terrymorse 

As long as you're sweating, you can get a decent cooling effect at much lower speeds than 18 mph.

From a test I did many years ago:

Iride01 

Yeah, I probably wrote that in a manner that might be confusing. I wasn't saying that you had to do at least 18 mph to cool yourself adequately. I simply was stating that when 18 mph or better in extreme temps that I'm really comfy and not feeling very much of the heat. Very much just a personal opinion of my comfort only.

I certainly am not good enough to maintain 18 mph during all my ride, but I can plan the routes so that I can average that speed. However I still ride some routes that I'm slower on because I'm still at a speed that keeps me from over heating. Though there are some routes with long slow climbs that I don't do in high heat.

drlogik 

I only chase a cloud when it looks like an Alligator-lizard. America has those.

drlogik 

ROFL!! One of the best quotes I've read on here in a good while. Thanks for the laugh!

SkinGriz

Capsized a boat like that when I was a kid. Trying to go too steep into maybe 20knots? All 95lbs of me hiking out as far as I could.

Could of just let a little sail out, but what’s the fun in that?

Troul 

louder the better.

rhm

Nah, you made the right call.

When my daughter was in maybe fifth grade she was having a snack after school when we had a thunderstorm and then the sun came out. We looked out the back door and there was a rainbow right in our back yard. It was clearly between us and the arbor vitae about 60 feet away. The left end of the rainbow ended at the back end of my wife's Fiat Cincquacento and the right end was by the garden bench. We could see both ends perfectly clearly and was no pot of gold at either end. I think we even got photos, but I can't find them now. Anyway, neither my daughter nor I was very disappointed, because neither of us had put much stock in that story anyway.

50PlusCycling

I once did a ride across the Everglades on a South Florida August day. It was blisteringly hot and humid, and on the route I took, there were no trees or buildings to provide shade.

The first half of that day went well enough, as a long time resident of the South, heat and humidity were as normal to me as eggs and bacon. But the huge amounts of sweat I put out stained my clothes white from dried salt, and there were salt crystals on my legs and arms. I had brought lots to eat and drink, but the heat was wearing me down. I found a spot were a creek passed under the road, and there were trees standing over it. I stopped to cool down and get out of the sun, only to be literally covered with mosquitos. I got back on my bike and toughed it out.

As anyone who lives in South Florida knows, summer afternoons almost always bring rain. As I was headed back, clouds started to appear, and the shade of a small cloud made a huge difference in temperature. Whenever a cloud passed over, I was like a dog being rubbed on its tummy. When the cloud passed, the misery returned. But the clouds got more numerous and pretty soon there was the usual thunder and lighting, and the torrential rain which comes with it. Being the tallest thing for as far as my eye could see in the middle ot a thunderstorm as rather alarming, and my overheated body became cold and shivering, the water on the road got about 2 inches deep.

As always with these South Florida thunderstorms, it was quite noisy and rainy for about 40 minutes, then the clouds broke up, and the sun returned. But by then I had reached the end of my ride.

Needless to say, I don't recommend riding in the Everglades in August.

Milton Keynes

When I was a very young child, I once was sitting at the window of my room watching the clouds blow by on a windy day. I decided I was going to memorize the shape of one of the clouds and then wait for it to circle all the way around the world and see it go by again. What a stupid little kid I was...

alo

I sometimes take it easy when there is shade from clouds or trees, and go fairly fast when there is direct sunlight, to get to the next shade quicker. I find riding fast increases my body temperature, but if it is not too far, it is still better than being out in the hot sun for a long time.

Where I am, the temperature is normally higher than where you are.

I got caught a couple of times with punctures recently. One time I had to walk on a muddy track, two km to where I could get a puncture repair. I stopped and cooled down a little under trees, a few times along the way.

bikehoco

This is a joke, right?

alo

No. It depends on how hot it is, and how much time you have.

I am not working. I don't normally need to rush home. Some days, I leave early in the morning, and don't return home until late afternoon. So I don't have a problem taking time to cool off.

rsbob 

On hot cloudless days, I plan my routes in forested areas to pretty much follow the shade in both directions. Yeah I know that not everyone has that type of convenience, but the shaded areas also come with pretty good climbs.

DavidHawkins

And don’t go chasing waterfalls.

indyfabz

Get your own material. See post #9.

gecho

I've unintentionally chased clouds only because they were going the same direction I was. Last week I was chasing a rain cloud and hoped I wasn't going to catch up.

I had thunder cell run a nearly parallel course with me once and took an hour before it finally caught and soaked me on a brevet.

rsbob 

In the PNW we run away from clouds because they usually contain rain. Like the ones that sprinkled on me today but luckily it didn’t pour, yet. Sorry PSW