14-day weather forecast for cycling routes

If you've ever checked the forecast on a Monday, felt confident about Saturday's club run, then watched the wind swing 180 degrees by Friday morning, you already know the problem. A generic weather app tells you what's happening at your postcode. It says nothing about whether that south-westerly will be a tailwind on the outbound leg or a wall of resistance on the way home.

So which app actually solves this? The short answer is Tailwind GPS, which offers a full 14-day route-specific weather forecast for subscribers. Free users get three days. Paid plans start at $2.99/month or $19.99/year and unlock forecasts for up to 40 saved routes across a two-week window.

Here's why that matters, how it works, and how it stacks up against the other tools in the field.

Why "weather at your house" fails cyclists

Your local forecast is a point estimate. One location, one set of conditions. A cyclist doing a 60-mile loop spends three to five hours moving across different terrain, different elevations, different wind exposures. The wind at kilometre 5 may be nothing like the wind at kilometre 45.

What you actually need is a wind forecast along the entire GPX route, including whether that wind will be hitting you from behind, from the side, or straight in the face, at the exact time you'll be at each point on the ride. Departure-time matters too. Leave at 7am versus 9am and the wind can be a completely different beast.

For sportive prep or club ride planning specifically, 14 days is the relevant horizon. Most club captains and group organisers are working at least a week out. A 7-day limit cuts those conversations in half.

How Tailwind GPS delivers a 14-day cycling route forecast

Tailwind GPS divides every route into individual segments, samples hourly weather forecasts at each point, then weights everything by distance and your expected riding pace. The result is a single Tailwind Score (0–100) per departure hour, telling you at a glance how favourable conditions will be for that specific route at that specific time.

The scoring bands are practical:

• 80–100: Excellent. Expect favourable tailwinds for most of the ride.
• 55–79: Great riding conditions.
• 40–54: Neutral.
• 20–39: Challenging.
• 0–19: Prepare for a tough ride.

Behind the score, you get the full breakdown: tailwind %, headwind %, crosswind %, average wind speed, dominant wind direction, temperature, and rain probability along the route. Subscribers can see all of this for any departure hour across the next 14 days.

The interface is mobile-first by design. Swipe between saved routes, scroll through departure hours, compare scores. No meteorology degree required.

How to pick your best ride day in four steps

1. Connect Strava or upload a GPX file. Your existing Strava routes import automatically. Alternatively, draw a new route on the interactive map or upload a GPX directly.
2. Set your riding pace. Tailwind GPS personalises every forecast to where you'll actually be on the route at each point in time, not where an average rider would be.
3. Scroll the departure-time carousel. Compare Tailwind Scores hour by hour across the 14-day window. You'll often find a Wednesday morning at 8am scores 15 points higher than Saturday at 10am.
4. Set a route alert. Subscribers get email notifications when a favourite route hits a target score, so you don't need to check manually every day.

For club ride planning and Sunday group runs, the alert system is genuinely useful. Set a score threshold on your regular loop and let Tailwind GPS watch the forecast for you.

What the other route weather apps offer

A few tools attempt to address the same problem, and it's worth being clear about where they sit.

Epic Ride Weather positions itself as wind, rain, and temperature minute-by-minute along your exact route. It's clearly cyclist-first and supports Strava and GPX inputs. What's not explicitly communicated on its landing page is a 14-day route forecast window.

myWindsock offers deep route planning with proprietary charts and metrics. It's a capable tool with premium upsells, but its product page doesn't establish a clear 14-day route forecast claim in the content we reviewed.

Routeweather is low-friction (no signup required) and maps wind, rain, and temperature along an uploaded route with departure-time comparisons. Again, no confirmed 14-day horizon from available page content.

Headwind App integrates with Strava and shows a wind-based difficulty score with a forecast view. Its own content positions this view at up to 7 days.

The gap is clear. If you specifically need a cycling route weather forecast covering 14 days, with route-level wind analysis and departure-time scoring, Tailwind GPS is the only app that explicitly offers it.

Comparison: which app shows a 14-day cycling route forecast?

FAQs: 14-day route forecasts for cyclists

Is a 14-day forecast reliable enough to plan a ride? The Met Office is clear that beyond five days, atmospheric chaos increases uncertainty noticeably. But a 14-day window isn't about precision; it's about planning visibility. You can identify promising windows, set alerts, and monitor how conditions evolve as the weekend approaches. Think of it as a planning horizon, not a guaranteed report.

What does 'route-specific' actually mean? It means the weather is sampled along every segment of your actual route, not averaged from one nearby weather station. Wind hitting you at a right angle on a north-facing valley road is very different from wind at your front door. A route-specific forecast accounts for both.

Do I need a GPX file, or can I use Strava? Neither is required exclusively. Tailwind GPS and Strava routes work together directly: connect your account and your existing routes import automatically. GPX upload and in-app route drawing are also supported.

Can I plan multiple routes, including club rides? Free users can save up to three routes. Subscribers unlock up to 40, which is plenty for comparing alternate club loops, training circuits, and sportive courses in one place. The best cycling apps for forecast-based planning covers this in more detail if you're weighing up options.

What's the difference between a Tailwind Score and just reading wind arrows? Wind arrows show you wind speed and direction at a single point. The Tailwind Score translates that data across your whole route, weighted by how far you'll travel in each direction, and outputs a single number. It's the difference between reading raw data and getting an answer. For a full breakdown of how the scoring works, the wind-aware cycling apps compared guide goes deep on the methodology.

Lock in next weekend's ride now

If you're a club captain coordinating Saturday's loop, a sportive rider peaking for an event two weeks out, or simply someone who can't afford to waste a precious Saturday on a headwind slog: a 14-day route forecast changes how you plan.

The free tier gets you three days and three routes. That's enough to understand immediately why a route-specific score beats a generic app. Upgrade for $2.99/month and the full two-week window opens up.

Start planning with Tailwind GPS and find your best ever ride, when the wind is actually with you.

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