wind techniques ??

"Ravi" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:1082402541.315460@sj-nntpcache-3...

Quoted message said:

Hi,
Am a 'weekend rider' and last weekend, was on Altamont Pass Road.
heading to Tracy (from livermore) was *beautiful* - tail wind, downhill.
After lunch at Tracy, return was *painful* - headwind and a slight
uphill. i was on the dropbars, in an aerodynamic position, but how-long
- i couldn't stay there for long - every so often, i get back on hoods,
it was tough, and in some points when i wanted to standup and pedal,
forget it - it was the toughest point - wind hitting my entire body,
slowed me down further than speed up 🙁 - this is my maiden experience
with wind this strong.

any tips your folks got for tackling the wind.

thanks,
ravi

Ravi,

Don't over-gear. You're not going to be going at a record pace, anyway.
Save your legs. Spin easier gears. Depending on how strong the wind is,
keep it in the small chainring and keep it in a gear where you can keep your
cadence fairly high without it hurting your legs alot to do so.

And remember ... the person who said, "whatever doesn't kill you makes you
stronger" was never hit by a car.

Bob C.

Mon, 19 Apr 2004 12:19:25 -0700, <1082402541.315460@sj-nntpcache-3>,

Ravi said:

any tips your folks got for tackling the wind.

thanks,
ravi

It's an endless test of character.

Screaming, ranting and crying wastes more energy than aero-rims save.
Zip up, tuck in your elbows, grin and know it's making you stronger.

Give thanks and acknowledgement to the tail winds you do get.
--
zk

On Mon, 19 Apr 2004 12:19:25 -0700, Ravi <[email hidden]> wrote in
message <1082402541.315460@sj-nntpcache-3>:

Quoted message said:

any tips your folks got for tackling the wind.

Ho yus. Buy a recumbent :-)

--
Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University

psycholist <[email hidden]> wrote in message
[email hidden]

Quoted message said:

"Ravi" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

[...]

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

any tips your folks got for tackling the wind.

Quoted message said:

Ravi,

Don't over-gear. You're not going to be going at a record pace,
anyway. Save your legs. Spin easier gears. Depending on how strong
the wind is, keep it in the small chainring and keep it in a gear
where you can keep your cadence fairly high without it hurting your
legs alot to do so.

Heh.

I live near a huge bay and there's a dirty great long road running along the
coast called Beach Road (funny that). It's one of the most popular bike
roads in the country. Every day you'll see bikes and sensible motorists
know to avoid it like the plague at times like 6am to 8am Saturday and
Sunday mornings, that sort of thing. I live at the north end of Beach Rd
which is good because when there's a breeze it's usually a southerly or
there abouts, so I ride south as far as I feel able, turn around and ride
back with a tailwind, and when I get home I always say to myself I should
have gone further. Anyway, this weekend just gone it was supposed to rain
intermittently and Saturday was gray and a bit more blowy than usual. I
went to go out once but felt a few drops and figured it was about to rain
and went back inside. After a while, when it hadn't rained as such, I knew
it was going to be one of those days where it was just going to spit on and
off and if I was going to get a ride in I simply had to put up with it.
Sunday was predicted to be worse. So I geared up and went for a ride.

A few minutes later I turned onto Beach Road. *BOOF*! What was a bit blowy
at home was fairly full-on bayside but I was there and I said to myself, you
know, if I drop to a lower gear, possibly even the small chainring, and if I
keep my cadence fairly high (hopefully without my legs hurting a lot to do
so), I can still have a reasonable ride, at least to one of my nearer
personal checkpoints. More fool me.

