SPECELIZEDRIDER

Being you're car free and don't have a lot of access to a car, hot hot of temperature do you ride in?

wahoonc

100+ degrees 90%+ RH. I ride in places like Savannah, Charleston and Mobile. I do avoid riding during the peak heat of the day, if I do have to ride I plan shady routes, wear light clothing and ride S-L-O-W.

Part of it is acclimation, I have spent much of my life in the deep south so the heat and humidity doesn't bother me as much as someone from a different climate.

Aaron

Artkansas 

When I lived near Palm Springs I rode in temperatures up to 120 F. The big rules for me, were, take it easy, drink lots of water, find shade first if you have to fix a flat and pick up the bike at stoplights so the tires don't melt.

kookaburra1701

It doesn't usually get much over 90F here. I only really get hot when I stop and lose the breeze.

locolobo13 

Not car free but will chime in anyway. In the last few years I believe the hottest temp was 117°F, low humidity. I'll take that over high humidity anyday but it was still HOT!

BTW: My car doesn't have AC so it aint much better in the summer.

I-Like-To-Bike

Whatever the highest temperature is where I happen to be. Hottest so far, Iraq at 135°.

Roody

I have never been much above 90. I live in a temperate climate, although it is very humid here in the summer. Last summer was really bad. It went up to 100 for only the first or second time around here.

FatherAlabaster

I can't ride over about 90-95F. Even that is pushing it. Heat bothers me far more than cold. As much as I despise the subway, it's nice to have the option...

chewybrian 

I got used to the heat and humidity here after a while (95 and 90+ in the summer). The only issue is going out in it for more than an hour. At that point I have to use supplements, like endurolytes or eletes, and keep drinking and supplementing after I'm done. I also have to remember not to sit down for very long for a few hours after, to avoid cramps. I'll go just a little bit slower, but not by much.

"Shady route"--that's a good one. Scorched earth landscaping seldom leaves that option here, although my old commute was through the historic parts of Rockledge and Cocoa. 100 years ago, people understood that they might want a shade tree near the house, porch, sidewalk or street in Florida.

bikemig 

I grew up in Louisiana where heat and humidity are the only constants. I used to think that warm water was part of the fun of bike riding and then camel backs came along (one of the two greatest inventions for bike riding, the other being lycra). Still there comes a point where the swimming pool sounds better than being on a bike . . .

Roody

What is the hottest place in the universe? Possibly the left turn lane of a wide intersection, where you're standing with your bike, hot sun beating on your head, no breeze, surrounded by internal combustion engines, and waiting for a green arrow that's on a four minute cycle.

One nice thing about a bike is that you have built in ventilation...as long as you keep moving!

ksisler

So stinking hot and humid that it is hard to even breath! Why? Because riding through it is better than sitting on a lawn chair sweating through your eyeballs complaining about it. When the weather really sucks, go for a ride!

I-Like-To-Bike

You already have the solution to your problem of overheating while waiting for release by a traffic signal, soon as the traffic allows, keep moving.

Artkansas 

It's worse. All that metal soaking up all that sunshine. When riding in the summer, I'd pity the folks driving with their windows down. They had to be roasting.

DX-MAN

If the merc passes 95F, I start to question it. But I haven't really skipped a ride due to heat. I just ride a little slower.

gerv 

Wow ! Hottest for me was about 105F last summer. In Des Moines.

zeppinger

Not sure what the hottest place I ever rode in was. Likely Cambodia but while I carried a thermometer (attached to my compass) I never really bothered to check. It probably never got much hotter than 110 but with extreme humidity. Northern India was also disgustingly hot but again I think the humidity was worse than the heat.

Roody

How did you get through such extreme heat, especially when you were probably trying to cover the miles pretty quickly?

FrenchFit 

I got caught going out late on a solo 50 mile ride on what turned out to be one of hottest days on record here, I think the report said 106F in the general area but I passed a bank where the digital sign read 118F in the parking lot. Dry heat fortunately. But still, you couldn't stay hydrated no matter how much water you took in, and your eyes dried out. I took a nap under a tree for a couple of hours, slow poked home. What I thought was going to be a 3 hour ride lasted about 6 hours.

tim24k

I'm car light and I have commuted in 105F on the way home.

Baytree

However hot it gets. Usually at least a few days per summer at 110+ I'd rather bike in hot weather than walk... the wind is refreshing and you get there much faster.

Smallwheels

The hottest I think I've every ridden in is 98º. It was dry so it wasn't a problem. I wouldn't want to do it daily.

bragi

It doesn't get too hot here in Seattle, so it's not much of an issue when I'm at home, but if I ride elsewhere, I'll ride no matter how hot it is. I just ride slowly and drink tons of water. However, at temps above 90 F, the helmet comes off; when it's that warm, the threat of heat stroke is greater than the threat of a head injury.

AstroEng

92°F, but its only spring and I just started riding again in March. We'll see how it goes when it starts hitting 105°F. But it's a dry heat

I'd take 105° in Albuquerque over Phoenix/Tucson any day. Here the breeze actually cools you off. There it only feels like someone opened the oven. I guess a few thousand feet of air density decrease makes a big difference...

eofelis 

It rarely gets above 100F here, and it's pretty arid. I've seen 1% humidity reported. It probably doesn't get above 20-30% humidity most of the time here. I ride all summer, commuting and road riding. It's much easier to get on a bike in the heat then to get into a car that's been baking in the sun all day.