I did the 50 km to Mulvane and back today. I knew it was going to be windy but had forgotten what a train wreck it is to do the return leg with 21 mph winds punching you in the face. Honestly Kansas wind is the most evil thing ever. I think I would rather spend a weekend in Guantanamo bay. Seriously. Heading down south was great. With the wind at my back I was flying down to Mulvane. I felt like a member of Team Garmin/Chipotle! Then about three quarters of the way down I passed two other bikers heading north back into town. I should have known by their pace it was going to be one miserable ride back. I just waved and flew on by. One of them was riding a recumbent! I wish I knew who those guys were, that recumbent looked like such a sweet comfortable ride! So I get down to the Mulvane cemetery, which is my reast/turn around point, and take ten minutes to eat a couple of EAS bars and drink the rest of my first bottle of water. After ten minutes I snap a picture, fill up my water bottle with my refill bottle of camelbak hydration liquid for the ride back, then head off back towards home. And thats when the freight train of wind ground me to a halt. I was flying down averaging 22 mph. The return I averaged... 10 mph. And I was working to maintain that. Towards the end I wasn't sure I was going to make it. I thought for sure I was going to have to stop. But I knew if I stopped I wouldn't get back up until the wind slowed down even if I had to wait until nightfall. So i just told myself what an out of shape worm I was and pushed myself to finish. Have I mentioned how much I hate Kansas wind? I listen to other cyclists on an IRC channel I hang out on gripe about wind sometimes too. However these guys are in California or the Pacific Northwest. They don't know what wind is! I am convinced there is an open portal to the ninth plane of hell somewhere in Kansas generating all of our insane wind.
So without further hesitation... stats. 14.9 / 27.1 mph, 169 / 189 bpm, 58 / 164 cadence, 1,126 calories burned, 2h 2m 30s, 30.39 miles door to door. I'm no lance armstrong, but for a heavier rider I think this was an acceptable ride. I was feeling the pain all the way back in todays wind. I kept pushing myself not to stop and just get back home. So at least I managed to kick and claw my way back without stopping. This is only the second ride I have managed to do that burned over 1,000 calories. The other one was the first 50 km I did also to Mulvane and back. The other rides down there have not burned as many calories as today. I'm sure the wind had something to do with that since I was burning so much more energy just to keep enough forward momentum to not fall over.
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Though the distance I cover isn't comparable, I can relate somewhat. There are times when I ride the Arkansas River bike path into the wind when I think I've just lost my mind for ever thinking that riding a bike in this state would be a good idea: there below the surface of the plain, that wind seems to intensify in the channel. There will be some cold rides ahead this winter.
For commuting, the wind problem can be a bear. For recreational riding you don't have to battle long stretches of headwinds.
The secret is riding an MTB on dirt roads.
After an initial unpleasantly jarring experiment on washboards with my bike's 10 year old short-travel /nearly frozen up suspension fork in 2005, I gravitated to street, road and bikepath riding (on the MTB and later a road bike).
However due to nagging fears about the dangers of car-bike "meet and greets", and boredom riding the same K-96 and Ark River bike paths as well as nice, but limited low-traffic paved roads around Kechi, Furley and Park City over and over and over again, the thought of riding dirt roads recurred. They have to be rideable, with the right equipment.
So I got a new-technology suspension fork at a great price online, and found, wow, this thing really smooths out those bumps. I can do this. (A bonus was doing the fork change myself, and acquiring a new mechanical skill.) Then we got one for my wife's old bike. She loves hers.
Why is dirt-road riding in our region good? Arguably even great?
For recreational riding, I have found that we have virtually unlimited route possibilities just outside the city. We have a vast dirt road grid in this part of Kansas.
Adding this grid to your repertoire enables you to plot routes that turn headwinds into crosswinds.
I like to ride with some wind in my face at the outset when I'm fresh, and return with some tailwind when I'm getting tuckered out.
So, say you have a NNW wind. Ride West outbound, and East inbound. If you want more variety than riding one road both directions, do the western leg first, turn north for a mile, then head back east, and finish going south for a mile. Or try 2 miles west, 1 mile north, 2 miles west, 1 mile north...2 miles east, 1 mile south... Or do intricate routes, so you can ride 20 miles and never be more than 4 miles from your starting point.
Traffic on farm roads is generally very light as in, Gee I haven't seen a car or truck in the last 20 minutes. You can enjoy seeing the seasonal changes in the country landscape. Rolling resistance of dirt/gravel gives you a very good aerobic workout even at sub-10 mph speeds.
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