Salamandrine 

Since everyone is apparently here because it's so hot, I thought it might be interesting for the C&V crew to recount:

What was your hottest bike ride?

117F for me. I think it was somewhere around Chico, CA, back in the 80s. There's been at least a few others in the teens. You get used to it.

DiabloScott

Marin Century... 1994 maybe?

People were stopped in the shadows of phone poles for a break from the sun.
At the lunch stop the paramedics were there dealing non-stop with heat stress.
A guy next to me was eating his lunch and suddenly he knotted up like cut rubber bands - they carted him away.
My riding buddy and I said we would stay there at the park until we both could urinate... took quite a bit of time and water; we both felt hungover the next day - common with dehydration. Oh by the way, we were on a rented tandem. I think it was 108°F when we finished about 4pm.

Spaghetti Legs 

I’d routinely ride in the low to mid 90’s in Memphis, probably a few rides in the upper 90’s, but these days I drive my bike up to the Blue Ridge to avoid temps that high.

nlerner

A few years ago, I was proud of myself because I rode on the both the coldest and the hottest days of the year here in the Boston area. Coldest was around zero, hottest around 100. You might imagine there was some time between the two.

tgot 

I spent a summer in Yuba City living with my uncle, it was routinely 105+ during the day. In the evening, once it dropped below 100 I'd go out for a bit. 'Cause from there, it was really cooling off into the 90s. 90s, no direct sun, and the infamous "dry heat" was actually not bad at all.

Ol Danl

Last year, on my 67th birthday, my son took me riding, and the temp. was 95. I guess that's not very high for some places, but after we'd sweated our garrunguses off, he took me to eat at a really nice place on the river. I was a bit embarrassed, but it was really good food.

Reynolds 

Around 37C/99F. Not too much really, but I had no problems at 65 yrs old.

merziac

Medford Oregon,summer 1965?, 117 in the shade 5 days in a row.

bwilli88 

I live in Cambodia, rarely gets below 85.

scarlson 

Probably when I lived in Wenatchee back in summer '09 and did a bike commute. Downhill bomb in the morning and a slog uphill back home when it was really really hot. It was easily 105F some days, but it was a dry heat so I feel like 90F in muggy Boston is just as bad.

nomadmax 

RAIN Ride 2019

JaccoW

July 25th 2019. We had a heatwave around here and I had been riding the days before where it stayed around 37°C (98°F) which was fine.

The 25th however it went up to 40.7°C (105°F) according to official measurements and the relative humidity between 25%-50% meant I was just flying through my water (I was carrying 2+ Liter on a 1 hour ride) whenever I stopped for a traffic light, sweat just came pouring out everywhere.
But the big killer was the ozone that was in the air. The maximum safe level of ozone is something like 180 microgram per m³, 240 microgram per m³ is when the air becomes really bad and that day it was well over 300 microgram per m³.

I'm a fit early 30's guy but I was short of breath and spent the next 3 days coughing because of the smog in the air.

Narhay

I don't really like the heat. I ride early mornings and even then it is starting to warm up these days. Dehydration, sunburn and general malaise usually result otherwise.

kermie

Back in the early 90's I rode the Hotter Than Hell 100 in Witchita Falls Texas....in August. Temps hit 107 with a strong south wind....The picture was taken in the morning, before the heat hit, and I still was on the high of starting the ride. I'm sure a picture at the end would have lacked the smile

jiangshi

Low 100's, humidity under 5%. Maybe 6 water bottles on 50 mile ride.

It's a dry heat.

jonwvara 

It doesn't get extravagantly hot here in Vermont, which is fortunate since I don't like riding in the heat. But a few years ago, on a ride from Marfa to Marathon, Texas, the temp was slightly above 100 when we got there. This was about a week or ten days into March. It stands out in my mind because it was around 29 degrees when we woke up that morning--everything was covered with frost. That day was both the hottest and coldest of the entire tour.

RobbieTunes

This, and it was a day, not a ride...
nomadmax and speedevil and I.
88 at 5:20 when we took pics.
88 at 5:30 when Allan and I started at the IL/IN line, rode to the start, a brief stop to pick up Dale, and we were off, already dripping.

