Heat + Humidity = Wall

Hello all, and first, thank you for such a great forum!
I'm getting back in to cycling after about a 20 years hiatus, and oh, how I love it. Been riding now for about 2-3 months.

However, (and there's always a however), I live in Florida, and it is August. At 9:44am, the bank sign said 86 degrees. An estimate of the humidity would be about equal to the temp. I started this morning at 6:45, just at sunrise. At about mile 27, I stopped for a trail mix and stretch break. At mile 33 or so, I hit the "I can't do this anymore" wall, which was unfortunate as I still had another 7 miles to get home. I stopped into a Dunkin Donuts, got an iced coffee with cream/sugar, and got back on. The last few miles were not pretty, but I made it home - average speed only 11.7mph, which even for my slow self is sad. So with that long intro, my question for you more experienced riders is twofold:
1. How do you deal with heat and humidity without wilting in the saddle? I've seen some neck cooler cloths out there, any help? Anything you do that makes it more bearable?
2. How do you deal with hitting the wall? What gets you through?
Many thanks,
B

There are much better and much more experienced cyclists here, but I'll give my .02 living here in Houston. My opinion is you build up to it. You ride the fall, winter, spring and build your miles and speed and then as the temps raise it doesn't hit you as hard. I also found a camelback helped me. For whatever reason I remember to drink more often with a camelback than I do with bottles. I only use the camelback in summer.

YMMV, that worked for me last year when I was training for Hotter N Hell in August. This year I'd be lucky to do 30.

45 miles today with a high of 92, but very low humidity fortunately.

How often were you drinking? I was drinking about every ten minutes today. Arm coolers really do help here, but with your humidity they may be less effective.

Veronica

In humidity, arm coolers aren't any cooler than bare arms, but they ARE cooler than skin slathered with sunblock that keeps you from sweating and cooling yourself at all. If you use sunblock, I highly recommend ditching that at least on your arms and using arm coolers (or a bolero) instead.

+1 on better hydration, and that includes electrolyte replacement. Doesn't sound like you got much salt at all. Remember that you're losing a minimum of 500 mg sodium per liter of water (half hour to 45 minutes of riding in that kind of weather, most likely) and your body can't absorb water without salt. My electrolyte replacement of choice is Nuun U Naturals, but there are a lot of good options, most of them more easily available at your LBS, and even if you're just buying at a convenient store, you can buy a bottle of Gatorade, swipe a salt packet off the hotdog display and dissolve all or part of it into the drink bottle. If you aren't thirsty in those conditions I'd bet my house it's because you're hyponatremic.

A hydration pack has pros and cons. I will definitely wear one in hot weather if I can't carry more than two water bottles, but in Florida where there's practically nowhere you can go without passing at least a convenient store or something, you may do better just stopping frequently for refills. Obviously wearing something on your back prevents you from cooling yourself on a large part of your body.

Which is my same experience with those gel bandannas. They're nice and cool on the outside if you reach up and touch them with your hand, but the heat exchange in the gel is very poor, so all they do is cover yet another part of your body and keep you from cooling yourself. The inside that touches your skin just gets hotter and hotter, and so do I. If sweat isn't evaporating off your bare skin faster than you can sweat, which is pretty much inevitable in humidity much lower than Florida's, then external evaporative cooling won't do a thing for you and will probably make you hotter. On the moto I have had excellent results with one of those thinner evaporative cooling vests, even in Florida, but we're talking about air flow at 45 to 75 mph (under an armored mesh jacket of course). I really don't think it would be any use at bici speed, to the extent that I've never even bothered to try.

If you have the budget, you might try one of those solid-to-liquid phase change cooling vests, but I have no experience with them and can't comment. I'd look for opinions before buying one, but I personally am willing to spend a lot when it comes to safety. Dizzy and disoriented on two wheels in traffic is to be avoided at all costs.

Do get your hair wet whenever you have the opportunity. Tousle your hair under running water, or in a sink if you find one clean enough, to get your hair good and soaked. Won't help for long, but it will help a lot.

Good luck and be careful!

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Originally Posted by BlessedB

Hello all, and first, thank you for such a great forum!
I'm getting back in to cycling after about a 20 years hiatus, and oh, how I love it. Been riding now for about 2-3 months.

However, (and there's always a however), I live in Florida, and it is August. At 9:44am, the bank sign said 86 degrees. An estimate of the humidity would be about equal to the temp. I started this morning at 6:45, just at sunrise. At about mile 27, I stopped for a trail mix and stretch break. At mile 33 or so, I hit the "I can't do this anymore" wall, which was unfortunate as I still had another 7 miles to get home. I stopped into a Dunkin Donuts, got an iced coffee with cream/sugar, and got back on. The last few miles were not pretty, but I made it home - average speed only 11.7mph, which even for my slow self is sad. So with that long intro, my question for you more experienced riders is twofold:
1. How do you deal with heat and humidity without wilting in the saddle? I've seen some neck cooler cloths out there, any help? Anything you do that makes it more bearable?
2. How do you deal with hitting the wall? What gets you through?
Many thanks,
B

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Mile 27. At my pace, that takes about two hours of cycling. I would need to have drunk two bottles of water and/or Gatorade and had 400-500 calories of snacks at that point. The snacks would need to be mostly carbs and fast to digest, which for me these days is combination of Gu, Power gel, Jelly Belly sports beans, Nutri-Grain bars and crackers. The Gu, Power gel and sports beans are fastest to digest -- they're designed for that. The Power gel has the most sodium, which makes a big difference for me on a hot day. I usually stop every 1-1.5 hours for a snack. I drink while I'm riding, and will chug at the rest stop if I haven't been drinking as much as I should.

