Riding in the Wind

When winds are coming from say the west, shouldn't that mean you only face them when you are going west?  Why is it when it is windy out I feel the wind coming at me in at least three directions?

I headed out about 3:50 pm Sunday (I figured the Lions lead was safe by then) for a bike ride.  I hoped to do 20 miles but I also needed to be home in time to clean up and get to my in-laws for dinner.

Got up to Maple and headed east to Middlebelt and BOOM strong winds hit me right in my face.  I immediately thought about wimping out and going home.  Then I decided it was better to face the wind head on and try to build up some strength.  I also decided to do my 16 mile route instead of the 20 mile route (by the way my routes aren't all that complicated).

Funny thing was it kept up going south and mostly going west too.  Going east on 12 Mile from Haggerty to Orchard Lake was horrible.  My speed as of late has been about 13 miles per hour, so I should be able to do that stretch in under 20 minutes.  With the wind in my face, it took about 23 minutes.  Fortunately, there wasn't as much wind going northbound up Orchard Lake but it still took me longer than normal.

Which gets me back to my original point:  shouldn't you only feel the wind in your face in one direction?

I freely admit to anyone who wants to know that I stopped taking science classes after 10th grade chemistry (Southfield High graduates of 1980 only needed two years of science classes).  So I'm not exactly up on meteorology anymore.  Did I miss class that day?

I completed the ride and my legs were definitely a bit sorer than I'd have otherwise expected.  I'm finding I'm missing those mostly wind free days of summer.