Salamandrine 

In the desert, a long sleeve cotton loose shirt works very well, hard to beat in fact. A modern synthetic safari type shirt is good too. The early synthetics used to stink; the new ones are better. You have to consider humid hot and dry hot to be different environments. For any environment that is humid and wet or cold and wet, you're better off with synthetics or wool.

Acclimatization is very important in dealing with desert heat, as is of course water and fluids. Fabric choice is tertiary at best. Also, the mad dogs and englishmen thing can't be overstated. Do not travel in the mid day sun. Tuaregs and Bedouins don't, and neither should you.

chrisx

Got any details on that one? ¿Nylon is better that Polyester as far as smell goes?



I neglected to mention that wool does nothing against mosquitos and other insects in hot humid jungles. Silk and cotton do.

KraneXL

They're getting better every day. I have a cool weather breathable base liner shirt with a fleece-like lining Tesla Cold Proof that mimics natural fibers and is so comfortable next to the skin. I also have some T- shirt blends with little compromise that provide the best of both worlds

DropBarFan

Yeah, it's amazing how easy it is to get hypothermia wearing cotton in seemingly mild temps. BTW, REI has a big sale on silk base layers, socks are $7/$9. Some folks say silk socks under wool is ideal for winter.

J.Higgins 

Which attests to its cooling abilities. Its funny how I can get cold in the hot humid summers when I've spent the day working outside. My body gets a sheen of sweat going and its cools me, but at the same time it gets me feeling clammy and gross. A hot shower usually cures that. Its weird to me that a hot shower - even when it's 90 degrees outside, will make me feel better. Bizarre?

manapua_man

I feel like there's enough variability in fabrics that you really need to specify what you're talking about, and the situation you're planning on being in.

That said, I live in the tropics for most of the year and most cotton clothing usually takes way the hell too long to dry out when I'm camping. If I'm wearing cotton for field work it's probably cheaper work pants, and those are still probably some sort of cotton-synthetic blend. My socks are usually cotton, but I end up having to pack a bunch because they don't always dry out fast enough.

I've got synthetic long sleeved shirts and cycling jerseys that work just fine in the weather here. I've also got some that are thicker for cooler parts of the world and they would probably kill me if I tried to use em during the summer here.

fietsbob

Touring in Australia?

gauvins

Totally agree. But it is(was), too early for me to be asking the right questions. Interestingly, while it is fairly easy to find information wrt clothing performance in cold weather (e.g. CLO rating), I couldn't find much to chew on regarding hot weather. There are certainly important and relevant differences between rainy vs humid vs dry heat, and I assume, the apparent wind created at cycling speed is such that the best garment for hiking is probably not best for cycling.

For instance, I'd think that for competitive cycling, cooling fast is of outmost importance -- you ride fast and can get plenty of fluids handed to you by your support team while racing (and you are burning calories so fast that the main issue may not be ambient temperature) . Touring is a different activity, where fluid management also means carrying your supplies for what could be quite a long time, measured in days, meaning that you'll not push yourself as much and may want to preserve fluids. Think running a marathon vs hiking across a desert -- I wouldn't hike wearing the typical wicking polyester jersey used by runners. On the other hand, I doubt that marathoners would like to race wearing hiking shirts.

As an aside, I read somewhere that you are better off dousing water on your head instead of drinking it, if your goal is to reduce your core temperature...

Another family of issues pertain to "wardrobe management". I always wear grey/black because they look cleaner than white clothes. The impact of clothing color isn't obvious to me. Steel boat decks MUST be (off)white in lower latitudes, otherwise you can't walk barefoot at mid-day. OTOH, bimini's fabric tend to be of a much darker color (typically shades of blue), and do not feel hot, probably because it is always windy, and because fabric doesn't absorb heat as much as metal does.

On a semi related note -- I almost never ride when it rains. And when I have to, I dislike the feeling, largely because waterproof shells become saunas. So it becomes a game of zipping/unzipping to try to maintain a reasonable temperature. Staying dry is not really part of the equation.

anyways -- winter is here. Fleece time.

stevepusser

There's no way you can keep any moisture in a cotton shirt in Death Valley in July for very long. I did a trip in August heading north from Redding, CA where the temperature was 108 F in the shade and the humidity in the single digits. I had a thick, long sleeved cotton T-shirt, and would jump in every swimming hole I passed when getting hot, or hose off at every opportunity.

The T-shirt would provide some nice cooling for 5-10 minutes after I got back on the bike, but was completely dry after that. The crotch of the Lycra shorts was also dry a few minutes after than--but the swim and evaporating moisture would get my core body temperature down for a while. Unfortunately, swimming holes are quite rare in Death Valley.

