cycling in the wind

Question
I am 6' 2" tall and weigh 245 lbs.  I ride more than 150 miles a week on a Giant Advance SL Composite bike.  I eat well and use an E Motion roller at home.  When the group rides into the wind, I get lost!  I see men and women pass me by riding into the wind with ease.  I then get dropped and have to ride the wind back to the starting point by myself.  When the wind is ever greater than five mph., I am dropped like an anchor.  I use the drop down method and try to  avoid the wind but the wind just beats me. Why do others seem to ride so easily in the wind while I cannot?  I have been riding for two years and those in the group have been riding longer.  Still, those riding better  in the wind are sometimes much heavier than I; huge guts!  What's going on?  Today, I was dropped so badly in the wind I wanted to quit cycling and take up knitting!

Answer
Jim,

I totally understand what you're going through.  I am 6'2" and 185 and have a huge frontal area, so wind is just murder on me, too.  What I have discovered about the situation is that some of it is technique and fitness, but much of it is psychological.  I hate riding flat sections and into the wind.  

The first part of the answer, of course, is what you say you've tried: Learn to ride smaller.  That means ride in the drops, shoulders in a bit and with your head down somewhat and knees and elbows in.  When you are in a pack, always be looking to draft in the middle, find the wind shadow behind another large-framed rider and STAY THERE!  You can best conserve your energy that way.  If you train enough, which sounds like the case, that is the best you can do to reduce the actual resistance you are pushing and save energy.

The psychological part is the tough part.  If you learn to fight the wind whenever it's there, it will drive you crazy every time.  My solution is to take the wind as a challenge, like hills.  When I am out in the open or at the front of a pack, I ride small and think about beating the wind, as opposed to feeling how much it is slowing me down.  Feel the when it is not head-on and imagine you are a sail and that the crosswind is actually helping you. (Yeah, corny, I know, but it works).  Focus on the fact that the wind is also slowing the others and they are suffering just as much or more than you because you carry more momentum in the wind.  When there is a downhill, remember that your greater mass makes you faster and beats the wind.

The psychological part is not an overnight fix, because you have been conditioned to respond negatively to the wind.  However, you can retrain mental approach.  A good example for me is my climbing.  In the past I had the same negative relationship with hills.  With some determination, over time I learned to feel the challenge of hills and actually increase adrenaline and agression when confronted with inclines.  Now when I crest, I do a mental end-zone dance when I beat each hill and it makes climbing the highlight of my rides.

Finally, another method to improve your group rides is to ride crafty.  Don't get out in front for long pulls or show off your power.  Ride in the middle of the pack when the wind is strong, take reasonable pulls when the wind is at your back and generally meter carefully all of your effort.  With smart riding you will find that you have more energy throughout and at the end.

Hopefully this helps - If you get the chance, get back to me on your progress.

Graeme