Hondo Gravel

canklecat

Last summer I worked carefully on heat adaptation so I was able to ride all summer, even in mid-day heat.

But I missed my window for heat adaptation this spring with an injury, off the bike nearly 6 weeks. I did a lot of walking outdoors in the heat so it helped a little.

And I've been on the indoor trainer for a couple of weeks. I usually turn off the a/c so the room gets up to 80F. Might help a bit, but not for 100+F degree rides.

I've confined my outdoor rides the past couple of weeks to after dark. Still nearly 90F but that's a big difference compared with 100+F in the sun. Even then I can tell I'm not quite adapted enough for rides longer than 20 miles in the sun. Tuesday night I did 40 minutes on the trainer to warm up then aimed for 20 miles outdoors after midnight. I cut it short at 16 miles when my body said 'nuff. Wiped out and achy all Wednesday.

fstrnu

Not a replacement, of course, but may Zwift would help a bit?

Carbonfiberboy 

Skin-tight wear on upper body a must. Just sweat and drink plenty of water. You're sweat cooled and the sweat has to be in the wind to evaporate quickly enough to do any good. You won't be able to keep up with the water loss on the bike. You can only pass about 1 liter/hour across the stomach wall and you'll sweat more than that. That means stopping every couple hours somewhere cool and drinking water until you feel better. Endurolytes help a lot. Try one/hour unless they make you too thirsty, in which case lay off them for a couple hours. But electrolytes are critical. Easy to wind up subject of a 911 call. If you stop sweating, you are really screwed, find shelter and drink more water immediately.

However! Less than normal riding in the heat will have a great effect on your fitness, probably more than your normal riding in normal temps would have. So do it, do it right, and don't worry about it.

TimothyH

Modern LED lights have revolutionized my riding.

Hondo Gravel

Hondo Gravel

wolfchild

Training in extreme weather conditions either very hot or very cold can be very beneficial for your fitness but you need to approach it the right way...Do enough but don't over cook yourself but doing too much when it's hot and humid... Personally I have an easier time dealing with very cold weather than with very hot humid weather. We've had a couple of days here with humidex of 113 F and it's hard to deal with it. I still workout but take it a little easier.

Carbonfiberboy 

I maybe should have also mentioned that I just did 115 miles and 7300', much of it over 100°. Not a problem and I'm not heat adapted yet. Just a matter of being content with going slower and knowing how to handle heat.

canklecat

I rode 40 very casual miles Thursday with the temp ranging from 107-103. Some sources claimed the peak was 109.

That was my first ride this summer on a really hot day. Felt dizzy the whole first 10 miles. Finally felt better and the next 30 went okay, all things considered. I kept the effort very low, around 13 mph average.

All my indoor training, even with the a/c off to get the temp up to 80, didn't really help. Heat adaptation takes time.

I've ridden a few times recently at night when the temp was in the 90s, sometimes near 100. Literally a night and day difference. 100 in daylight feels much hotter than 100 at night.

KraneXL

This.

If day rides bother you just switch to night. That's what I did when I used to work the graveyard shift. I purchased the biggest, brightest, whitest most spectacular lighting I could afford just for that purpose. I also purchase reflective gear and apparel and the biggest problem I got was from the lead cars slowing down due to being bedazzled and wanting to gaze at all the reflections.

jsk

Early start doesn't work so well for me, I'm not a morning person and trying to do early rides on a regular basis means missing out on too much sleep. I've also found that I prefer the higher temps later in the day as opposed to the higher humidity first thing in the morning. I've been doing most of my recent long weekend rides solo, starting around 10:30 - 11:00 and finishing around 2:00. Yeah, it's hot but as long as the humidity isn't too high you get a pretty good cooling effect from sweating. Last weekend I did my local group ride with 7:30am start, and the humidity was so oppressive; temp wasn't as high but I felt much hotter just because I was drenched and sweat wasn't evaporating.