I have a hybrid with flat bars and clip-on aerobars. Using the flat bars
was out of the question, I might just as well have draped a parachute out
the back, so I went into aerobars position #1, which is hands on the lower
part of the aerobars with arms fairly straight. My hands are fairly close
together and I lean a bit forward so the whole thing is a bit more
aerodynamic than the upright position (dur!) and in fact it's become my
favourite, most comfortable riding position. Anyway, I'm in aerobars
position #1 as I said and I might just as well have draped a parachute out
the back for all the good it did. So I dropped into aerobars position #2,
which is hands on the lower part of the aerobars with arms bent so that my
wrists actually rest on the flat bars and I'm effectively in a pseudo-tuck.
This is moderately better except that now I'm being blown by the wind all
over the place. Riding with aerobars is notoriously unstable but with my
setup it's not quite as bad because when my wrists or lower forearms rest on
the flatbars they help stabilize things up front. Not that day! I was all
over the place, either the wind was trying to hurl me into the gutter or I
was in grave danger of shooting across two lanes and being collected by a
passing car when the gusts eased for a couple of seconds whilst I was still
fighting a wind that momentarily wasn't there. So I did something I haven't
done for some time. I gave up on the road and headed for the bike track
that runs alongside the road.

The bike track is twistier than the road and slower, but that was OK, the
point was I wasn't going to get blown under an 18-wheeler or what have you,
and maybe I'd get to take out my frustration on an errant pedestrian (I like
to glide up behind them and at the last moment hit the AirZound airhorn -
hey, they have their own path). Parts of the path that ran closer to the
water were wet from the spray but at least the wind was onshore so it was
pushing me away from the rocks even as it sprayed me with seawater. Around
about now I noticed something. Beach Road is one of the most popular bike
roads in the country and to that point I hadn't seen another bike. There
weren't that many pedestrians either, for that matter, so I didn't get to
yell at anybody.

I pushed on a little further and said, bugger this for a joke, I'm going to
*quit*, I'm going to *run away*, I'm going *home*, and hey, won't that
tailwind be a ripper! Woohoo! Twit. That wind wasn't a southerly (which
are either mild to moderate breezes or full-on storms all the way from the
South Pole when even I wouldn't consider going out), it was a westerly, so I
had to fight it nearly all the way back again. However, on the way back I
did see a roadie making his way south. I got home eventually and checked
the bike computer. I'd done just over 10km, probably the shortest ride I've
done on Beach Road ever. Don't ask my average speed, I wiped it. And geez,
my legs hurt.

So, my tip for tackling the wind? Stay at home.

Bleh.

--

A: Top-posters.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet?

Move to Denmark. There's always a tailwind. It's the law. We'll not quite,
but a politician there got elected on a campaign platform of better gifts at
Xmas and a perpetual tailwind for cyclists (a very popular position given
the large number of cyclists and windy conditions in the west of the
country) . I think using the money supplied by the state to run his campaign
in order to bribe the voters with free beer and sausages probably helped his
election effort too.

Ravi said:

Hi,
Am a 'weekend rider' and last weekend, was on Altamont Pass Road.
heading to Tracy (from livermore) was *beautiful* - tail wind,
downhill. After lunch at Tracy, return was *painful* - headwind and a
slight uphill. i was on the dropbars, in an aerodynamic position, but
how-long - i couldn't stay there for long - every so often, i get
back on hoods, it was tough, and in some points when i wanted to
standup and pedal, forget it - it was the toughest point - wind
hitting my entire body, slowed me down further than speed up 🙁 -
this is my maiden experience with wind this strong.

any tips your folks got for tackling the wind.

thanks,
ravi

"Ravi" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:1082402541.315460@sj-nntpcache-3...

Quoted message said:

Hi,
Am a 'weekend rider' and last weekend, was on Altamont Pass Road.
heading to Tracy (from livermore) was *beautiful* - tail wind, downhill.
After lunch at Tracy, return was *painful* - headwind and a slight
uphill. i was on the dropbars, in an aerodynamic position, but how-long
- i couldn't stay there for long - every so often, i get back on hoods,
it was tough, and in some points when i wanted to standup and pedal,
forget it - it was the toughest point - wind hitting my entire body,
slowed me down further than speed up 🙁 - this is my maiden experience
with wind this strong.

any tips your folks got for tackling the wind.

thanks,
ravi

Best advice I ever got was to shift into a big gear, move back on the
saddle, put your hands on the tops of the bars, stomach-breath, push forward
on the petals, and pretend your climbing Ventoux.

