I really enjoy bicycling. I like it so much that I finally spent $1200 on a good bike a couple years ago so that I could enjoy it even more. The weather where I am has finally warmed up enough for bicycling and I thought I’d go for a ride this afternoon. I got as far as putting my bike shorts on, and then my ears caught the sound of the wind outside. I peeked out my window and saw by the trees that there’s a fairly stiff wind blowing. With that observation, I changed my mind and decided to play World of Warcraft instead.
The thing is this: wind takes all of the enjoyment out of bicycling for me. It’s especially unfun because I live in a river valley where the wind swirls around and changes direction with enough frequency that it ends up feeling like I’m constantly riding against the wind no matter which direction I’m going. The local bike trail is an 11-mile loop that goes up one side of the Columbia River, crosses a bridge, and then goes down the other side. I am not making things up when I say I can ride North upstream and into the wind, and then when I cross the river and ride South, I’m still riding into the wind. It sucks. Or blows, as the case may be.
What I don’t get is why wind is so unpleasant in a way that pedaling uphill isn’t. Riding against the wind isn’t any more difficult than pumping up a hill (and this bike loop is far from level - it goes up and down and up and down all the way around). But wind puts me off cycling in a way that hills don’t.
Any guesses as to why this is? Is it simply that hills are more bearable because I know that I’ll eventually get to the top and then I can go downhill, while wind just blows and blows and blows, presenting an impediment with no knowledge of when it might end? What do y’all think?
I feel your pain. I always hated the wind in my face when cycling when I was just a young Kerrpup. It just made me angry. Even into college and later.
But I gave up cycling completely when I realized I hated the effects on a more private region where, um, blowing happens (one hopes!) as well. I was in my early 20s and too young for that. That made me angry too.
Iron clad rule #1 of bicycling It is uphill in both directions Iron clad rule #2 of bicycling The wind is always a headwind
I once did a 7 day bike tour. On day 6 we were told it would be a nice day with the wind at our backs. We were told by riders experienced with the area that 99 days out of 100 the wind blew out of the North. We were headed South.
The wind was in our face all day.
Approaching our the town where were were going to stop for lunch the wind was so strong we had to pedal downhill to keep up our speed.
When lunch was over we headed out of town 90 degrees from our prior heading. the wind was in our face again.
Out here, the wind always blows upstream. There’s a place of the Green River called ‘Bowknot Bend’ where the river makes a nearly perfect circle traveling nine linear miles only to end up about two hundred yards from where it began. Every time I’ve floated that stretch, it’s been into the wind the whole way. I asked a couple of friends that own river companies about this and they just laughed; one said: “How does it know?”
A long distance bicycling co-worker told a tale about the uphill ride being so much easier, because the hill acted as a wind-break.
Although he also said, in the same story, one of the more profound sportsman’s sayings I’ve every encountered: “Wind, rain, uphill, downhill – it’s all cycling, and it’s all great.”
Sadly, he died a few years ago, of heart failure from electrolyte depletion. The medical clinic he went to the day before didn’t take his tremendous physical condition into account when he showed up with flu symptoms. Unless you saw his calves, he looked like a typical guy, not an amazing athlete.
You’re doing it wrong! I’ve never had any trouble of that kind, and I rode almost everywhere for 14.5 years (from age 26 to 40) when I was without a driver’s license. And I didn’t even get the padded spandex shorts until I bought the fancy bike two years ago.
I’ve encountered that more than once around here.
I did an experiment once where I made a circuit around the block in a residential area. I went North, then West, then South, then East, and it was into the wind each way.
I don’t bike until the temp gets to around 60° F. It’s not so much the cold on my body — I can wear sweat pants and a jacket. It’s the cold wind in my eyes, even with shades on. The cold air makes my eyes water so badly that I can’t see where I’m going.
I know what you mean. I think it’s just that when you’re going uphill it’s hard work but it feels right somehow. You can see why it’s hard work.
With air resistance, once you’ve been cycling for a while you have a mental map of how hard work it should be to go a certain pace.
When you have a headwind, rationally you may be able to explain to yourself why it all feels so much harder than usual, but subconsciously you can’t help but feel that it’s just harder than it should be. You feel sluggish and tired and you just can’t get your subconscious mind around why it should be that way.
The other thing is that wind resistance increases geometrically. So in still air 15mph is next to effortless, while 20mph is very little work and 25mph takes a bit of effort. With a 10mph headwind, suddenly 15mph has become something that requires an effort not in linear proportion to what you might expect from the amount of wind.
I don’t know if this is a factor for anyone else, but the worst thing for me about wind is not when it comes from the front, but when it comes from the side. With the big rectangular grids of streets and general flatness in my area, I tense up every time I come to a major intersection, not knowing if I’m going to get a gust which is going to knock me off my bike (which has happened in the past - I’ve got shocking balance. But then, I generally bike to get places, rather than for enjoyment)
If we are talking about male sexual parts (which I assume) many medical studies in the last years have shown that it’s unhealthy for guys to ride on bikes, the harder the worse, but even with padded gel-saddles with a hole there’s danger. Women also suffer if they bike extensivly, but far less. (Since IAMNAD, I always forget which part exactly gets damaged by the constant bumping around - the testicles themselves or the prostata or…)
Of course, there’s a historic irony there, considering that when biking started in earnest some 150 /100 years ago, there was a lot of concern from conservative/chauvinistic males that it would damage the delicate physique of females, while males could of course bike without any problems… turns out, medically it’s the opposite!
