Quote Originally Posted by Crankin View Post
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....
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...