Works for me. Keeps me from becoming demoralized from going so slow on a
flat.

HTH

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

....

Quoted message said:

Best advice I ever got was to shift into a big gear, move back on the
saddle, put your hands on the tops of the bars, stomach-breath, push forward
on the petals, and pretend your climbing Ventoux.

How is stepping on flowers going to help you in the wind? ;-P)

--
Dave Kerber
Fight spam: remove the ns_ from the return address before replying!

REAL programmers write self-modifying code.

"psycholist" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Ravi" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

any tips your folks got for tackling the wind.

thanks,
ravi

Ravi,

Don't over-gear. You're not going to be going at a record pace, anyway.
Save your legs. Spin easier gears. Depending on how strong the wind is,
keep it in the small chainring and keep it in a gear where you can keep

your

Quoted message said:

cadence fairly high without it hurting your legs alot to do so.

Good advice. One last thing: cover the bike computer.
On last summer's tour, I rode north for 3 days against the wind, vacationed
for a week, then rode 4 days south against the wind. It helped to put the
map over the top of the bike computer so I couldn't see it unless I needed
to (e.g. to judge the miles since the last turn).

At the end of the day, you can look at unimpressive stats like this:
101 miles, 11.0 mph average speed on bike computer
and realize that the important thing was that you had fun and you still feel
like getting up tomorrow and riding another century.

Oh, one more tip: Hang onto those handlebars when big trucks pass.

Ravi <[email hidden]> wrote in news:1082402541.315460@sj-nntpcache-3:

Quoted message said:

Am a 'weekend rider' and last weekend, was on Altamont Pass Road.
heading to Tracy (from livermore) was *beautiful* - tail wind, downhill.
After lunch at Tracy, return was *painful* - headwind and a slight
uphill. i was on the dropbars, in an aerodynamic position, but how-long
- i couldn't stay there for long

Bend your elbows and keep your body low. Spin the pedals to apply even
power. Shift down if necessary to keep your cadence up. Wind + hills =
great training.

Ken said:

Wind + hills = great training.

heh. when the wind is bad around here i head to the hills. well, when the
wind is down i head to the hills, too, but hills are cake compared to the
wind. no nice views nor sense of accomplishment and fewer bragging rights.
no one ever brags of crossing south dakota .. but ch-rist .. they probably
should.
--
david reuteler
[email hidden]

If you're with someone else, take turns drafting. If not, then all you
can do is hunker down and fight the wind (or stay overnight and hope
it's gone tomorroy ;-3) ).

- -

"May you have the wind at your back.
And a really low gear for the hills!"

Chris Zacho ~ "Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

Chris'Z Corner
http://www.geocities.com/czcorner

I'm on my way :-)

trg said:

Move to Denmark. There's always a tailwind. It's the law. We'll not quite,
but a politician there got elected on a campaign platform of better gifts at
Xmas and a perpetual tailwind for cyclists (a very popular position given
the large number of cyclists and windy conditions in the west of the
country) . I think using the money supplied by the state to run his campaign
in order to bribe the voters with free beer and sausages probably helped his
election effort too.

Ravi said:

Hi,
Am a 'weekend rider' and last weekend, was on Altamont Pass Road.
heading to Tracy (from livermore) was *beautiful* - tail wind,
downhill. After lunch at Tracy, return was *painful* - headwind and a
slight uphill. i was on the dropbars, in an aerodynamic position, but
how-long - i couldn't stay there for long - every so often, i get
back on hoods, it was tough, and in some points when i wanted to
standup and pedal, forget it - it was the toughest point - wind
hitting my entire body, slowed me down further than speed up 🙁 -
this is my maiden experience with wind this strong.

any tips your folks got for tackling the wind.

thanks,
ravi

Quoted message said:

any tips your folks got for tackling the wind.

