones I hate are the ones that turn around and fight with me in both directions!
Very fitting since today my ride to work was into a decent 15 mph headwind with occasional gusts. It’s days like this that I’m thankful for the drop bars I put on my bike at the end of the summer. My old trekking bars had their pluses, but they didn’t allow me to get out of the headwinds like the drops did this morning down by the river where the wind was blowing unabated and unblocked.
One day I arrived at school 45 minutes late and the principal asked why.
I explained: “the wind was so strong, for every step I took forward; it would blow me back two steps”.
She said: “at that rate, I’d never make it to school”…
You telling me??? So I started walking home….
Here in Los Angeles we have our Santa Ana winds (often at this time of the year), with gusts varying from 30 to 70mph.
They always blow the same direction, NE to SW–exactly paralleling the roads to the beach (and back…), and during warm weather when you want to go to the coast.
One time I just stopped at a restaurant halfway back in hope they would subside. (They didn’t, but the South Indian dinner was fantastic!)
Here in the great central valley of California, we call the ever-changing headwind (“In my face out AND back?? WTF.”), “Hill training.” Otherwise, it’s packing the bike 40 minutes to experience *real* hills….
Harzrandradler (translation: cyclist at the edge of Harz mountain)
The headwind on my way to work was allways so bad. So I had bought a recumbent. Now isn’t the headwind the problem but rather the heaviness of the bike at my home hill. The Harz is a low mountain range in the middle of Germany. But it’s not the problem of the bike: I simply overload it like Yehuda.
Somehow it is worst in the winter: after climbing a very steep hill, when I’m gasping for breath, the wind occasionally hits so hard it pulls the air out of my lungs just when I’m trying to suck down a chestful of air.
The hand of Sandy or an early blast from Ol’ Man Winter?
Perhaps inspired by recent weather.
Probably Jack Frost……
First; I mean, click “FIRST”.
Plus ça change..
It’s the wrong kind of bicycle. I pray for headwinds on my recumbent.
Like
WHY?
Serously. I sure am aware that you have less air resistance on a recumbent… but still, why headwind?
Seriously.
The missing opportunity to correct one’s misprints… is sometimes really missing.
@Birch Creek – Like
I also miss having the comment box appear right next to the comment I am replying to…
Neither is a complaint – just things on my wishlist.
So you can enjoy the ride a little more as you can watch everyone else struggle …
Of course it does suck if you are then passed by an elderly person on a bike with an electric motor to help him/her along.
Who’s tripping down the streets of the city
Smilin’ at everybody she sees
Who’s reachin’ out to capture a moment
Everyone knows it’s Windy
(by the Association)
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind;
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.
(by Bob Dylan)
Said the straight man to the late man,
Where have you been?
I’ve been here and I’ve been there and I’ve been in between.
I talk to the wind, my words are all carried away.
I talk to the wind; the wind does not hear;
The wind cannot hear.
(King Crimson)
Sweet! A King Crimson reference.
Dude, yer showing OUR age!
My friend used to say, hills you get over, wind is all day. It teaches acceptance.
I think I need to try that attitude (acceptance) next time. Better approach than steely grim resolve….
One time I was doing a ride on a windy day. The going out side was downwind, because routes the other way were limited by an interstate. Coming back, I was able to get up to 6 mph on the hills, then slowed to 4mph when we got back into the wind.
Preach it, brother!
“When you are hot, be thoroughly hot. When you are cold, be thoroughly cold.” (part of a zen koan)
I have one route, about 70km, which I ride quite often (there and back). About 95% of it is across the fields and such – open space, no protection against wind. I get headwinds mostly (or something diagonal to my direction, but mostly from the front, even if not directly). Maybe some strange “luck”, maybe higher purpose (to teach me a lesson, better saying, many consecutive lessons…), whatever you prefer to believe.
Surely has taught me a lot!
You can’t really “fight” a headwind (in the sense of hoping to win over it in the end). Well, for some distance, maybe… but not for three hours (and more, depending on the force of the wind) straight. No, not really. You need to find a certain mind-setup to ride in such conditions, if you don’t want to get to your destination utterly frustrated.
Very good lessons, indeed.
Yep, itʻs back!
Hi, on Android devices the banner obscures the top of the strip.
Headwinds aren’t so bad when they become tailwinds on the way home. The ones I hate are the ones that turn around and fight with me in both directions!
Unfortunately most head winds never into tail winds on the way home.
That’s all of them.
Very fitting since today my ride to work was into a decent 15 mph headwind with occasional gusts. It’s days like this that I’m thankful for the drop bars I put on my bike at the end of the summer. My old trekking bars had their pluses, but they didn’t allow me to get out of the headwinds like the drops did this morning down by the river where the wind was blowing unabated and unblocked.
One day I arrived at school 45 minutes late and the principal asked why.
I explained: “the wind was so strong, for every step I took forward; it would blow me back two steps”.
She said: “at that rate, I’d never make it to school”…
You telling me??? So I started walking home….
Welcome back, Rick.
Wind is one of the factors that will keep me off my bike.
Here in Los Angeles we have our Santa Ana winds (often at this time of the year), with gusts varying from 30 to 70mph.
They always blow the same direction, NE to SW–exactly paralleling the roads to the beach (and back…), and during warm weather when you want to go to the coast.
One time I just stopped at a restaurant halfway back in hope they would subside. (They didn’t, but the South Indian dinner was fantastic!)
Here in the great central valley of California, we call the ever-changing headwind (“In my face out AND back?? WTF.”), “Hill training.” Otherwise, it’s packing the bike 40 minutes to experience *real* hills….
The headwind on my way to work was allways so bad. So I had bought a recumbent. Now isn’t the headwind the problem but rather the heaviness of the bike at my home hill. The Harz is a low mountain range in the middle of Germany. But it’s not the problem of the bike: I simply overload it like Yehuda.
so real.
Somehow it is worst in the winter: after climbing a very steep hill, when I’m gasping for breath, the wind occasionally hits so hard it pulls the air out of my lungs just when I’m trying to suck down a chestful of air.