Headwind, shifting, and brakes

48 degrees F today, so I headed out to my usual practice location to get some quality time with Stella. My session lasted only for 30 minutes due to a strong headwind. Indeed it was so strong that it felt like a very strong hill climb in spinning class - and shifting didn't help.

My assumption WAS that gearing isn't going to help much going straight into a strong headwind but I wanted to check (and I didn't want to ride cross-wise to the wind). Indeed it was almost a better cardio workout than spinning class this morning (my HR certainly was higher). I couldn't practice what I wanted to though, it didn't seem the best time to try and ride one-handed... Just wondering in case there is an opportunity for a repeat before the weather changes again.

I also noted that my brakes screamed every time I used them - especially when I stopped. They worked fine, were just very, very noisy. Is this normal, and perhaps due to the wheel picking up moisture from a damp pavement?

{Edited} After some thought, it seems apparent that I just didn't have the right gear combination, that makes sense. When I wiped my bike off after returning home I noted that one of my wheels were very dirty from the brake - but only on one side of the wheel. I know it was clean when I left home... is this normal?

Catrin, I can't really address your question about the brakes, dirt, etc., but I can say that yes, a strong headwind can sap the life out of you, exactly the same as hard climb. The best example I can give you is that the only century I have ever done is almost completely flat, but it is by the ocean. On the way back, you are riding into the wind. The day we did the ride, it was getting ready to storm (it did at mile 85) and the wind was fierce. Although we set our pace at a modest average of 13.5-14.5 and we rarely we riding at a speed above 18, at one point the wind was so tough that we were going around 10 mph in a very low gear. My DH told me that if I didn't get in front and pull for awhile, he would kill me! I have never experienced anything like that again. Since I routinely ride fairly challenging hills, the experience really surprised me.

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Originally Posted by Crankin

Catrin, I can't really address your question about the brakes, dirt, etc., but I can say that yes, a strong headwind can sap the life out of you, exactly the same as hard climb....

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This is helpful - thank you. I think that my gearing only contributed to it, I am still awkward where shifting is concerned and was probably in the wrong gear combination - and didn't shift in the right direction when I tried. It was quite the unexpected surprise!

I checked out Sheldon Brown's site on the question of squeaking brakes and apparently the noise isn't a bad sign - or at least he didn't consider it as such. The dirt, or whatever it is, does have me wondering. I will check out a couple of websites for pictures to make sure that my brakes are hitting the wheel properly... though at this stage I don't know that I want to adjust them since I don't know what I am doing...

I find the hardest thing about a strong headwind is the unpredictability. I like riding hills, it's my strongest point and I really enjoy finding a good pace and just settling down to plug along, but wind feels much worse. I think it's because even a steady wind is never completely steady and therefore harder to "read" and adapt to than a physical hill, so I'll find myself either spinning too much on a light gear and moving too slowly, or more often, struggling along on too hard a gear. Also on hills I like to break it up by standing a lot, but in a strong headwind this just makes you come to a complete stop :eek:

Check your brakes by holding the wheel off the ground and spinning it, then brake slowly and try to see if one pad hits well before the other. They're rarely perfectly centered, but if one hits way before the other it should be adjusted. A bike shop will do this very quickly, or post a pic of your brake here and someone will tell you how to do so yourself.

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Originally Posted by lph

Check your brakes by holding the wheel off the ground and spinning it, then brake slowly and try to see if one pad hits well before the other. They're rarely perfectly centered, but if one hits way before the other it should be adjusted. A bike shop will do this very quickly, or post a pic of your brake here and someone will tell you how to do so yourself.

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I tried this and there does not appear to be a large difference between the two sides. I will try it later just to be sure - I am planning on practicing changing my inner-tube this evening :eek:

I think that I was in much too easy a gear yesterday in that headwind - and my legs were sure feeling it! My breathing was fine, though my heart rate was much higher than I expected. I stuck with it though, and when I turned around it was sweet :) It is just going to take time in the saddle in different conditions to become comfortable with shifting...if I could just learn to take my hand off of the bar for signaling then I could at least graduate to a local park with lots of trails...

The brake dirt thing is probably from moisture on the road and dirt and whatever else has gotten into your brake pads lately. The soft compound will basically bleed all over your wheel and bike. It's not uncommon for it to be worse on one side...usually the drive side wheel (some of this is grease, not brake dust). Take off the wheels and clean rims and brake pads with rubbing alcohol. Inspect the pads for bits of metal and rocks etc. Pick those out with tweezers or something. Scrub the brake pad with an old dish scrubber or something. If there is something up there causing the squeal or scrape, then it can cause excessive wear of the pad or your rims. I keep having to clean road salt and sand out of mine lately. Annoying.

Part of riding here in Houston is the constant presence of headwinds no matter which direction you ride in. One jokster told me that the headwinds were why road bike riders around here need 23 gears. Yes they are a pain, but riding against the wil make you strong, steady and force you to pedal properly. Part of riding in headwinds is getting the gearing right for your strength and speed, and part of it is adapting a mental attitude that allows you to accept them objectivelly rather than taking it as a personal assault. I have ridden in headwinds as high as 25 mph and while it wasn't exactly fun and yes it sucked my mileage down to under 10 miles an hour, I felt ecstatically victorious when I reached the end of the ride and could put bike on the car and go home with 14 hours of being on the bike to do a century under my belt.

These days I am deliberately high gearing against the winds to build a little resistan ce strength, hoping it will translate to a bit more hill climbing strength for an upcoming hill ride.

My feeling that headwinds provide the resistance training that makes my butt smaller.

marni

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Originally Posted by marni

Part of riding here in Houston is the constant presence of headwinds no matter which direction you ride in. One jokster told me that the headwinds were why road bike riders around here need 23 gears. Yes they are a pain, but riding against the wil make you strong, steady and force you to pedal properly. Part of riding in headwinds is getting the gearing right for your strength and speed, and part of it is adapting a mental attitude that allows you to accept them objectivelly rather than taking it as a personal assault. I have ridden in headwinds as high as 25 mph and while it wasn't exactly fun and yes it sucked my mileage down to under 10 miles an hour, I felt ecstatically victorious when I reached the end of the ride and could put bike on the car and go home with 14 hours of being on the bike to do a century under my belt.

These days I am deliberately high gearing against the winds to build a little resistan ce strength, hoping it will translate to a bit more hill climbing strength for an upcoming hill ride.

My feeling that headwinds provide the resistance training that makes my butt smaller.

marni

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brake noise- one of your routine post ride activities should be opening your brakes and wiping down the pads with a clean dry rag, after which you should use the cloth to run it around any part of the wheel rim that contacts with the brakes. It's the same thing as checking you tires for cuts, nicks and stuff stuck in after every ride. It takes a few minutes but will hopefully save you from a flat and or brake problems on the road. You don't put your horse away hard ridden and sweaty, nor do you put your bike away unwiped and unchecked.

marni