Is the (US) midwest running out of air yet?

[dgk]

I figure that after a week of 15+ mph westerly winds here in NYC,
there can't be too much air left in the midwest. Soon all the air will
fill up the space over the Atlantic Ocean and start coming back from
the east.

I truly hate biking into the wind. It's ok as a tailwind but my knee
and achilles tendon start hurting after biking into this wind. It
doesn't help that it's way below freezing.

Ok, winter has been fun. Bring on spring please. Pitchers and
Catchers, report to training camp.

 

[Pat Lamb]

dgk wrote:
> I figure that after a week of 15+ mph westerly winds here in NYC,
> there can't be too much air left in the midwest. Soon all the air will
> fill up the space over the Atlantic Ocean and start coming back from
> the east.
>
> I truly hate biking into the wind. It's ok as a tailwind but my knee
> and achilles tendon start hurting after biking into this wind. It
> doesn't help that it's way below freezing.

I can sympathize, although the wind out of the midwest was coming south.
Nasty headwind heading up the last hill; not too bad, though, after the
road turned, and it was a tailwind. But then when freezing rain starts
hitting your eyelids, well, that stings!

At least I didn't have to scrape the windshield this morning (bicycle
commuting advantage #85).

Pat

 

[Gooserider]

"dgk" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I figure that after a week of 15+ mph westerly winds here in NYC,
> there can't be too much air left in the midwest. Soon all the air will
> fill up the space over the Atlantic Ocean and start coming back from
> the east.
>
> I truly hate biking into the wind. It's ok as a tailwind but my knee
> and achilles tendon start hurting after biking into this wind. It
> doesn't help that it's way below freezing.
>
> Ok, winter has been fun. Bring on spring please. Pitchers and
> Catchers, report to training camp.

Hey, I live on the Florida Gulf Coast, so there's always a wind. It still
sucks, though.

 

[AustinMN]

On Feb 9, 10:10 am, dgk <[email protected]> wrote:
> I figure that after a week of 15+ mph westerly winds here in NYC,
> there can't be too much air left in the midwest. Soon all the air will
> fill up the space over the Atlantic Ocean and start coming back from
> the east.
>
> I truly hate biking into the wind. It's ok as a tailwind but my knee
> and achilles tendon start hurting after biking into this wind. It
> doesn't help that it's way below freezing.
>
> Ok, winter has been fun. Bring on spring please. Pitchers and
> Catchers, report to training camp.

You should be grateful. All that cold wind has to be pushing some of
the politician's hot air out to sea.

Is it helping yet? We can send more.

Austin

 

[Bill Baka]

dgk wrote:
> I figure that after a week of 15+ mph westerly winds here in NYC,
> there can't be too much air left in the midwest. Soon all the air will
> fill up the space over the Atlantic Ocean and start coming back from
> the east.
>
> I truly hate biking into the wind. It's ok as a tailwind but my knee
> and achilles tendon start hurting after biking into this wind. It
> doesn't help that it's way below freezing.
>
> Ok, winter has been fun. Bring on spring please. Pitchers and
> Catchers, report to training camp.

Hah!
I saw on the news that you New Yorkers are due for another 2 feet of
snow on top of what you already have. It sounds like time to get out the
snowplow for the front of your bike.
Bill Baka

 

[dgk]

On Fri, 9 Feb 2007 14:16:00 -0500, "Gooserider"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>
>"dgk" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>>I figure that after a week of 15+ mph westerly winds here in NYC,
>> there can't be too much air left in the midwest. Soon all the air will
>> fill up the space over the Atlantic Ocean and start coming back from
>> the east.
>>
>> I truly hate biking into the wind. It's ok as a tailwind but my knee
>> and achilles tendon start hurting after biking into this wind. It
>> doesn't help that it's way below freezing.
>>
>> Ok, winter has been fun. Bring on spring please. Pitchers and
>> Catchers, report to training camp.
>
>Hey, I live on the Florida Gulf Coast, so there's always a wind. It still
>sucks, though.
>

No, it blows.

 

[dgk]

On Fri, 09 Feb 2007 20:02:54 GMT, Bill Baka <[email protected]> wrote:

>dgk wrote:
>> I figure that after a week of 15+ mph westerly winds here in NYC,
>> there can't be too much air left in the midwest. Soon all the air will
>> fill up the space over the Atlantic Ocean and start coming back from
>> the east.
>>
>> I truly hate biking into the wind. It's ok as a tailwind but my knee
>> and achilles tendon start hurting after biking into this wind. It
>> doesn't help that it's way below freezing.
>>
>> Ok, winter has been fun. Bring on spring please. Pitchers and
>> Catchers, report to training camp.
>
>Hah!
>I saw on the news that you New Yorkers are due for another 2 feet of
>snow on top of what you already have. It sounds like time to get out the
>snowplow for the front of your bike.
>Bill Baka

No man, that's upstate. Those folks got 100 inches I hear. Yikes!
Forget studded tires, you need round snowshoes for that ****.