The trick with the heat is you just have to gradually increase your exposure over time so that your body can adapt. (And once you do, there are performance benefits that carry over even to ridig in cooler weather).

canklecat

Besides heat adaptation and the usual advice about hydration, I'd also recommend switching to effectively insulated water bottles. Which rules out all ordinary plastic cycling bottles, whether insulated or not. They can't keep water cool long enough in 100+F heat.

On Thursday's ride (temp ranged from 108 peak according to local weather, to 103 by the time I got home after 9 pm), I carried:

• One plastic cycling bottle, half filled with frozen water mixed with electrolytes to start and topped off with cold water.
• One stainless double wall insulated bottle, filled the same as above -- half filled with frozen electrolyte mix, then topped off with cold water just before leaving home.
• A Mylar bag filled with frozen plain water.

Results:

• The plastic bottle was thawed within 15 minutes and too hot to drink within an hour. I dumped and refilled it with cool water a few times at the many rest stops along a 40 mile ride, but the water quickly became too hot to drink. I just used it to gargle a few times.
• The Mylar bag of frozen water stayed cool for more than an hour, in my center rear jersey pocket. I carry it for cooling my back, neck and face, and for wetting a bandanna to wipe my face and neck.
• The stainless thermos stayed chilled -- not just cool but cold -- for the five hours I was gone. There was still a bit of ice in the bottle when I got home, and I'd already topped it off a few times with cool or tepid water.

I used electrolytes in every refill, more in one ride than I usually do in an entire week of summer rides. But I'd never ridden for hours in temps well above 100F before. And I actually felt great after I got home and cooled off. After an hour I was hungry and walked another mile to get some tacos. In previous summer rides when I was fully heat adapted I was too exhausted to eat, let alone walk a mile for tacos. Having cold water and plenty of electrolytes really seemed to help.

Based on that, the single best thing I could do is skip my plastic bottles and just carry two stainless insulated thermoses half filled with frozen electrolyte mix. It'll be heavier, but in 100+ temps I'm not pushing for any speed records. I'm just looking to finish a ride without passing out or regretting having ridden that day.

Hondo Gravel

KraneXL

That, or you could die of heat stroke. There is a limit to how much heat you can take.

Steeljag

KraneXL

It's an everyday issue in all of Florida really, Come to think of it, in all of the southern states this time of year. That humidity can suck the energy out of you in no-time flat just standing still. I recall just sitting outside at 3:00 am with the fan blowing and still sweating bullets.

That humidity can make your ride more misery than energizing. I can recall times when the sweat would constantly just drip down into my eyes, usually in the worst possible traffic situation. Not fun.

Most road group and cyclist have adapted to getting out at the crack of dawn (its still humid) and getting their workouts in early. Thinking about riding in the heat/humidity of the noon day is just suicide. Not to mention in timing with the afternoon thunderstorms.

jsk

Thanks for that, captain obvious. Nobody said there aren't limits, but that doesn't contradict anything I said.

Here in Houston, humidity starts out highest at sunrise, often 90+ %, but by the hottest part of the afternoon, humidity might only be 50%, or even lower depending how high the temp gets. I usually do my weekday workouts around 5:00pm, hottest part of the day temperature-wise, but also the lowest humidity of the day. Humidity can still be pretty high when it's only in the low 90's, but when high-pressure pushes the temps up to the high 90's/low 100's, humidity will be much lower. I personally prefer 100 deg and 40% humidity to 87 deg and 92% humidity, because sweating actually works to cool your body while riding.

Hondo Gravel

joelcool

I'll have a 15 mile commute home in 103 heat today. My approach is fill 2 large water bottles (plastic, uninsulated), and have just a bit of warm to hot water in the second one when I get home. I don't have a problem drinking warm to hot water, it's still water and I need it. I could stop a couple times to get cooler water, but I'd rather press on and be done with it.

sirkaos

Called Hammer Nutrition and they recommend 1 tab of Endurolytes for every 50 lbs.of weight. I am tall and weigh right at 200, so I take 4 every hour. It definitely helps.