I'm reading "Headwind Cycling Race Called Off Over Too Much Wind Storm/Ciarán, which has battered Western Europe this week, proved too much for a quirky Dutch cycling competition" (NYT).
Even in a country where cycling is one of the most popular modes of transportation, many might wonder why anyone would submit themselves to cycling through such treacherous weather conditions. “I wonder that myself sometimes,” Mr. Stoekenbroek said. “There’s a group of people that likes to suffer.”
The country is the Netherlands.
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“There’s a group of people that likes to suffer.”
How are they suffering if the race was called off?
And...climate change.
And throw in a dyke joke somewhere...
“There’s a group of people that likes to suffer.”
And there’s a group of people who like to make people suffer. I wish these two groups would find each other and leave the rest of us alone.
When I was a kid, I liked biking in the rain. Now, you couldn't pay me enough to do it. Even with the right clothes, its still too much of a struggle. And dangerous, since everything is so slippery.
Air resistance is the chief enemy of bicycles. The first mph of wind knocks 2/3 mph off of your speed. (Not as bad as a airplane, the first mph of wind knocks one mph off of your speed, owing to the bicycle having thrust based on the ground instead of the air).
You can always gear down and cycle into any wind with the effort you're accustomed to, but that's limited by minimum balancing speed, especially in a crosswind where you don't have enough speed to keep the wheels under you after a gust.
Even a crosswind slows you down a great deal, owing to bring more air up to the speed of the bicycle.
A have a friend who was a recon marine. Part of their training was to jump in the Potomac River with all of their kit at night and attempt to swim upstream. He said that come sunrise they were always roughly in the same spot they started. I think I'd rather ride a bike on a windy day.
They should start Le Tour de Gaza.
A Green... green conundrum born in chaos. A dearth of wind is an unproductive event. An excess of wind is an unproductive event. A dynamic, inconvenient climate. An event aborted.
"a group of people that likes to suffer."
Maybe some. It's more probably liking to persevere under adversity. A lot of people can't understand that.
In general, if you have the choice, start your ride into the wind. When it comes time to turn around and head back, you'll be glad.
One interesting thing about riding with an appreciable wind at your back, if you nearly match your speed with the wind speed, it gets eerily quiet. It's easy to talk and you get to hear all the subtle noises made by the machinery that usually goes unnoticed when riding 15+ mph.
Interesting factoids, rhhardin.
I like to walk when I play golf, and am fortunate to play at a South Florida course that permits it. I have noticed that a significant breeze or wind is much more tiring to me than the heat, even in summer.
Watch Nyad for suffering.
Netherlands = Under World = spooky Hallow
Mr. Stoekenbroek said. “There’s a group of people that likes to suffer.”
Reminds me of Joe Rogan and his morning Ice Bath ablution. I think he and others in the comments talked about some possible health benefits regarding stepped up metabolism. However, the bulk of Rogan's explanation of why he does it is because it was suffering, it was tough to do, and it is a victory or accomplishment he can start out his day with. So maybe it isn't that people like suffering, but rather they like winning. Tiger Blood!
During a bike tour around Europe, I spent about a week in Amsterdam, riding with some locals I'd met. They were the only group of cyclists I've met that actually enjoyed riding into headwinds, in the rain, for hours at a time.
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