Author: Cathy

“Brevet” is French for cold, windy bike ride

I wish I could take credit for the title of this post, but I’m just repeating the words of another of the six Malpais 300k riders last Saturday. I’m infrequently that original, and would in any case, add “wet” to cold and windy, since that has as often as not, been my experience.

It was a perfect day in New Mexico; sunny and dry, with few clouds in the sky and a high of 63 degrees. A perfect day that is, if you watched from your window and never stepped outside. The NOAA three day, hourly history for Saturday between 6am-8pm, reports that winds in the area averaged 20-29mph, with gusts from 26-40mph. Mercifully, if anything can be merciful about fighting the wind for 12 hours, it was blowing from one direction. (In fact, I’m starting to wonder if I live in one of the few places in the world where the wind commonly blasts your right side, only to blast your left the next second.)

As usual, with the exception of the uncontrollable weather, it’s difficult to fault an NM Brevet. It is probably getting boring to read how fabulous the ride coordinators and volunteers are, but they are. Exceptional!! As is the Malpais Route! About 193 miles of the 195 miles were on rural roads. There were many stretches where fewer than one vehicle per mile passed. I would rank it among the most beautiful rides I’ve done. If one is fond of the desert southwest it’s worth a trip to do this ride.

Regardless of the wind, I wasn’t having a superb day on the bike, but I managed to make my way to the finish before dark. I was certainly glad for the short ride to my hotel room (there are several hotels within 1/4 mile of the start/finish), a warm shower and bed.

Tips for training in the wind

Riding in strong wind is one of the things I fear the most and I get plenty of opportunities for practice in the mountains of southern Colorado. I’ve searched the Internet for tips about cycling in the wind, specifically crosswinds. Most of the information I found was about road racing; how/why to form echelons. Not much about windy solo training rides. I found a few articles for beginners advising staying inside if the winds are strong. If you’re competing, that just doesn’t make sense. As a poster on one forum said, what happens if it’s windy during an event? Does everyone just pack up and go home?

So here is a summary of a few of the tips I’ve found:

  • Stay low – Sit up – Yep, some people say stay low, others say sit up. My own experience is that in crosswinds sitting up is better. Someone suggested that sitting up leaves more “holes” for the wind to blow through, whereas when you’re compact there’s larger solid surface to blow against. If you’re riding fast it may help to stay low. In headwinds, stay low.
  • Go fast – Go slow – Seems to be disagreement on this one too. Logically, it seems one would be more stable at high speeds. However, I’ve found that I feel more stable at lower speeds. Maybe like sitting up, going slower creates less solid (to the wind) area and more holes; i.e. when you are going fast you create a larger air surface in your direction of travel and perpendicular to side winds.
  • No aero rims and spokes – This one is consistent. In crosswinds high profile rims and bladed spokes, especially on your front wheel, just give winds a place to grab onto and pull the wheel off line.
  • Training in wind makes you a stronger, better rider – Believing this is a psychological trick that seems to help.
  • Relax – Probably the most important. Staying relaxed helps you absorb wind gusts rather than transmitting them to your bike; and you are usually the largest surface area on your bike. This one really became apparent to me one day when I was training in the wind and meet up with a friend who was also braving the conditions. When we were riding together chatting I was less aware of the wind. The next day, riding alone in gentler wind, I was more tense and the wind seemed more scary.

I often seem to be riding with my rear panniers when it’s windy. I look forward to the trip home when they’re loaded up … the heavier the better. The extra weight more than compensates for the surface area of the panniers and my bike feels a lot more stable.

Got any advice for riding in the wind? Please post them to the comments section.