Hills or Wind. Which is worse.

[Speedmerchant]

One of the things I love about ebiking is that the wind that used to suck the joy out of a ride along the beach doesn’t matter anymore. There are no hills where I live and ride but it’s not unusual to to have a steady 15 to 25 mph wind blowing that makes for a tough ride either going or coming back. My Como makes short work of headwinds and I no longer check the wind before heading out for a ride. So much more fun. So, you folks that live in hill country, would you rather deal with the hills or a headwind?

 

[MechaNut]

Earlier this spring I got caught in a 40mph+ headwind. My RipCurrent S chewed through almost the entire battery (52V 19.2 ah) to get me the 14 miles to get home. So, yeah, headwinds are the worst. Besides, hills have a payoff for the effort of climbing them. Headwinds, not so much unless you are going to turn around and turn it into a tailwind.

 

[Steve Porter]

I’ll take hills any day of the week and twice on Sundays! For me there is nothing fun about wind, and I agree that is one of the best things about my e- vs. regular road bike.

 

[Saratoga Dave]

Same as Steve. In my pre ebike days - 20 years ago - I would go out of my way to climb any hill or mountain I could find, all over the Adirondacks, just to be able to say I’d done it. On the ebike I still love seeking out the steepest stuff I can find when I’m in the right mood. Steep or not, hills give a ride much more character and interest than a flat rail trail.

Wind? Not so much. Can be a soul crusher on a long day, ebike or not. A challenge yes, but no reward as MechaNut explains above. When you climb Prospect Mountain near me, you have the view all over Lake George. Ride a couple of hours into a 20 mph wind and you’re just windblown and annoyed.

 

[DouglasB]

The worst is when the wind is so strong you have to peddal going down hill.

 

[rich c]

I can always down shift on hills to climb over. Wind can be an issue for half my entire day.

 

[Alaskan]

Same as Steve. In my pre ebike days - 20 years ago - I would go out of my way to climb any hill or mountain I could find, all over the Adirondacks, just to be able to say I’d done it. On the ebike I still love seeking out the steepest stuff I can find when I’m in the right mood. Steep or not, hills give a ride much more character and interest than a flat rail trail.

Wind? Not so much. Can be a soul crusher on a long day, ebike or not. A challenge yes, but no reward as MechaNut explains above. When you climb Prospect Mountain near me, you have the view all over Lake George. Ride a couple of hours into a 20 mph wind and you’re just windblown and annoyed.

What Dave said

 

[AHicks]

My vote is for the hills to be worse. Unless you have a mid drive, topping some of them, even though they're paved, can leave you panting hard. Then there are the ones that are just as steep and long, with stop signs at the bottom. Wind bothers me much less than the hills....

 

[DouglasB]

WIND IS THE WORST! I'm talking strong wind, small craft warning wind. 25 mph plus wind. No fun if it is coming at ya. Hills are just another challenge. Wind has no mercy. A hill stops at the top and you get to go weeeeeeee! all the way down.

 

[TurboComo5.0]

I love riding in a strong wind....as long as we’re both going the same way.... hate riding into the wind and worse yet is climbing a big hill into the wind.

 

[Over50]

I don't have much in the way of hills. But I find that most of my ride planning is centered around the wind direction and wind speed. The wind forecast dictates clothing but also which bike I decide to ride (dual battery or solo battery) and sometimes which commute option I take (carpool 1/2 and ride 1/2 or full commute). On days where a significant headwind is forecast, sometimes I opt to do a 20 mile commute on a Vektron with a 400 WH battery vs the normal 35 mile commute. The only thing I like about the headwinds is that I can usually stay ahead of the roadies if I have enough battery to ride in Tour and maintain a speed close to 20 mph. If I see them ahead I stay behind. If I see them in my rear view I can stay ahead. On non-windy days, they can catch me if I'm riding a class 1 or if I'm on a class 3 riding in Eco (ie riding under 20 mph).

 

[Dewey]

I dislike riding home from work across the Potomac when there are gusting side winds, the bridge sidepath I have to use is very narrow with a low knee-high crash barrier separating me from the rush hour traffic.

 

[Scott Adams]

Ride into the wind as far as you can, to the point that body and mind tell you to stop. Then turn around and fly back home.

Gave me the ebike grin years before I'd ever seen an ebike.

 

[DouglasB]

When I was 15, there was this long stretch of road on the edge of town, that for some reason, often had a strong wind blowing along it. I can rememember the joy of getting a "free ride" for miles. When I was older I did a 3,000 mile bicycle trip with my brother that included a section up the pacific coast, from San Fransisco to Whislter mountain BC and back. The hard part was going up the coast, as the predominant wind direction was southerly and almost every cyclist was headed South with the wind. We were some of the few to travel North, into the wind. I remember haveing to pedal going down hill on one strech. Hills were no problem. We were so young and fit that hills didn't really exist.

 

[linklemming]

I much prefer hills over wind.

With hills, you always know what to expect.

With wind, you never know what to expect (at least out here in CO). You can start a ride with no wind and then a storm rolls thru and you have to fight a headwind the whole way home.

 

[6zfshdb]

I prefer Hills. You know for a fact that if you ride up one, you can always coast back down. Many a time I've ridden into a head wind on the way out only to have it change direction and fight you on the way back as well.

Sometimes a head wind can be a blessing on a hot day for the extra cooling but it turns into a curse on the way back since you're riding with it and get no cooling at all.

 

[DouglasB]

Wind robs you of your speed, hills take it honestly.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

There is always a downhill...

 

[Handlebars]

hmmm...

 

[indianajo]

The roller hills we have here in S. Indiana, I can get back at least half the momentum I gained rolling down the hill on the next one.
The wind! This year, until September, it has been 8-15 mph in my face 80% of the time. Probably because I go out to the country when it is going to be dry a few days, and I come in to my city house when it is going to rain a few days. I've been enjoying calm winds or cross winds this month. September is almost always beautiful and dry, we get a big high over the midwest unless a hurricane/tropical storm from the Gulf breaks our normal pattern. The storms veered out to sea last week, hooray.