Headwind out, tailwind in, or vice versa?

[Milkfloat]

I thought everybody preferred the headwind out option. I barely know the areas north east of me as I always head out into the south westerly winds.

 

[Dave7]

From home I don't have a lot of choice but to go east/south(ish) as north/west takes me onto major A roads and towns. I much prefer headwind out..........tailwind back........then I can cycle till I am virtually knackered but know I can get back home again. When it is the reverse I have to be careful not to overdo it outwards as I may never get home again**
**last year I did a 68 (targeted) miler on the Wirral.........wind was against on the way out and I just could not reach the 34 miles I needed. I had to turn for the start point at 32 and when I got there I needed another 4 miles so I had no choice but to head back out into the wind...........but by then I had recovered some strength and was able to complete it

 

[biggs682]

I either turn left or right

 

[mjr]

I live on the East coast so it is always headwind out, tailwind in.

Don't you get the tide-related summer winds like we seem to sufferenjoy near the Wash?

 

[User6179]

Headwind out for me but i got thinking about this one day , if you go into a headwind and the wind direction changes you never get the benefit of the change , you could end up having a headwind the whole ride as has happened to me but if you start with a tailwind you always benefit from the wind changing as you can get a tailwind the whole ride.

 

[mjr]

... but if you start with a tailwind you always benefit from the wind changing as you can get a tailwind the whole ride.

I know I joke that the wind's always againsterly, but I did a 100 mile ride last year where we had tailwind out and tailwind home, thanks to it turning while we were at the second/pub stop - but there was still a stiff 15 mile stretch into a headwind halfway round.

Sadly, I have also done a 100 mile ride where the wind kept shifting to face us for the last 60!

 

[User6179]

Sadly, I have also done a 100 mile ride where the wind kept shifting to face us for the last 60!

This is when you sit behind the fat bloke , sadly thats usually me

 

[Dogtrousers]

Well, yesterday I had a headwind all the way out, but technically it was an unfavourable crosswind (SW wind, I was going S). But going back it was a "favourable" crosswind. It just didn't feel very favourable most of the time. The sight of me by the side of the road trying to put on my thin waterproof in a swirling wind, must have amused passing motorists. "Look, a man wrestling with a bright yellow flag".

Oddly, as I rode up the Beacon, the way the wind was swirling, and the way the road twisted, I did have a significant tailwind at one point. Not that it did me much good as I ground my way slowly upwards.

 

[mjr]

This is when you sit behind the fat bloke , sadly thats usually me

No, he'd dropped me too

 

[tallliman]

Normally headwind out but in strong winds, I often head for the hills or try and keep it as a cross wind for a time.

 

[Venod]

We once did a club ride to Skipton. 45 to 50 mile into a brisk North Westerly, everybody was knackered so the cafe stop was long & leisurely, when we set of home the wind had swung to a South Easterly, we went over Blubberhouses on the way home, it was carnage, I think everybody bonked, I remember sitting on the floor outside a garage forcing a Mars Bar & Coke down, I was only 4 mile from home but needed a boost, its about 30 years ago now but never to be forgotton.

 

[ClaireSaud]

Don't you get the tide-related summer winds like we seem to sufferenjoy near the Wash?

Ah yes, summer winds off the Humber..........summer seems like a long, distant memory....

 

[Venod]

Were they heading out or home.

 

[russ.will]

I refuse to vote. As a Fen Dweller, it's always a f**king headwind.

Russell