Not much to tell except that crosswinds on a loaded bike are the worst.

Normally where I live we get northwest winds, I go west on my way to
work and east with a jog to the north on my way home.

The buildings funnel the wind in exactly the wrong way, all I can say
is stay aero and spin. If you have a problem staying in the drops
raise the bars to where you get an average improvement.

On long rides anything you can do to get aero is good, a snug windshell
will help. You don't want anything flapping or snapping in the breeze.

On a long crosswind leg be aware that an overtaking vehicle can block
the crosswind for a second or so, don't overcompensate when that
happens.

Be aware that riding in a strong wind will suck the sweat right off
you, definitely drink more.

If it's cold, watch that exposed skin, even if it's hot--sunburn and
dehydration can wreck your complexion.

When you feel your lips start to dry out and crack it's time to watch
"Lawrence of Arabia", the director's cut.

--

_______________________ALL AMIGA IN MY MIND_______________________
------------------"Buddy Holly, the Texas Elvis"------------------
__________306.350.357.38>>[email hidden]__________

Ravi said:

any tips your folks got for tackling the wind.

I find it helpful to decide to stop being concerned with my speed and
just concentrate on a sustainable cadence. Click up a couple of gears
or whatever it takes, and just pedal.

A couple of mentions: you need Good eye protection on windy days, (trust
that this is a relevation to somone). WEAR IT.

Bring an extra bottle of water and an extra snack maybe.

Don't look at your speedometer -- i set my computer to just show cadence
and time. OR put a sticker or tape ofer the speed display.

Find a _sustainable_ aero position. A full tuck is nice, but not for 20
or 120 miles.

Finally -- just take your mind out of the wind -- don't stress about how
%$@%^& you're crawling, just pedal and think of ... the cleverly worded
post you'll write for wreck.bikes, detailing your Sissyphusian struggle
against the wind, enjoy the scenery two feet to your right, yadda.

So really, the advice is what i was told on my first ragbrai, when faced
with my first Real Hill. "Just Shut Up and Pedal" :-) Don't worry
about the wind. You're there, you'll prevail, it's only a matter of
time.

I remember one day out in the roads west of Chicago, Kane and DeKalb
counties, in Corn Country, about this time of year. 5 hours into the
wind with strong transvese buffets that kept trying to throw me either
into the barbed wire filled ditch or at the grill of a 1973 Chevy
Pickup.

I looked after i stopped to turn around, an average speed of 5.2 mph and
i was beat down tired. A hot dog and some RC cola (what the locals ate)
charged me up enough that I did the return trip in 52 minutes. just shy
of 30 mph and it felt as though my bike was welded to the road.

My speed had given me a brobdignagian momentum normally achieved
through jumping off buildings, but mine was controlled via the
instrumentality of my Trek1220 which shrugged-off the now feeble
gusting wheezes of the morning. this last furor broke the winds's spirt
they declared defeat offered to serve and propelled me into town with
nary a pedal stroke from me.

So the real secrit is to Dominate the Wind with a Pure Soul and some
other stuff you can get at Nashbar.

..max
and that's how i became Wind Breaker.

--
the part of <[email hidden]>
was played by maxwell monningh 8-p

Mike Kruger said:

Good advice. One last thing: cover the bike computer.

Good advice there, too. I can remember long hours of looking down and
seeing "8 MPH" ... "8 MPH" ... "8 MPH"

Very disheartening.

(Under more normal circumstances, I sometimes reach double digits. ;-)

--
-------------+
Frank Krygowski [To reply, omit what's between "at" and "cc"]

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

....

Quoted message said:

I looked after i stopped to turn around, an average speed of 5.2 mph and
i was beat down tired. A hot dog and some RC cola (what the locals ate)
charged me up enough that I did the return trip in 52 minutes. just shy
of 30 mph and it felt as though my bike was welded to the road.