92 at 7:30 and heat index hit 100, but we were rolling well. Air went from dark and wet, thick like a shower room, to “Oh, crap, the sun’s up.”
By the metric stop (#2), SAG was active and people were having 2nd thoughts. Heat index was 104.

By lunch at 93 miles, heat index steady at 106; friends and family were already arguing with riders to stop. (The leaders went through at 2:29). By 100 miles, citizens were out with hoses, ice, water.

At 103 miles, I met a lady who had 74 centuries under her, including Hotter’n Hell, and by 117, she was done. At 120, she re-appeared and we took it to 130, a fire station where paramedics were pulling folks out of the event. She stopped there.

I don’t remember much from 130 to 165, other than most riders no longer riding; convenience stores being out of ice cups. We’d buy a whole bag, take some, leave it on the curb for the next riders.

I rolled into the end to see @nomadmax already showered, but since it had been his idea to go to the IN/OH line, he pulled the bike out of the truck and we did the sweltering last 5 to OH. It was still 96 and indexed 106. I burned my Legs, lips, arms, and scalp; got a good tan through the jersey. My carbon saddle sliced through the bibs on both sides, but not through the pad...

Most riders DNF, like 60%. I just remember being thrilled to be there, exhilarated to ride 40 with Allan, then making plans to sell all my bikes and just ride my motorcycle. Mostly, I remember being soaking wet all day.

The prize was the lady. We are still together.

conspiratemus1

Oh Rob, Mrs. C and I are absolutely thrilled for you. (She has never met you but never mind....) I caught a reference to a "riding partner" with a feminine pronoun in one of your recent posts on another thread and thought "Hmmmm....", so this is wonderful news. Wishing you every happiness.

rccardr 

That would have been in Dubai, back in ‘38.
Well into triple digits.
Lead swaged ends in our brake and shift cables would pull off, causing all kinds of havic.
Dickie Haverson, one of my riding partners, Oxford ‘32, had two of his chain pins melt around mid-day.
Heat was so bad it caused the tubes in our tires to swell and burst, had to dip them in the river from time to time or they would explode.
Never did have the blistered paint resprayed.

canklecat

111F, two Julys ago, with a feels-like supposedly around 117F.

Hottest so far this summer was 107F, last week.

I ride at temps over 100F every summer. Sometimes because it warms up quicker than I'd expected after a late morning start. Sometimes deliberately. I'll gradually build up my heat adaptation every year and when the temperature hits 100F I'll go for an easy ride around noon for about an hour just to see if I'm adapting okay.

It gets a little harder every year, takes a little longer, but by pushing my adaptation for 100+F heat, it makes rides in the 90s more tolerable.

Humidity and sunlight matter too. A midday ride in the 90s in the sun feels a lot hotter than riding at night when the temperature is still over 100F.

DrIsotope

A picture of an extremely long afternoon.

stardognine

120 F, or somewhere close to it, last year around the Mojave Desert. I was chatting with a couple older ladies about it, and they said it gets hotter, occasionally, but noone likes to report it “officially”, because it would be bad for the tourism trade. 🙄🤑

I just came back to Sacramento again, after another ride up to Chico, and going through Yuba City. It’s just way easier to go swimming down here. 😎👍😎

Speaking of Chico, I recently scored an old fanny pack, made by Caribou Mountaineering, of Chico. This was probably made back in the ‘70s, would be my guess. 🤔

fietsbob

Places I choose not to live in any more.. thank you very much..

Brad L 

Most of my summer rides are 90°-99°F rides, with many in the 100°-105°f range. However, here along the Gulf Coast we also have to deal with the 95% humidity.

Lascauxcaveman 

I think it only got up to 96 degrees on the infamous Tour de Palouse a couple years ago, but it was 50+ miles and 4500 ft of climbing so that would be my official hottest ride. I remember counting 8 bottles of Gatorade going down the hatch on that ride, and I didn't pee all day, until the second hour or so we were in the pub later that night. It was 103 when we arrived the day before , and riding around town in that heat wasn't bad at all, but that's all flat and probably less than 10 miles, so it didn't really count.

A pull quote from the earlier part of that thread, by the ride organizer, @scozim, "Heat should be ok - maybe in the 80's by the middle of the day..."