Riding as much as possible during the winter months is also good training for riding in strong wind conditions.

Always look at the temp and wind on the weather forecast before setting out on a ride. The forecast will tell you from which direction the wind will be and how strong it will be blowing. One trick I do during the ride is I look at flags whipping in the breeze so that I know the direction of the wind and then when the direction changes. Just because the forecast says the wind that day will be from the northwest doesn't mean it will blow from the northwest consistently. Farmers love to have flagpoles in their yards so there are lots of flags to see. There are more flags when going through the small rural towns. How much the flags are whipping in the breeze is a good clue to how fast the wind is.

Think back on your ride yesterday. On a long ride the wind comes up around mile 60, more or less, and then picks up tempo and can be real gusty by mile 80. So on yesterday's ride, could you have ridden another 40 miles in the wind to have completed a century? And could you have ridden another 65 miles to have completed a brevet?