Power in Crosswinds

William Jenks

 Hi all-

It's spring in Iowa, and that means wind.  

Heading into or out of the wind is straightforward enough, but I'm curious about crosswinds.  Obviously, they slow you down and make life a bit of a nightmare (especially if gusty or with traffic).  But do they do anything to your power readings?  The last few days, I've thought my PE should have given higher wattage than it did.  But this could easily just be me not being that great a bike handler and spending mental rather than physical energy.  In terms of intervals, it is much easier to do them into a nasty wind than from the side, at least for me.

FWIW, I'm using a PT.

Thanks,

William

 

Chris G

 Should not matter.  Power is power regardless of wind in any direction.  However, as you mentioned if you are wasting physical or mental energy trying to keep the bike upright/in a straight line you are likely not putting as much to the pedals as you otherwise would.  

William Jenks

Well, yes, I guess what i'm asking about is whether anyone has a sense of how much wasted "power" goes into keeping straight or if it's all mental. I understand that the "power is power" as far as what gets transmitted to the wheel by your legs. Core/upper body is doing more work (or at least it feels like it) in crosswinds, but not sure how/if that translates in PE vs applied leg power, if that makes sense. (Or maybe I'm just not as confident as I should be and get distracted)

Beth_S

Hm. I suffered through twenty miles of ferocious headwinds this weekend -- 40-50 mph -- in flat, flat North Dakota. I wasn't riding the bike with the powermeter, but I can tell you I was riding in gears I had no business being in on the flats and it felt like I was climbing a huge mountain. The wind has to be doing something to power readings -- it certainly didn't feel that way for me!

tgarson

I'm with you Will, I think that crosswinds contribute very tangibly to a loss of power when compared to PE. As the others have stated, I think it's all mental; the extra concentration that is required to focus on riding a steady line or even simply remaining upright is lost focus that should have been diverted to maintaining optimum cadence and pedal pressure for peak power.

Sure, from a pure biomechanical perspective power is power but the human body is a system of systems that must work together to achieve results. If one aspect of that system is under additional duress I think the entire body suffers some as a result. At a certain point, I’d think experienced riders simply become so accustomed to adverse conditions that they become second nature, removing the additional stressor and bringing RPE more in line with actual exertion.

mancona

Just a quick side note from training on aero wheels for a full season last year. My n=1 experiecne is if you try to steer against the winds you will waste a ton of energy. Instead teach yourself to lean into crosswinds and keep your line by usuing your hips and balance, not turning your wheel. Once you get this down you can hold the bars with much less force and relax a little. After I got used to that I noticed my power output became much more steady again.

As Chris G said, power is power which is why it is a great training and racing metric. My PE definitely changes in when there is strong winds and having the power meter and knowing how to use it will be a huge advantage over your competitors. It just requires patience and into headwinds you will get passed alot, but then with tailwinds you will pass them back.

William Jenks

Had to chuckle at your remark about holding the bars with less force...

Yesterday's race had a river valley you had to cross twice. For round numbers, 7% ± 3% for 0.7 miles one way and a little longer, but the same gradient the other. You hit those yesterday with the wind at darn close to 90 degrees. I tend to be a little cautious descending, but I know I was gripping pretty hard yesterday at 46 mph with massive gusty wind!

But anyway, thanks for the tip. I will try consciously doing it that way. Right now, I don't really think too much about "how" I'm dealing with the cross winds.

cwhyte

Yeah, really difficult to quantify, imho. It really depends on several variables. Assuming you could eliminate the mental piece from the equation, you still have variables such as wheel depth, bike handling skills, etc. It's really something that I wouldn't be too concerned about other than training yourself to be in the best position possible to address highly variable crosswinds.

Thanks, Chris