Originally Posted by
ironwood
There are a few liquor stores that have walk in beer coolers. If I feel I am overheating, I go into the beer storage area. It really cools you off. I don't drink the beer until I get home.
In a situation of true distress I could see the role, but oddly enough I personally find air conditioning almost intolerable during a peak summer ride - even if I bought food somewhere with indoor seating, I had to go right back outside to sit down and consume it.
And if I'm buying fluids I'm always looking for the stuff they haven't put in the refrigerated case yet, if I get stuck with only refrigerated options I have to carry them for 20 minutes before it's not painful to consume them.
The big thing about heat distress though is how rapidly it can sneak up on you - from not feeling quite right to being in real trouble can be only a couple of minutes, and then even if you start doing everything correctly with a break, fluids, salts, sugar, etc it can be hours before you're riding well again.