Kind of like my "Tailwinds are a wonderful thing..." post of a few days
ago.

....

Quoted message said:

So the real secrit is to Dominate the Wind with a Pure Soul and some
other stuff you can get at Nashbar.

.max
and that's how i became Wind Breaker.

Great story!

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).

Zoot Katz said:

It's an endless test of character.

No thanks, my closet is already filled with the boxes of character I've
built up.

Quoted message said:

Screaming, ranting and crying wastes more energy than aero-rims save.
Zip up, tuck in your elbows, grin and know it's making you stronger.

Pretty much. Took the looong way into work today (35 miles). I was
regretting it a little when from about mile twelve onward I had a fairly
good headwind. The Eclair Basque I'd picked up from the bakery [1] on
the way in was a nice reward though when I got to work.

Quoted message said:

Give thanks and acknowledgement to the tail winds you do get.

Our Father, who art in velodrome, Hallowed be thy chain.
Thy raceday come.
Thy miles be done, On roadside as it is in velodrome.
Give us this day our daily winds.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from recumbents.
For thine is the velodrome,
and the tailwinds,
and the yellow jersey,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

[1] Essential Baking on Madison. Very nice, but I think I prefer
Le Fournil over by the university bridge.

--
Dane Jackson - z u v e m b i @ u n i x b i g o t s . o r g
"Bill Gates says Open Source is riding on the coat-tails of Windows'
success. That's like saying Osama has done his part to increase
airport security." - Carl Schelin - alt.sysadmin.recovery

"Dane Jackson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Give thanks and acknowledgement to the tail winds you do get.

Our Father, who art in velodrome, Hallowed be thy chain.
Thy raceday come.
Thy miles be done, On roadside as it is in velodrome.
Give us this day our daily winds.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from recumbents.
For thine is the velodrome,
and the tailwinds,
and the yellow jersey,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

I only knew the Mountain bikers' Version:

Our Father, which art in Moab,
Mountain Bike be Thy name.
To Thy trailheads we come,
Thy maintenance be done,
On fire road
As it is on singletrack.
Give us this day our daily ride,
And forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those that trespass on us.
And lead us not onto illegal singletrack,
But deliver us from equestrians;
For thine is the lycra,
The SPD,
And the knobby, forever,
Amen.

Oh, and just because I'm feeling ecumenical, how about the Cyclists'
Kaddish?

May the great road be debris-free and smooth
in the world that He created as He willed.
May the bicycle reign over the road in your lifetimes and in your days,
and in the lifetimes of the entire Family of Cyclists
swiftly and soon. And we say: Amen.

May all our rides be blessed forever and ever.

Blessed, praised, glorified, exalted, extolled,
mighty, upraised, and lauded be all our rides on our bikes, blessed they be

for any short spin and long-distance event,
race and commute that are pedaled in the world. And we say Amen.

May there be abundant bars from the Clif company, and gels
for us and for all cyclists. And we say: Amen.

He Who makes traffic peaceful in the heavens, may He make traffic peaceful
for us here,
and for all cyclists. And we say: Amen.

Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
Please replace earthlink for mouse-potato and .net for .com
Home of the meditative cyclist:
http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm
See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

trg said:

Move to Denmark. There's always a tailwind. It's the law. We'll not
quite, but a politician there got elected on a campaign platform of
better gifts at Xmas and a perpetual tailwind for cyclists (a very
popular position given the large number of cyclists and windy
conditions in the west of the country) . I think using the money
supplied by the state to run his campaign in order to bribe the voters
with free beer and sausages probably helped his election effort too.

Free beer and sausages is a more legitimate use of campaign money than
most. At least the people saw some of the benefits eh?

Too bad I don't drink beer or eat sausages. Or live in Denmark. Otherwise
it could have been good.