Every year, they pedal against an ox-dehorning wind

The wind did not get the better of the courageous Dutch cyclists this year. After the cancellation of the 2023 edition due to storm Ciaran, the emblematic “NK Headwind Cycling” (Dutch Wind Cycling Championship) made its comeback on the first weekend of December 2024.

Cycling championship against the wind: challenge Éole

The Dutch don't have passes but they have ideas to intensify their cycling efforts. Organized since 2012, this unique competition in the world celebrates a practice as improbable as it is epic: pedaling against a headwind on a section of the Oosterscheldekering dike, one of the emblematic infrastructures of the Netherlands. This dam on the Eastern Scheldt (Zealand) protects the country from marine flooding.

For this wind cycling championship, no ultralight bike or high-tech equipment. The participants all get on a good old Dutch city bike, lent for the occasion. To make matters worse, it is single speed. Objective: to cover an almost straight line of 8.5 kilometers, in the most hostile conditions offered by the weather. The golden rule: face the natural elements without any mechanical assistance, just calf strength and a mind of steel.

A 2024 Force 7 edition

If storm Ciaran had forced the organizers to cancel the 2023 edition, the year 2024 will have marked a triumphant return. The weather conditions were ideal: an average wind of force 7 on the Beaufort scale (which goes up to 12). Or a wind between 50 and 60 km/h.

Tester son endurance

No less than 300 cyclists, amateurs and professionals alike, took to the start. Among them, many aficionados of the event, but also a few novices curious to test their endurance against the god Aeolus.

The show lived up to expectations: faces reddened by the cold, tense muscles, and enthusiastic encouragement from the spectators who also came to brave the wind. Chick, let's start a Weelz team! for the 2025 edition? Who is hot? Don’t hesitate to tell us in the comments if you too love pedaling with the wind in your face!