Originally Posted by
atwl77
My friends in Penang do the round-the-island ride often (heck, I think that's the only long distance route you can do on that island, either clockwise or anticlockwise). The heat can get pretty brutal around this time of the year, especially if you're caught out on the climb somewhere near the dam past 10am when it's starting to get real hot.
I once rode cross the USA and it was 110-120F but very dry in the West. It wasn't bad other than the climbs. I just had to climb very slow because there is not much evaporation to cool you when climbing. When I got to Missouri or Misery as I like to call it, the temperatures were only in the low 100 range or even just high 90's but the humidity was off the charts. Not riding too hard in the heat of the day is one tactic that I learned and use to this day. For instance, let's say I have a 4 am start 400K on the East Coast of the USA in warmer months, I will ride harder until about 10 am and then really, really slow down until about 4 pm. If I am not riding very hard, most of the calories burned are fat. If it is very hot and humid, my body already has a hard job to dissipate heat. So, I mostly focus on hydration with just a little calories added in brutal conditions. Climbing and eating in the Malaysian hot/humid air is kind of a bad recipe. Try to experiment when to eat. I try to never eat before a big climb in hot weather to the extent that if a control is before the climb, I will carry the food and eat it at the top. Rather extreme. I have never puked but do get a lousy feeling, so, I prefer not to have a full belly starting a big climb. Don't know if any of that will help. GL
1) Be skinny
2) Keep the pace way down
3) Go really lean on food and heavier on water.