Riding A Flat Bar Bike Into A 20mph Headwind.

[Lovacott]

This time last year, I started thinking about the possibility of riding my bike to work. I'd toyed with the idea in the past, but what put me off was my lack of fitness and the sheer bloody awkwardness of the route.

There was also the prospect of a 20mph headwind blowing in off the sea as I headed east to west on my way home.

But regardless, I had a go at it and now I'm hooked.

I've loved every second of my cycling life change adventure apart from one bit.

The bloody 20mph headwind in my face just about every ride home.

I'm on an old Apollo hard tail MTB so I'm sat pretty much bolt upright and not exactly streamlined. I lean forward into hard gusts but if I stay forward for more than a few seconds, I lose power in my legs which removes any gain I may have made from trying to be more aerodynamic. In just over an hours time, I'm going to attempt my route to work on the new road bike. I'll have to carry the bike for around 3/4's of a mile over a few fields but it would be interesting to compare the overall times.

 

[gzoom]

Everything time am commuting to work into a headwind, am glad I have an eBike for the commute .

 

[Slick]

Every time I commute into a head wind, I wish I had an ebike.

 

[biggs682]

Just remember for every headwind there's a tail wind

 

[Lovacott]

Just remember for every headwind there's a tail wind

There was a road cyclist grinning like a Cheshire cat on Friday as he approached me with a 20mph tail wind up his arse. Jammy bugger.

 

[ianrauk]

Everytime I ride into a headwind on the commute, I don't battle it. No point.

 

[Arrowfoot]

Just remember for every headwind there's a tail wind

Not when you live along the coast. The diurnals are perpendicular so you are buggered both ways as roads typically hug the coast lines. Never move to the coast if you love cycling.

 

[gzoom]

Just remember for every headwind there's a tail wind

Unless it does a 180 whilst you are at work

 

[MichaelW2]

I was touring across one of the flatter, windier parts of the Netherlands and saw a granny on a modern Dutch upright ( alu frame, 24 gears) with a set of aerobars clamped to her swept back flats for riding into headwinds.
You have to minimise the parachute effect by holding your arms closer together. Getting narrow is probabaly more effective than just getting low.

 

[Cymro74]

Keep elbows in, head down and keep as low as you can. Very difficult on a flat bar but anything is better than staying upright.
I live near the coast too and use drop bars on most rides to get low into headwind.

 

[gbb]

When I was cycling seriously, the one thing I quickly learned, you cant beat the wind. So you have to modify your attitude to it and that means I found myself not fighting it but finding a pace, a cadence that worked. If that meant doing 10 mph but being able to do it without too much discomfort for 15 miles, then 10 mph it is.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

As above headwinds are very much a question of attitude. It’s strong gusts and side winds that are more difficult to handle if you are on an upright bike.

 

[rivers]

I was touring across one of the flatter, windier parts of the Netherlands and saw a granny on a modern Dutch upright ( alu frame, 24 gears) with a set of aerobars clamped to her swept back flats for riding into headwinds.
You have to minimise the parachute effect by holding your arms closer together. Getting narrow is probabaly more effective than just getting low.

Aero bars are great in a headwind. We had our first club TT Thursday, which was a tad on the windy side. But, I was still hitting 20mph into the headwind.

 

[MichaelW2]

When I was cycling seriously, the one thing I quickly learned, you cant beat the wind. So you have to modify your attitude to it and that means I found myself not fighting it but finding a pace, a cadence that worked. If that meant doing 10 mph but being able to do it without too much discomfort for 15 miles, then 10 mph it is.

I met a fierce headwind on a gutbusting climb up onto Exmoor. I was on a holiday tour with no specific route so I turned it into a dowhill tailwind for my fastest ever 17 mile ride to the nearest railway station.

 

[Badger_Boom]

Just remember for every headwind there's a tail wind

Not if you’re an army PTI. Im sure they get special training to ensure every leg of an activity is conducted uphill into the wind.