When you're facing a gusting head wind on a bicycle it can
be a demoralising invisible force like cycling with the hand brake
on. When I left Cushendall, Ireland this morning I had an easy 40km
coastal ride to Larne ahead of me but today there was a southerly
ripping straight up the coast. On top of the head wind, I had a
head cold and a puncture 5km into the ride. For me, cycling is 80%
psychological, 20% physical because the body only does what the
brain tells it - so I replaced every negative thought with a
positive one which gave me loads of ideas for beating a
headwind.
Here's Indiana June's Top 5 tips to beat a head wind:
1. Play with your own spit
It might sound a bit juvenile but if you're in a really strong
head wind, turn your head to the side and spit. You won't believe
how fast and how far it can go. It reminds me of when I went
skydiving and when you jump you're sucked out of the aeroplane at a
crazy rate. There's a good 10 minutes of entertainment with this
tip.
2. Look for faces
When I'm cycling next to stone cliffs or forests I look for
faces in the environment around me. I imagine craggy old faces in
the rocks, a bit like the London marathon where people line the
streets and cheer you on, except these guys are silently giving me
a little cheer on and nod of encouragement.
3. Get into head wind credit
In your cycling life you'll experience an equal amount of head
and tail wind. So when I'm struggling against a wall of wind I
remember that with every revolution I'm building up head wind
credit so there will be more tail winds in the future.
4. What if the wind changes?
Growing up whenever I had an unhappy expression on my face my
mum would say: 'Don't pull that face because if the wind changes
you'll be stuck like that forever'. When you're facing a head wind
you're praying it will change every minute so I'm not taking any
chance, if it changes I want to have a smile on my face.
5. Cycle naked
The first four tips were all psychological strategies but the
final idea is pure aerodynamics. If you're really serious about
beating a head wind, strip down to your birthday suit, lose
(almost) all of your flappy bits and feel the difference it makes.
If nothing else you'll be entertained by the reaction of passing
motorists. I haven't tried this one yet but I'm keeping it up my
invisible sleeve for a future wind emergency.
If you have any head wind tips, let me know...