Tailwind GPS: wind scores for your Strava routes, every ride

You already know your routes. You've ridden them dozens of times. What you don't know, until it's too late, is whether today's wind will turn your favourite Saturday loop into a grind or the best ride of the month.

That's the gap Tailwind GPS fills.

Your Strava routes, scored for wind

Connect Strava and Tailwind pulls in every route you already ride. No rebuilding, no re-uploading. Within minutes, each route has an hourly wind score for the next 14 days (on the paid plan), so you can see at a glance which morning gives you an 82 on the Saturday loop and which one gives you a 57.

Those scores aren't just raw wind speed. They factor in each segment of your route, the direction the wind is blowing relative to where you're actually pedalling, and your typical Strava pace. The result: a single number that tells you how that specific ride will feel when you leave at that specific hour.

Every 5 km/h of headwind can drop your cycling speed by roughly 10%, according to Yellow Jersey's analysis of wind resistance data. That's real time lost, real energy wasted. Knowing about it in advance changes everything.

What the wind score actually tells you

Each route in Tailwind shows you the percentage of the ride that'll be a tailwind, headwind, or crosswind, along with the mean head/tail component in km/h. So a score of 82 on the Saturday loop might mean 71% tailwind and only 18% headwind. A 57 on the forest road loop? More like 35% tailwind, 38% headwind. Same wind, completely different rides.

You can scroll through departure times hour by hour, compare routes side by side, and let Tailwind suggest when to leave. It's a departure-time forecast built specifically around your routes, not just a weather widget showing the nearest weather station.

Set alerts and let Tailwind watch the forecast for you

You don't have to check the app every day. Set a threshold (say, a tailwind score above 80 on your club route), and Tailwind sends you an alert when conditions hit it. It'll also flag when rain is forecast during your usual ride window, and suggest leaving 30 minutes later to dodge it and catch a better wind angle.

For riders juggling work, family, and limited windows on the bike, that kind of nudge is genuinely useful. You're not monitoring forecasts manually. You're just getting a tap on the shoulder when it's worth going.

Explore nearby routes when your usual loop is a headwind battle

Some days your regular route scores poorly. Rather than riding it into a wall of wind, the Tailwind live map shows nearby alternatives with wind overlays, so you can find a route that's working with today's conditions rather than against them.

This is where it goes beyond a weather app. A standard forecast tells you the wind is from the north-east at 18 km/h. Tailwind tells you which of your nearby routes runs mostly south-west, making it a 71% tailwind day if you just pick that one instead.

Headwind days are training days

Not every ride needs to be fast. When you're building fitness, Tailwind flags routes with strong, steady headwinds: the kind that make intervals harder and make you stronger. A route with 78% headwind exposure and 18 km/h of it across most of the ride is a different kind of session to a Sunday spin, and Tailwind helps you plan for both intentionally.

Free to start, $2.99/month for the full picture

Three routes are free, forever. You get a three-day forecast and basic map access with no card required. If you want up to 40 saved routes, a 14-day forecast window, email alerts, and wind score notifications, the paid plan is $2.99 per month with a seven-day free trial.

For the cost of a coffee, you get a smarter week of riding.

Ready to stop guessing? Start your free trial and connect Strava in under a minute. Your routes are already there. Tailwind just shows you when to ride them for your best ever ride.