Wind or hills?

[GrasB]

<more physics, feel free to look away now>

And freewheeling on the descent afterwards? You need to factor in the gain in gravitational potential energy - which is returned on the desecent - "what goes up must come down". (Yes, you can pedal too, but as wind resistance increases as the square of the velocity means you'll get much less benefit than you expect. Put simply, the amount of energy used to move one metre increases as the square of the velocity difference between you and the surrounding air. This is also the reason why you don't get as much benefit from a tail wind than you might expect.)

Trying to answer a sports science with physics... it doesn't really work.

Freewheeling down doesn't deliver an in-ride advantage in recovery terms compared to ramping you power down active recovery effort level. If you're looking at over-ride performance a weighted average power where anything above your LT threshold is significantly weighted where anything bellow mid-level aerobic power has a very low weighting. Net result is that freewheeling down hill & sitting there at 25-30mph @ 75-90w is actually not really that different.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Oh no, you're not starting a physics-off with McWob are you?

 

[GrasB]

Oh no, you're not starting a physics-off with McWob are you?

No, performance science... which isn't just physics, regardless of what physicist & their groupies think

 

[BigonaBianchi]

I'd rather climb a mountain than deal with this coastal wind every day

 

[Ladytrucker]

because I only have hills I hate the wind.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

No, performance science... which isn't just physics, regardless of what physicist & their groupies think

I trust you're not suggesting that I'm one of Professor Brainstorm's hangers on!

 

[vernon]

Hills all day sick of this wind now

Try Gavescon.

 

[gavroche]

b

Hey, you can't say I didn't warn you!

Physics and chemistry are all alien to me. No offence intended.

 

[tomahawk]

I hate wind when I'm cycling.
But as long as there's no one nearby I let it all out...

Does that count as a tailwind then?

 

[Risex4]

Hills. Hills are finite - they don't generally last 40 miles solid, and can be tangibly beaten.

A messy headwind just saps your morale sooner of later.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Does that count as a tailwind then?

If it's coming out of your tail, you need to see a doctor.

 

[ColinJ]

There are a few hills that you can't ride up but there are a lot of winds that you can't ride against!

As PaulB mentioned above, the worst case is a killer headwind when going up a killer climb. The worst combination that I have experienced was a 20+ mph headwind when going up a short stretch of 25% - my heart rate hit 198 bpm and I felt like I was going to pass out.

You don't always get to enjoy a tailwind when coming back from a slog into a headwind, and you don't always get to enjoy a nice descent after a climb. There is a 20 mile local loop from here with a big hill halfway round (950-odd ft) and I tackled it once with a headwind along the valley from Hebden Bridge to Todmorden. I turned 90 degrees left at Tod and had a headwind all the way to Littleborough. I turned 90 degrees left there and climbed up to Blackstone Edge into a fierce headwind. I was just hanging on for the 90 degree left turn at at the reservoir, but when I took it, I still had a roaring headwind! In fact, the wind was so bad that I had to put the bike into a 39/28 gear and stand up to make any progress down the hill! When I finally limped down to Mytholmroyd, I turned 90 degrees left and headed back to Hebden Bridge - into a strong headwind!

I got hit by a headwind so strong in Spain that I had to stand up in a 39/29 gear and used all my strength against it. I was forced into an involuntary trackstand which lasted a few seconds but then my legs gave way. I was blown backwards off my bike which flipped up into the air and nearly got blown over the Armco barrier and down into a ravine. I managed to grab the bike and wrestle it to the ground. At that point, I decided that it was too windy to continue and rode back to the hotel at about 40 mph, barely trying.

I prefer climbing to wind-battling!

 

[GrasB]

I trust you're not suggesting that I'm one of Professor Brainstorm's hangers on!

Only if you want to be

 

[asterix]

Makes no difference, power is power! xxxW uphill is no different to xxxW into a headwind, or even xxxW with a tailwind. The only difference is you will go at different speeds for your xxxW, but the amount of work is the same!

Certainly not true in my case. Altho' I like to cycle in the hills I can never compete with the whippets on the climbs. What I need to leave them behind is a nice headwind on the flat.

 

[GrasB]

Certainly not true in my case. Altho' I like to cycle in the hills I can never compete with the whippets on the climbs. What I need to leave them behind is a nice headwind on the flat.

Over coming aero drag requires absolute power, hill climbing is dominated by W/kg (all up weight). It doesn't make your watts harder to produce going up hill, it just means you're relatively slower when climbing.