"Tailwinds don't help Everesting cyclists."

[cyberknight]

if were jut on about the effects of tail and headwinds on a there and back route in line with the wind i think i saw an article that stated you roughly lose 30 percent more than you gain whilst in the headwind compared to the tailwind section.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

if were jut on about the effects of tail and headwinds on a there and back route in line with the wind i think i saw an article that stated you roughly lose 30 percent more than you gain whilst in the headwind compared to the tailwind section.

So make the down hill three times as fast as uphill and have the headwind on the uphill.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

the course is exactly straight. In the real world, neither will be true

Mamore Gap from the south is as straight as you’re going to get.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Mamore Gap from the south is as straight as you’re going to get.

View attachment 747053

Looks fab. I want to ride it!

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Looks fab. I want to ride it!

It is fab and gradually ramps up the steepness right to the top.

 

[Dogtrousers]

It is fab and gradually ramps up the steepness right to the top.

All well and good but I'd prefer to ride down it

 

[Ming the Merciless]

All well and good but I'd prefer to ride down it

No problem you can ride up from the other side

 

[Ian H]

I'd have thought that any Everesting cyclist was beyond help.

 

[matticus]

I absolutely HATE long dead-straight climbs

No problem you can ride up from the other side

View attachment 747094

... but I think that one has views to compensate ❤️

 

[matticus]

I think people on here are getting the wrong end of the stick, they aren't saying there's no benefit from a tail wind, they're saying that if you cycle a round trip the tail wind that helps you one way has less effect than the head wind that hinders you on the way back. Unless you're doing a one way trip the overall effect of a wind is always negative.

Yes, that is definitely the case [a physicist writes ... ]

But I wonder if it's ignoring some issues specific to "Everesting".
Firstly, morale: I think it could pay dividends to climb with a push up the back, and then think "well, braking down this descent is getting tiresome by Rep #35, so a little free braking is kinda nice!"
Secondly, physiology:
There's more cost to your body on the ascent. So MAYBE getting some help there at the cost of paying it back when you're "recovering" could actually benefit your overall endurance (and thus average pace). NO IDEA how to calculate the benefit of this, mind!

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Yes, that is definitely the case [a physicist writes ... ]

But I wonder if it's ignoring some issues specific to "Everesting".
Firstly, morale: I think it could pay dividends to climb with a push up the back, and then think "well, braking down this descent is getting tiresome by Rep #35, so a little free braking is kinda nice!"
Secondly, physiology:
There's more cost to your body on the ascent. So MAYBE getting some help there at the cost of paying it back when you're "recovering" could actually benefit your overall endurance (and thus average pace). NO IDEA how to calculate the benefit of this, mind!

The gradient effect makes it different for Everesting

 

[Dogtrousers]

OK, having nothing better to do for half an hour I went to http://bikecalculator.com/

I considered a very simple model: calculate the time it would take climb (at 250W) and then descend (at 0W - freewheeling) a 5km 8% hill.

I put in different wind speeds from 0 to 38kmh taken from the Beaufort scale.
Tail and head are with respect to the climb. So Tail means tailwind climbing and headwind descending.

So what can we conclude from that? It gets slower if you have a wind, either tail or head. If you must have wind choose a talwind on the climb, it's less bad than a headwind on the climb. But no wind is better than either.

Actually a "light air" tailwind is very slightly quicker than calm. But the model is so rough that slight differences like that don't mean anything. The overall message is that any wind, head or tail, will slow you down.

Obviously the model isn't realistic, but it illustrates the principle at play: You can't win with the wind.