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• Tuesday, April 14, 2020
• Posted By Admin

Riding into a headwind or crosswind can be very challenging. For one thing, it can reduce your speed greatly. For another thing it can cause you to lose control of your bike. Finally, riding into strong winds can make you have to work that much harder to maintain the same speed and to stay on course. This is nothing to say of flying debris which can also be a problem when cycling into strong winds. Use these 5 tips for handling strong head and crosswinds to make your ride a bit more manageable.

Rotate with your ride partners: Assuming you are in a group, you can conserve up 40% in energy expenditure by drafting behind another cyclist. Take turns with your ride partners so that everyone gets a break from the strong winds and so that no one tires quickly.

Stay low: Stay in a tucked position when you are riding. This will lower your wind resistance and help you slice through strong gusts. Road bikes are especially good for this kind of positioning as you can use your drop to ride much lower than you can on a hybrid.

Use a larger gear: Use a harder gear and a lower cadence when riding in strong winds. This will make it easier to pedal through strong gusts since short accelerations in higher gears will give you greater control over your bike.

Expect gusts of wind in exposed spots: Know that in certain areas and at certain times you are more likely to encounter strong winds than at other times. For example, strong winds are common as you ride around the corner of large buildings or over open fields where there is no wind break to cut down on sudden gusts.

Change your route or even stop when it becomes too dangerous: Discretion is the better part of valor when it comes to cycling in dangerous conditions. If the winds become too difficult to navigate then there is nothing wrong with pulling over and trying to figure out a safe route or even stopping until the winds die down.

In short, cycling in the wind can be tricky. The key is in knowing what to do to maintain control of your bike and still have a good time. These tips should help you do just that. The most important thing is to get out and ride whenever you can, with or without wind. You can do this and explore interesting locations on one of our bike tour vacations. We have the best biking vacations on the Internet which includes tours of North America and Europe.