For the cold face, I’d recommend a ski mask (the thing bank robbers in movies used to wear) - if it won’t get you into trouble with the cops for being a terrorist in this day and age? They’re called windblockers, after all…
For the eyes, I also feel bothered by strong wind in my eyes, but because I wear regular glasses, I can’t buy the cheap bike glasses available here (they have usually three glasses that can be changed on the frame: clear glass for normal, orange for sundown and black for high noon; and they curve around your eyes functionally to protect your eyes from the wind, not to look cool).
Alpina and some other companies offer special glasses where you inset lenses grinded to your special conscription and then change the glasses on top. At least they offer this for ski glasses, but they probably have a similar bike model. Only I don’t bike often enough to want to spend 100 Euros or more on this model.
Ah, a recumbent bike (specially tricycle). Yes, that’s more comfortabel, also better for the back (too hunched over on most usual models). Downsides are not only that it costs a lot more, but that driving in the city your head is far closer to all the cars exhausts.
There’s also one company which makes light-weight covers around bikes from resin painted colourfully (and clear windows). Because you don’t feel the wind directly on the body, it feels less stressful, though if you’re an athletic biker in the country, you probably want to reduce wind resistance. (I saw and tried this company at one of our street festivals, but can’t remember the name at the moment).
To the OP, I went for a long-distance ride yesterday morning. At about the 1/3 mark I was feeling a bit out of shape and made the executive decision to shorten my route. That decision was fortunate since when I turned left (instead of right) I realized my entire trip home was going to be against a very strong headwind. (The wind had shifted and was now completely from the West, not SW.) I made it home, but barely. I had to stop and rest twice, and once I made it back into town I started riding on sidewalks because I didn’t trust myself on the street anymore.
The wind literally killed me. Upon getting home I fell over and couldn’t get up because I could not feel my legs. I regularly take 50km rides and can comfortably do 100km+ rides. However, yesterday, fighting a steady 40km headwind for 20 km worked me. In the end my ride only ended up being 45km, but it was the longest ride I’ve ever had. (I’ll admit that at several points I considered giving up and phoning a friend to pick me up.)
Part of it is physics. Absent wind resistance, it takes twice the power to climb a hill at twice the ground speed. Absent gravity, it takes eight times the power to double your airspeed. Since hills normally slow you down to the point that air resistance is small, when you increase your effort you see a noticeable improvement in your speed. Going into the wind you can give it your all and see little improvement in progress.
Recumbent bicycles are just as comfortable, and some of them are quite tall. However I haven’t really noticed much difference in air quality at 3 ft vs. 5 ft off the ground, unless you are dangerously close to the back of a truck.
I’m not sure which one you saw, but a properly designed streamlined shell does reduce air resistance. Especially if you also minimize frontal area by using a recumbent bike/trike as a chassis. But a completely enclosed shell can be a problem in warm weather - the human body needs some wind for cooling.
I currently ride a Quest velomobile which probably the most aerodynamic bike/trike in production, and possibly the most aerodynamic practical bike/trike in the world. I don’t even notice headwind anymore, unless I’m familiar with how fast I should be going on a particular road and notice I’m doing a couple mph less. And a crosswind is noticeable as an increase in speed because the body acts like a sail (or the blade of Darrieus windmill, which the Quest body shape is based on.) In fact, my average speed for a loop seems higher on a windy day than a calm day. My head and upper chest/shoulders are exposed to the wind so there’s enough cooling. (I can also close the hole at my neck with a kayak-like “skirt” if it’s raining or cold.)
That’s only true in the absence of wind. In the other extreme, with a wind much faster than the vehicle speed, the force on the vehicle changes very little depending on speed. So power is proportional to speed.
At issue is the perineal nerve, which runs right along your crotch (in the area popularly known as the “taint” or the “notcher”). And if you’re sitting properly and wearing an adequately supportive shorts/jock/whatever, your testicles shouldn’t even be touching the seat.
Cold face isn’t any problem. I spent years walking to work in the dead of winter at 4:00 or 5:00 AM with a bare face.
Warm wind isn’t a problem. There’s just something about cold wind that makes my eyes water in ridiculous fashion.
I think that’s it right there. My rational mind tells me that riding into a stiff wind isn’t really any more difficult than pedaling up a steep hill, but my body feels the “hard work but no progress” when riding into the wind.
I can say I haven’t had any trouble with that, even after more than 15 years of regular riding. It’s worth noting that when I ride, my full weight is rarely on the saddle. I rarely stand on the pedals, but simply pushing against the pedals means most of my weight is resting there and not on the saddle.
It’s also important to make sure that you’re positioned correctly on the saddle. You shouldn’t be resting your weight on the narrow front horn. Rather, your “butt bones” (I don’t know the anatomical term, but I’m referring to the parts of the pelvic bone that you can feel under your buttocks) should be resting directly on the wider back part of the saddle. That way your weight is resting on your pelvic bone in line with your spine, and not on your perineum.
I suspect a lot of the trouble mentioned in that report is due to the simple fact that most people don’t ride properly fitted bikes.
I’ve never had any trouble of that kind, and I rode almost everywhere for 14.5 years (from age 26 to 40) when I was without a driver’s license. And I didn’t even get the padded spandex shorts until I bought the fancy bike two years ago.