DropBarFan

I don't have a sauna but I wonder if it might work in the summer to make the regular air temp more tolerable? There was an old-time NASCAR driver who used to drive his street car in the summer with the windows up & heat on max to get acclimated to the hot race car.

DropBarFan

You seem to suggest wicking clothes increase sweat vs cotton. Perhaps there is a slight difference but I've never noticed it. In hot humid weather cotton can get heavy & clingy. Also, while I'm not a backpacker, from incidental info it seems that hikers nowadays tend to avoid cotton.

In re dark vs light, there are contrarians who say dark is cooler but I think that's probably only with hot temp & little sun.

Downright chilly up north there, wow.

Carbonfiberboy 

Skin-tight technical synthetic fabrics which are designed to wick well. Just the one layer. One has to be a little careful there as some manufacturers use mesh in the back which is not good for long rides in the sun to say the least. OK for crits I suppose. A good bit of experience here in doing long pass climbs in 100+ temps. Your main criteria is to sweat as little as possible, which requires fast movement to the surface and evaporation of your sweat. It's pretty easy to find yourself in conditions where sweat output exceeds possible water input. Sweat doesn't evaporate from cotton or wool worth didly. Underlayers only make the problem worse by insulating your body. I find I'm cooler in white sun sleeves than with bare arms. Arms tend to be darker in color than bright white. I've never tried leg sleeves.

manapua_man

I think that it's only cooler in specific circumstances. Probably when it's sunny, relatively dry, there's a decent breeze, and you have a consistent water supply.

IIRC the evaporation of water off your skin is what actually cools you, so if the black fabric + breeze promotes that more than a lighter color, it'd theoretically be better in those particular conditions.

avole

gauvins

maybe, maybe not. several threads where this is discussed, with many claims that black feels/is cooler IF there is wind (which is the case when cycling) because black absorbs body heat as well. examples would oppose beduins (dressed in black) to cricket players (dressed in white). largely anecdotal. there is this argument that black birds (e.g. crows) seem to be well adapted to hot and dry climates. (to which you could probably oppose the example of egrets, white, spending daytime standing in water).

claims that black Ts are hotter are typically made by people *standing* under the sun (eg: landscaping. little or no wind).

as far as I am concerned, I don't see a compelling reason to wear light colored clothes when riding. off the bike, possibly a different situation, depending on the availability of shade and such. all in all, color appears to play a very minor role compared to evaporation (wind + water/sweat).

the more I read to more I feel that synthetics have the edge. claims that wet cotton has very low UV protection. also likely that synthetics can be designed to facilitate evaporation, increasing the cooling factor. if fluid management were to become an issue, one could layer more than one T.

another element is fit. numerous claims that hot weather clothes should be loose fitting, to promote evaporation. in my mind, might apply more to natural fibers (e.g. cotton, wool -- linen is in a different category). High tech fibers can probably be designed to act as a "second skin", protecting against UVs while allowing perspiration to quickly evaporate. which again suggest the idea of layering in situations where excessive dehydration may pose a risk.

it is getting interesting

escii_35

Hot and Dry = A big yes to cotton. The only knock on basic cotton is the spf factor.

Hot and Humid = tech fabrics.

Another factor is your perspiration profile. My bro sweats when he thinks to hard he lives in tech fabrics for athletics.

Tourist in MSN

Regarding light and dark fabrics, if the light colors had a very low emissivity and the dark colors had a very high emissivity, then the darker colors will absorb more radiant energy on a hot sunny day, but at night the dark colors will lose heat faster making you colder. Lighter fabrics have the opposite effect.

The reason I said "if" on light and dark is that emissivity is also dependent on infrared and ultraviolet light frequencies that your eyes can't see and have nothing to do with dark or light colors.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emissivity

There is a reason that my friend was wearing a white shirt, not a black one in the hot West Texas sun in the photo.




I used to have an apartment in an apartment building that did have a sauna. On a really hot humid day some of my neighbors asked how I could stand taking a sauna when I got home from work. I answered that when you came out of a sauna on a day like that, if felt like the outside was air conditioned. Everything is relative.

djb

re the colour thing. When I rode through Nicaragua and north eastern Costa Rica where it was pretty hot and humid, the black jersey I had with me was ok, buuuuut it had more side mesh breathing fabric than my other "warmer" jersey, so I wore the black one. While it did breath much better than some of my other jerseys, I found that it just got so hot from the sun,that I wished it was a lighter colour.
After that trip, I looked for another "more breatheable" jersey, and found one on sale, red and white, and with good light "airey" fabric. Ive a number of cycling jerseys, and years ago I started to realize that some are more comfortable in really hot weather, so yes the fabric and mesh and all that stuff plays a part, but I will always go with lighter colours for when chosing a "really hot weather jersey".

