I’m going to have one hell of a headwind home tonight. Its going to be a killer. Now I’m a fairly substantial unit, and also not very bright.

So….I was wondering about the physics of riding into headwinds. Is being a bloater an advantage or a curse?

I reckon my rotund portlyness, in a weight sense, is an advantage. As I’m more difficult to be shifted by the wind. Or by one of those massive mobile cranes, for that matter

Or… will my more-than-ample, grotesquely-proportioned silhouette act as more of a sail. If you could make sails out of pies. I’m quite steamlined, as I’m generally round. And bald.

Or do the 2 things balance themselves out? What do you reckon? I’m confused

Stop at every pub on the way home, this will get you home quicker. 😆

Wind tunnel: Fat guy in lycra vs skinny guy in baggies…

big fat porkers are great in a headwind – as long as they are not you, and you can draft them.

Being a sizable fellow myself. I think it’s worse. big fellas make great wind breaks!

worserer

It depends if you’re travelling on a conveyor belt.

From experience I’d say worse. I seem to suffer far more in headwinds than my normal-sized fellows.

I’m loving your work there wors! Can’t fault your logic! 😀

The answer is to sit in the pub waiting till an evener larger cyclist goes past, then follow them home 😉

Edit: not to their house, that would be weird

Alfabus beat me to it

If you bear a resemblance to one of the vehicles here:

Aerodynamics

Then you might be on to something…

Frontal area is a directly proportional part of the aero drag equation so definitely worserer.

alfabus – Member
big fat porkers are great in a headwind – as long as they are not you, and you can draft them.

This
😆

There is an ickle breeze binners, rather than a Force 10!

Worse, cos you have a larger frontal area.

It does take more force to knock you off-line, yes, but when pedalling forward you still have to overcome wind resistance regardless of how hevy you are. And because you’re wider, you’ll have more resistance.

I did 2 road rides in the US this summer – one with a bloke about 5’7 and 60kg, the other with a bloke about 6’6 and 120kg. The difference when riding behind them was remarkable.

As a fellow larger gentleman I generally find that when riding home into a headwind my speed is affected less by the wind itself than by the presence and quality of the dinner that awaits on my arrival.

I’m also very popular on group rides as I apparently leave a hole in the air you could drive a transit though.

I did a 3 up TT with 2 squirts last year. I’m about 15 stone, 47 inch chest

they only pedalled their bits at the front whereas I got next to no help drafting them

I’m also popular to swim behind

Everybody seems to have missed the important bit of his post

Now I’m a fairly substantial unit, and also not very bright.

I reckon the latter is going to help a lot more than the former 😉

55kg here, not sure about headwinds but I’m stuffed when its from the side. I just end up wherever it’s blowing towards.

What you need is some sort of bulbous prow to help make progress.

As above. All I can suggest is to the little things to reduce the effect. On grinding headwinds, I tend to do hold the bars around the stem, bring the elbows in, and head down … kind of like a time trial tuck position … but on the cheap! Full tuck position definitely makes a difference, but its hard to hold for a long time.

You are familiar with the stick-carrot-donkey method of increasing power output?

Get a childs fishing net, a pie from Hollands and away you jolly well go.