Dealing with heat

: You asked the question of the day! 8D
:
: I just got back from a 6km ride, temp about 30C (86F).
:
: My roommates went out for a hike at 8am and were still out when I left for
: my ride at 11:20.
:
: When I got back I had a HUGE grin on my face and my roomies were saying
: "Chris, you really shoulda gone out earlier. How the heck do you deal with
: that heat? It's nasty!"
:
: I LOVE the heat - it's like a huge warm hug. I'm used to MINUS 30 in the
: winter and I hate being cold.
:
: OK - to address your question - I do these things:
:
: - don't eat a lot before a ride on a hot day.
: - "pre-load" the fluids - usually a large glass of half water, half
: cranberry juice.
: - take three magnesium supplements and two multi-vitamins with the juice.
: - bring a bottle of water/juice mix with a teaspoon of salt mixed in and
: drink about a bottle an hour. (half or full quart, I think?)
: - clothing: coolmax shortsleeved jersey, offwhite in colour (reflects a
lot
: of light & the mesh breathes very well)
: - microfiber "bermuda shorts" - breathable, comfy (not form fitting), and
: wick moisture away
: - cotton/poly blend "boxer brief" underwear - keeps things from *ahem*
: sticking...
: - thin synthetic socks and jungle moccassin loafers; generally keeps feel
: "coolish" though I'm sure I don't have the best footwear (I'm using
platform
: pedals, not clipless)
:
: Hope this helps!
: Chris

Okay, I'm confused. you actually think 86 F is hot?

Pat in TX

On 2005-06-27, catzz66 wrote:
I started riding again last fall and had been riding about every day
till I broke my arm and collarbone which knocked me off schedule for a
few weeks. When that happened, the temps were in the 70s and 80s most
days. Now it is quite a lot hotter. How do you all deal with the heat?

I've been wearing light colored clothing, drinking lots of water, etc.
I also tried wearing sandals instead of running shoes and that seemed to
help as well. Usually I ride before the sun gets all the way up and the
heat has not been a problem, but on the weekends I ride longer distances
and can't really avoid it.

Buy a good light. I get out at 4AM on weekends when it's hot, 5:00 AM
weekdays depending on my work schedule.

P.S. I put an extra bottle rack on my old steel frame Fuji using zip
ties and it is working out great so far.

Being as cheap as I am, I sometimes strap a 2 liter bottle filled with
water to my rack.

On 2005-06-27, Alfred Ryder wrote:

"catzz66" wrote ...
I started riding again last fall and had been riding about every day
till I broke my arm and collarbone which knocked me off schedule for a
few weeks. When that happened, the temps were in the 70s and 80s most
days. Now it is quite a lot hotter. How do you all deal with the heat?

I've been wearing light colored clothing, drinking lots of water, etc.
I also tried wearing sandals instead of running shoes and that seemed to
help as well. Usually I ride before the sun gets all the way up and the
heat has not been a problem, but on the weekends I ride longer distances
and can't really avoid it.

P.S. I put an extra bottle rack on my old steel frame Fuji using zip
ties and it is working out great so far.

Since you ride with running shoes and use zip ties, you probably ride in
cotton T-shirts and cut-off jeans. In my experience, the most significant
thing you can do to deal with the heat is to go to your LBS and buy proper
tight-fitting jerseys and shorts. If you think they are too expensive,
calculate the cost per hour of use.

And pick up a pair of clipless pedals and shoes. That will make riding much
easier.

I put more miles on my Lake SPD sandals than my shoes. They are great
whenever the temp is over 65 degrees.

PS I went out for a two-hour ride at noon yesterday and the temperature was
a chilly 65.

On Mon, 27 Jun 2005 13:23:04 -0500, Scott wrote:

My problem is that I don't have a water-bottle holder on my bike, and just
like with panniers and fenders, I'm too lazy to go buy anything. I know,
it's like $5 and 10 minutes, but inertia is all in my life sometimes

Even *mart stores have bottle holders and hydration packs these days, I
prefer the packs since they stay cooler in our brutal sun, but cages are
nice to keep the weight off of your back. At any rate, I used to do the
"water fountain" critereum around here when I first set up my single speed
w/o bottle braze-ons. Fun for a while, but drinking big every thirty
minutes is not nearly as efficient as taking fairly constant little sips,
which are absorbed more easily.

Put "hydration doohicky" on your list next to BVDs, turf builder, and
blank CDRs--you'll be glad you did.

On Mon, 27 Jun 2005 19:09:52 +0100, wafflycat wrote:

You need isotonic and not just plain water. When you sweat you lose
elctrolytes (salts) and you need to replace these. Isontonic drinks will
give you the elctrolytes easily absobed into you system and will give
you some sugars for energy too.

Depends on how far you ride. Short rides and you're not going to need any
extra fuel, but some say a bit of sugar and salt aid H2o absorption, I
just do plain water and feel fine.

For longer rides, 2+ hours for me, I'll slightly sweeten my hydration
pack's contents with black currant syrup (so it's barely pink and perhaps
20% as sweet as regular beverage dilution) and a quarter teaspoon of table
salt. Works for me, though I'm sure the fancier store bought stuff is
better for ultramarathon type endeavours. Black currant syrup trumps them
all in flavour--you can get it at international or Polish grocery stores.

On Mon, 27 Jun 2005 13:27:17 -0500, Pat wrote:

Okay, I'm confused. you actually think 86 F is hot?

Pat in TX

86 here in Tennessee with the midday sun and humidity in the 80s as well,
is very very hot. When your sweat sticks to you like jello--it's hot!

I rode a few days ago in 95 degree heat with 25% humidity--that, however,
was perfectly bearable. The faster you went, the cooler you got. Nice.

"Pat" wrote in message
...

Okay, I'm confused. you actually think 86 F is hot?

Well... it'll be 96 tomorrow... and we do get 100+ from time to time.
I guess my point is, what some consider hot, others don't.

: 86 here in Tennessee with the midday sun and humidity in the 80s as well,
: is very very hot. When your sweat sticks to you like jello--it's hot!
:
: I rode a few days ago in 95 degree heat with 25% humidity--that, however,
: was perfectly bearable. The faster you went, the cooler you got. Nice.

Right now, it's 95 here and the humidity is 32%.

Pat in TX
:
:

On Mon, 27 Jun 2005 10:56:37 -0500, catzz66
wrote:

I started riding again last fall and had been riding about every day
till I broke my arm and collarbone which knocked me off schedule for a
few weeks. When that happened, the temps were in the 70s and 80s most
days. Now it is quite a lot hotter. How do you all deal with the heat?

I ride early in the morning. According to the Weather Channel web site
it's now 92F at 2:41pm here in Aurora, Illinois. It wasn't that bad at
8:00am.


jeverett3ATearthlinkDOTnet http://home.earthlink.net/~jeverett3

C.J.Patten wrote:
"Pat" wrote in message
...

Okay, I'm confused. you actually think 86 F is hot?


Well... it'll be 96 tomorrow... and we do get 100+ from time to time.
I guess my point is, what some consider hot, others don't.



It's not unusual for it to be near 80 in the a.m. and mid 90s by the
afternoon this time of the year in North Texas so the time of day makes
a lot of difference.