on a side note, Im sold on my method of bringing two bike jerseys on a trip, one lighter, more breathing "really hot weather days" type, and one that is more wind resistant and therefore more comfortable in cooler weather. I simply layer them if need be, put the warmer one on top of the cooler one, add arm warmers, and or a wind shell, and Im covered for all kinds of temps. I always have a fleece with me for cool nights, and a light beanie, and a buff or whatever, and this really covers a wide range of temps--and on my central america trip as well as the seperate mexico trip, I was able to be comfortable at 10c or a bit less, up to 40 whatever (although the 40+ days it comes down to not really being comfortable, but just drinking so much to keep on top of dehydration)

re cotton for hot riding, I can see the idea of it being ok in dry heat, but my past experiences are that wet cotton sticking to your skin is uncomfortable, and modern synthetics are much better in this regard in hot weather, and my hot weather experience is nearly always a humid one, but I havent done desert riding too much.

DropBarFan

I used to wonder why Sky team wore black jerseys, turns out the black dye is "sublimated" so it absorbs less sun & also the fabric has titanium dioxide particles which reflect a lot of sunlight & help SPF. So they are virtually same comfort as white jerseys.

Last couple of years I've seen more runners & bikers wearing compression tights in the summer, both black & white. Hmm, biking with white compression tights looks a bit weird: I look to see if there are black sublimated tights, only info I see is about custom printing.

djb

and Drop, Ive read pros talking about how they too have diff jerseys for diff temps, and while Im sure teh Sky stuff is snazzy, Im sure it also has a snazzy price tag to go with it.
You also see sometimes pros that show that with their most breathing meshy jerseys, if they dont put sunscreen on their shoulders and back, they can get sunburned through the jersey.

back to the cotton shirt thing, I have an old old generation synth long sleeved shirt that I used to wear for bug protection camping, and it would get both stinky and kinda sticky feeling wearing in hot weather. Back when we used to do camping with our kids, I once bought a used cotton dress shirt at a used store , towear sitting at the beach so I wouldnt have to put on sunscreen if I was just sitting reading, and it worked pretty good, felt a lot better o n my skin and wasnt stuffy feeling.

I guess Id have to try a long sleeve shirt for riding sometime, but i guess it depends on the humidity really. I think I agree with the others in what they say about that and where thin cotton will work fine.

oh, I have a pair of white arm sun sleeves, and I use them a lot now, goofy looking be damned, but I find that after about the high 20s in celcius, they start to make me feel a bit too hot, I have to drink more and I dont feel good. Below that , maybe 25 and less, they work fine and its nice to save on sunscreen if on a long trip or just want to ration it.

KraneXL

I don't need a slide rule to tell me that dark fabrics are hotter than light one -- provided everything else is equal. I've done this experiment more than enough myself.

Tourist in MSN

It is getting pretty hard to find a slide rule, so it is a good thing you do not need one.


I have some tan bike pants, they are convertible with zip off legs to convert to shorts. But I assumed it would be safe to wear the tan pants/shorts on a "honey" colored Brooks saddle, but I was wrong, when I did a century some of the leather dye got into the pants seat area and looked like I had a mishap. Have not worn those on a bike since then, now I only wear black on my Brooks. Exception, a few times I have worn regular (non-bike) pants or shorts for a short distance, but when I do that I put a rain cover on the saddle first.

Salamandrine 

FWIW I've been using the REI Sahara shirts for both camping/hiking and bike touring the last few years. They felt weird at first. I'd imagine other similar shirts have similar performance. Based on my incredibly small sample size, I suspect nylon is less stinky than polyester, but that may or may not be right. I kind of assume the newer synthetic shirts have some sort of treatment, but I'm not at all sure about that.

Synthetics are a bit better if you're dealing with a lot of temperature variation. There a little like wool in that way. Good if you start on a cold misty morning and it gets hot later. Also good for hiking in places like Zion where you go from swimming in a river to desert temps. Cotton feels better. Usually I take a cotton western shirt or two to the desert. They work well, and look less stupid than wearing a dress shirt while camping...

Jonathan Hanson 

I'm not sure where the myth of cotton's sub-par SPF factor came from (except from those making synthetic alternatives), but I can assure you that in 60 years of living in the Sonoran Desert and exploring others such as the Atacama, the Sahara, and the Namib in cotton clothing that I have never, ever experienced any noticeable sun exposure through even the lightest cotton fabrics.

gauvins

Apparently from research by the medical community. Skincancer writes that :