We've had nothing in NYC all winter. Just barely a dusting the other
day. I did put on the studded front tire for some icy days, but I'm
going to take it off. It really adds to the rolling resistance and
with the wind and all I really don't want to deal with it. Plus, it's
like driving over one of those singing bridges.

 

[di]

"dgk" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I figure that after a week of 15+ mph westerly winds here in NYC,
> there can't be too much air left in the midwest. Soon all the air will
> fill up the space over the Atlantic Ocean and start coming back from
> the east.
>
> I truly hate biking into the wind. It's ok as a tailwind but my knee
> and achilles tendon start hurting after biking into this wind. It
> doesn't help that it's way below freezing.
>
> Ok, winter has been fun. Bring on spring please. Pitchers and
> Catchers, report to training camp.

15+, that's just a gentle breeze.

 

[Gooserider]

"dgk" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Fri, 9 Feb 2007 14:16:00 -0500, "Gooserider"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>
>>"dgk" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>>news:[email protected]...
>>>I figure that after a week of 15+ mph westerly winds here in NYC,
>>> there can't be too much air left in the midwest. Soon all the air will
>>> fill up the space over the Atlantic Ocean and start coming back from
>>> the east.
>>>
>>> I truly hate biking into the wind. It's ok as a tailwind but my knee
>>> and achilles tendon start hurting after biking into this wind. It
>>> doesn't help that it's way below freezing.
>>>
>>> Ok, winter has been fun. Bring on spring please. Pitchers and
>>> Catchers, report to training camp.
>>
>>Hey, I live on the Florida Gulf Coast, so there's always a wind. It still
>>sucks, though.
>>
>
> No, it blows.

It was blowing a gale last week. I'm not far from where the killer tornadoes
were, and my commute home that Thursday was accompanied by 30mph gusts. Fun
as a tailwind, painful as a headwind, and scary as a crosswind.

 

[fluffy bunny]

In article <[email protected]>,
dgk <[email protected]> wrote:

>
> I truly hate biking into the wind. It's ok as a tailwind but my knee
> and achilles tendon start hurting after biking into this wind. It
> doesn't help that it's way below freezing.
>
> Ok, winter has been fun. Bring on spring please. Pitchers and
> Catchers, report to training camp.

i hear ya. One day last week saw the ride home from work start with a
two mile pull into a 15 mph -8F dead-on headwind, through about 5
inches of drifted snow on top of ice. Oy!

I'm dressed plenty warm, no coldness for me, but geeze louise!

Otoh, it was sunset, cloudless and beautiful. I counted deer and coyote
tracks.

..max

 

[Tom Keats]

In article <[email protected]>,
dgk <[email protected]> writes:
> I figure that after a week of 15+ mph westerly winds here in NYC,
> there can't be too much air left in the midwest. Soon all the air will
> fill up the space over the Atlantic Ocean and start coming back from
> the east.

Want some rain?

> I truly hate biking into the wind.

I don't. 'Cuz I won't fight against it anymore.
Fighting against it is a losing battle in the long run.
Might as well just continually bash your forehead against
a marble coffee table or something. I'm now reconciled to
dealing with headwinds on their own terms. I go a little
slower, but what's a little extra time spent riding?


cheers,
Tom
--
"Hi, I'm Troy McClure. You might remember me from such nature
films as "Earwigs, Eww!" and "Man vs Nature: The Road to Victory."
-- From The Simpsons

 

[Stephen Harding]

Tom Keats wrote:

> I don't. 'Cuz I won't fight against it anymore.
> Fighting against it is a losing battle in the long run.
> Might as well just continually bash your forehead against
> a marble coffee table or something. I'm now reconciled to
> dealing with headwinds on their own terms. I go a little
> slower, but what's a little extra time spent riding?

When I first started bike touring, I had to discipline my
mind to stop pressuring me into riding faster than conditions
warranted.

That meant stop looking too far up the long climbs hoping for
the road to level out around the corners (or paying too much
attention to the automobiles rounding the corner and hearing
their transmissions kick down a gear!).

Along those lines was stop trying to maintain your "cruise"
speed in the face of strong headwinds! You've got a day of
pedaling. It ain't a training ride! Just get to where you're
going whatever time it takes to get there.

You've got all those gears! Use them! They're not solely
for climbing steep grades ya know. And there is no minimum
speed requirement or bonus points getting somewhere faster!

Find a comfortable gear and grind along even at lower speed.
You don't lose any points at all!


SMH

SMH

 

[dgk]

On Mon, 12 Feb 2007 18:15:50 GMT, Stephen Harding
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Tom Keats wrote:
>

>When I first started bike touring, I had to discipline my
>mind to stop pressuring me into riding faster than conditions
>warranted.
>
>That meant stop looking too far up the long climbs hoping for
>the road to level out around the corners (or paying too much
>attention to the automobiles rounding the corner and hearing
>their transmissions kick down a gear!).
>
>Along those lines was stop trying to maintain your "cruise"
>speed in the face of strong headwinds! You've got a day of
>pedaling. It ain't a training ride! Just get to where you're
>going whatever time it takes to get there.
>
>You've got all those gears! Use them! They're not solely
>for climbing steep grades ya know. And there is no minimum
>speed requirement or bonus points getting somewhere faster!
>
>Find a comfortable gear and grind along even at lower speed.
>You don't lose any points at all!
>
>

That is my plan. I generally just pedal along until I get where I'm
going. No matter how fast or how slow, it always takes between 1:10
and 1:30 to get to work, and usually it's between 1:15 and 1:25. Those
ten minutes don't mean anything.

