Author Topic: Are windy days bad for your legs  (Read 1187 times)

Are windy days bad for your legs
« on: 04 September, 2020, 12:19:09 pm »
I'm starting to wonder if my saddle height should change whenever I have to duck into the wind.

Last saturday was somewhat windy, and I set off for a 55 miles ride against the wind (well, first half of it at least), trying to ride fast and somewhat cold.

After an hour or so I could feel the back of the knee / top of the calves hurting a bit, and that increased until I returned home. After 3 days of rest, the pain had almost gone, but then after another ride, it has returned.

I never had this problem before, just wondering if the seat position is too high when I'm forced to bend into the wind. I hope this is purely muscular.

Feanor

  • It's mostly downhill from here.
Re: Are windy days bad for your legs
« Reply #1 on: 04 September, 2020, 12:42:27 pm »
I'll just make the observation that the muscle groups I use do change if I go into a more Aero position.
( Either for hiding from the wind, or for TT. )

In 'normal' riding, it's my quads that do most of the work, and after a long 'normal' position ride, I mostly feel it in my quads.

I became aware of this when I started TTing, and once down in areo position, I was engaging my glutes much more, and my quads much less.
At the end of a long TT, is't always my glutes that are really feeling it.

So it could just be that as you changed position, you began to engage muscles that were much less accustomed to being put under that kind of strain, and so they are protesting a bit.
Could you compensate for that by changing seat height? Possibly. In might have the effect of returning your body position to one which is closer to the one you are accustomed to.
Personally, when preparing for the 24h, I just rode a lot more 'in position' to train the other muscle groups to get used to it.

Re: Are windy days bad for your legs
« Reply #2 on: 04 September, 2020, 02:16:08 pm »
Did you have your legs covered? I notice that even if the weather is cooler in summer months
the majority of riders I see will have their legs exposed (but arms covered). YMMV