I love a good KOM hunt and I’ve been maxing out the 5 Segment Windsock limit recently, this is very frustrating. At our new location in Cumbria, there are so many amazing hills around to attack! The five Windsocks that we offer on Premium just isn’t enough.
So the 5 Windsock limit had to go!
Upgrade to myWindsock Premium to unlock your first 5 Windsocks. Learn more
Having the best conditions on a Segment is crucial for getting the KOM time. When you add a Windsock to a Strava Segment our physics engine gets to work scanning the forecasts. When a favourable forecast is found, we will let you know the best time to go.
How to Add a Segment Windsock
It’s easy to add Windsocks to Segments. You can do this two ways.
From any forecast or post ride analysis click on the segment icon . Then click the Windsock Bell checkbox.
Load up a Segment forecast click on the Menu Icon Then Click “Segment Windsock”.
We are delighted to hear Jonathan Schubert used our modelling and analysis in preparation for his record breaking sub 3 hour 100 miles ride.
The aero efficiency (CdA) Jonathan achieved is amazing. He talks about using effective CdA, the on the road CdA, in modelling the record attempt. This modelling would show that the sub 3hr was in his grasp.
I feel a bit guilty at nabbing this one from my Weather Trends, as I am sure this is also Caroline’s longest headwind too.
I asked Caroline if she had a bike and would she like to come for a bike ride. We’d done a lot of walking at this point so it seemed like a good alternative. She said ‘yes I have a bike’ so I thought perfect “let’s ride!” I rode over to meet her. When I arrived she was putting her helmet on. We went over to the garage to get her bike, out comes a mountain bike with knobbly tyres. Stood there in my full roadie kit I thought ‘ok this will be a difficult ride for one of us’.
Naturally I didn’t take my 23mm tyres off road.
Caroline smiled all the way. I have since learned this smile is purely from her dance training and hides her actual discomfort of riding a mountain bike, with a saddle far too low, for an hour and a quarter, into a headwind. Seeing her smile, I was blissfully unaware of her discomfort and I kept the pace high with no rest all the way.
It was only once we stopped at my house that the exhaustion became apparent. I realised how tough it had been. We took the bike back by car.
Fortunately the experience didn’t put Caroline off me or cycling.
Relive your rides with Weather Trends
Each ride has it’s own story. Weather Trends helps you to discover your standout rides. Find the windiest, wettest and toughest rides you’ve ridden. Start recording all of your rides with myWindsock Premium.
I created the myWindsock Planner so I can view all the cycling weather I can expect for the week ahead. I really like seeing what I can expect well before I ride. Which days will be wet, windy or rather pleasant. It’s especially useful this time of year in the UK where the weather is so changeable.
I wanted to ensure you knew about the feature so you too can view ride summaries for the week ahead. Set your regular rides to repeat however you wish so your Planner is always current.
I hope you will try adding forecasts to your Planner. Don’t forget you can reuse any of your past rides as a forecast by clicking ‘Use as route’ or simply changing the Date and Time when viewing a ride.
We’ve created a new myWindsock Strava Club. We will be providing tip and tricks to get the most out of myWindsock. Plus the announcement of our latest new features.
I took part in my first bunch race last Saturday. It has been a great opportunity for me to understand the applications of myWindsock.com for planning and analysing mass start races.
One especially cool thing from racing on a circuit is that I am collecting loads of aero data. Each time I cross the same point on the circuit myWindsock.com caclulates my CdA (Aero Efficiency). So this is what I thought I’d show you here. Then you can do the same analysis for your own races. How well do you shelter in the bunch? Find out by analysing your race on myWindsock like this.
My Race’s Aero Analysis
Have a look at my CdA profile for the race…
Blue section I am in the bunch more aero than the ride average.
You can see the Blue section is where I was in the bunch. Hey look! good for me with practice I became more efficient using the bunch for shelter from the wind. I can see this because the Stepped line representing each lap’s CdA gets lower and lower. The blue represents me being more aero than my average CdA for the whole activity.
Evidently by my CdA I didn’t spend all my time on the front 😉
The Breakaway
After 20 minutes I decided to go for a breakaway and except for a couple of laps to start with, it was solo effort to the finish. You can see this on the above graph, I stop being in the Blue and my CdA is up in the shaded orange section, I am now less aero than my average CdA. Each step in the line represents my CdA for a lap. I am happy that I was pretty consistent at keeping my Aero Position.
My solo break. My CdA is super consistent! All those years of time trials.
Overall Aero Stats
So how did my aerodynamics change from the Bunch to my Solo Break. Using the conditions on the day I have also used myWindsock to estimate Watts to lap the Salt Ayre course at 25mph.
CdA
Watts @ 25mph
Full Race
0.238
315
In the Bunch
0.188
265
Break Away (Solo)
0.264
350
Crossing the line.
One more thing… Braking Analysis
In the below picture you will see the myWindsock.com Detected Braking graph. Interestingly I only used the brakes when in those first 20 minutes when in the bunch. Braking is taking away your energy. By attempting to reduce the amount of braking by being less reactive when riding in the bunch may be away to further conserve energy. This is just a thought.
The red bars are braking instances. I only touched the brakes when in the bunch.
Analyse your rides and races
It’s easy to access your ride’s CdA and analyse with myWindsock. You can connect Strava to myWindsock.com and view all your Activities and Segment efforts immediately. Or simply upload your ride file to myWindsock.com Get started here.
If you have a GPX file or Strava Segment Link for any of the following courses please can you send to me. I’ll then add them to the Cycling Time Trials Map.
a10/c
a25/3
A50/2
AS/9
b12/3
BS20
C10/29
CS/19
d24hr
D30/1
D310/10
F2/50
FHC/2
GH/44
H10/3
HCC178C
J9/22
k52/50km
L156
MH22
O19
P845/25
P884A/30
PHC91
q12
R15/5
RH/12X
rs/20
RS/24
S/Long Hill
S130/10
S1R/10
s6/15
T107
thc7
UH60B
V210
V251
WE10/01
WE16/01
WE25/02
WE50/01
wm30/01
ww01/01
ww17/02
If you have a GPX file or Strava Segment Link for any of the following courses please can you send to me. I’ll then add them to the Cycling Time Trials Map.
Check out the all new myWindsock.com Planner! All of your week’s, in fact next 10 day’s, weather for your planned routes. Go to your myWindsock.com account now and start adding your regular routes.
No need to add your routes each week, simply set a route to repeat however you wish. For example my club training ride is on Saturday so I have the route we use repeat each Saturday. It’ll always be there!
. Then click the Windsock Bell checkbox.