That is, unless I step on the scale and freak out like I did this
morning. I pedaled harder than usual, and got to work in (goes off to
check the computer in the jacket pocket) 1:25. That's with the nasty
headwind and the stupid studded tire. I need to get back to slicks.

 

[Stephen Harding]

dgk wrote:

> That is, unless I step on the scale and freak out like I did this
> morning. I pedaled harder than usual, and got to work in (goes off to
> check the computer in the jacket pocket) 1:25. That's with the nasty
> headwind and the stupid studded tire. I need to get back to slicks.

I don't think even the bathroom scales are as brutal as those
danged "pace arrows" on cyclocomputers!

Took a lot of "training" (and pain) for me to get to the point
of ignoring them!


SMH

 

[fluffy bunny]

In article <q92Ah.3035$7s2.2538@trndny07>,
Stephen Harding <[email protected]> wrote:

> Along those lines was stop trying to maintain your "cruise"
> speed in the face of strong headwinds! You've got a day of
> pedaling. It ain't a training ride! Just get to where you're
> going whatever time it takes to get there.

A great lesson for the Great Planes. (I've mentioned before about) A
ride i like to do in the spring, when the prevailing headwinds are 30++
mph. I find a nice road, 20~40+ miles long, that lines up with the
winds and grind into the wind as long as time will allow before i turn
around for the v.fast ride home. Cadence/gear mgt is key to having fun.

> You've got all those gears! Use them! They're not solely
> for climbing steep grades ya know. And there is no minimum
> speed requirement or bonus points getting somewhere faster!

I remember visiting a friend who worked for Schwinn in Boulder several
years ago. He said "Lets go up Left Hand Canyon road!" OMG. I live
in Illinois, where the second L stands for FLAT. I learned a lot about
climbing that day. And about freezing my ass off ... (The hippie
kwikie mart at the top was pretty fun...)

..max

 

[fluffy bunny]

In article <[email protected]>,
dgk <[email protected]> wrote:

>
> That is my plan. I generally just pedal along until I get where I'm
> going. No matter how fast or how slow, it always takes between 1:10
> and 1:30 to get to work, and usually it's between 1:15 and 1:25. Those
> ten minutes don't mean anything.
>
> That is, unless I step on the scale and freak out like I did this
> morning. I pedaled harder than usual, and got to work in (goes off to
> check the computer in the jacket pocket) 1:25. That's with the nasty
> headwind and the stupid studded tire. I need to get back to slicks.

studded tires == slow..... The only thing that really slows me down
is the presence of 4+ inches of snow. I have yet to find a set of tires
(wide, narrow, 700c, 26", slick, knobbie or studded) that can handle
deep and drifted snow or car-compacted snow (the _worst!).

A few years ago i had a ~3 hour ride home (in keeping with today's
Gilligan's Island theme) after midnight because of an evenings 6"
snowfall that totally overwhelmed the muni' snow crews. Much muscle
trauma from constantly breaking through car-packed snow and almost
crashing..

Today will be different.

..max
(west suburban greater Chicagoland metroplex area)

 

[Kristian M Zoerhoff]

On 2007-02-13, fluffy bunny <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> A few years ago i had a ~3 hour ride home (in keeping with today's
> Gilligan's Island theme) after midnight because of an evenings 6"
> snowfall that totally overwhelmed the muni' snow crews. Much muscle
> trauma from constantly breaking through car-packed snow and almost
> crashing..
>
> Today will be different.

Staying home today? I would if I weren't already working from home,
anyway. That wind alone is brutal right now...

--

__o Kristian Zoerhoff
_'\(,_ [email protected]
(_)/ (_)

 

[what does THIS button do?]

On Feb 13, 6:19 am, Kristian M Zoerhoff <[email protected]>
wrote:
> On 2007-02-13, fluffy bunny <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>
> > A few years ago i had a ~3 hour ride home (in keeping with today's
> > Gilligan's Island theme) after midnight because of an evenings 6"
> > snowfall that totally overwhelmed the muni' snow crews. Much muscle
> > trauma from constantly breaking through car-packed snow and almost
> > crashing..
>
> > Today will be different.
>
> Staying home today? I would if I weren't already working from home,
> anyway. That wind alone is brutal right now...
>
> --
>
> __o Kristian Zoerhoff
> _'\(,_ [email protected]
> (_)/ (_)


Thanks to our intrepid bicycle snow plow guy, Dave, to river trail was
easy. Actually, it was pretty [somewhat less but still] easy even
without him, until i got out into the open prairie drifts. That was
hard.

..max