When the heat becomes too much, I have to stop in the shade and take a break. When it's really bad, I'll stop for a while, take off my helmet and shoes.

I have DeSoto Cool Wings (wicking bolero) that I wear with a tank top on hot days. Pouring water on it increases the cooling effect. I also like to put ice in zip-top bag and put that in my jersey pocket or inside the jersey on my back. After the ice melts I pour the water on the Cool Wings. The pros make ice sleeves out of sections of pantyhose, so that the water evaporates on you as the ice melts.

I guess to address your second question, how to handle it when you feel like you can't ...

#1, be safe. If you're overheated, get your core temperature down as fast as you can. Drinking crushed ice will cool you faster than iced beverages, since you're actually swallowing the ice. Immersion in an ice filled tub if you have access to one, or cold towels all over, or hosing yourself down. If it's not quite to that point, either stop in a shaded spot, or if you're on flat ground without a headwind, sometimes very slow gentle pedaling is actually cooler since you maintain air flow that way without generating more body heat.

#2, which is what you did, if you're riding a loop you have no choice but to keep going until you're back where you started! Might not be pretty, but you have to keep going.

#3, accountability. During my marathon training, pretty much every interval workout my coach gave me, I'd look at and be sure I wouldn't be able to do it. Every interval, I'd be sure I couldn't do the next one. Most of the workouts, I did just fine. I knew my coach would see my track and didn't figure there was a point in paying him if I wasn't going to attempt to finish the workouts. You don't need to hire a coach, you can train with a partner or, if you're somewhat motivated but want a little extra oomph, just follow a free training plan. Just, beware of accountability without very specific goals, because that way lies burnout.

Never forget to have fun!!



ETA - adding one thing on hydration, several people have mentioned very frequent drinking. I've read that if you just sip, your stomach isn't stimulated to empty as fast, and you'll actually hydrate yourself better if you drink larger amounts less frequently.

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Originally Posted by Muirenn

This actually sounds worth double-checking. Source? :)

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Here's a source. Interesting....I didn't know that. I struggle with heat too - this thread has some really great tips!

Here is her explanation:

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How we drink can make a difference in how optimally we hydrate our body. A lot of people sip liquids, but gulping is better. Gulps of fluid leave the stomach more rapidly. It’s important to do this. It seems counterintuitive, it seems like gulping would cause a cramp. People are more likely to have stomach cramps sipping because fluid stays in their gut too long.

When you take more fluid in, gulps as opposed to sips, you have a greater volume of fluid in the stomach. That stimulates the activity of the stretch receptors in the stomach, which then increase intra-gastric pressure and promote faster emptying. This is why gulping is preferred.

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That actually does make sense to me. I would love to see more of a study, though.

I'd like definitions of "gulp" and "sip."

I don't know what I do, but I don't get stomach cramps from drinking.

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Originally Posted by Muirenn

Well, I think my sips from podium bottles are actually 'gulps,' but I agree with NY, a gulp and a sip is like a pinch and a dash. ;). Or perhaps 'yea high?' I thought you meant more like a cup at a time. I would seriously throw up if I drank too much at once while riding when very hot. (It's already happened).

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Yeah - I agree. I expect mine are too - at least in the summer. I will drink ~1/8 - 1/4 of a bottle at a time in really hot weather. Come on fall!

Ladies, y'all are the best!
Thank you for your thoughtful ideas - you've given me much to ponder and much to do.
I take two of those big Camelbak bottles of water with me - I thought they were a liter each, but it looks like only 750ml or 25oz each. I was able to fill up once while out, so drank a total of three, plus the iced coffee of course. I will switch at least one to a sports drink, as much as I don't care for the taste. I'll take more snacks as well, and work on my shorter rides. Great idea on getting my head wet - I do this while mowing the lawn. I guess what really threw me was that this was not my first time this summer doing a 40-mile loop - in fact, I'd done it weekly, about 4-5 times, without hitting a wall. Thank y'all again - I so appreciate your generosity of spirit and wisdom! :)

It doesn't have to be Gatorade. I use Gu Brew , mix a bottle and freeze it. It has electrolytes, I like the taste of it and I prefer to drink my calories, especially on a hot day. We were out for about 3.5 hours yesterday. I had 6 full bottles on the ride, drank another when I got home and had still lost 2 pounds through sweat!

Veronica

Will try it, thanks!

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Originally Posted by Muirenn

This actually sounds worth double-checking. Source? :)

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Well huh. I too had only read it in lay summaries, and when I tried to chase it down, this was the best thing I found: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1875801 which without reading the full text, seems from the abstract that it just assumes that as a given, like it's conventional wisdom among doctors too?

This comes from MIT sports medicine department, but of the four citations it gives, three are lay summaries and the last is an entire book, not particular studies.

Just wanted to wish you good luck, and to say that what I learned from this group made it possible for me to cope with cycling when temps are high or low. Everything I know about hot weather cycling I learned here (more or less exactly what's been said in this thread, so I won't repeat).

Interesting thread full of great advice. I am soaking it all up (pun intended).

Let me just say as a noobie rider, who can only go about 5 miles total on completely flat, shaded, smooth bike paths, and probably only about 2 miles if there is any kind of incline, I am in awe of all of you who can go for an hour or more in any kind of heat.

Imagine 'bonking' 1 or 2 miles into a ride and you've well hydrated yourself before during and after, you've eaten within 90 to 120 min of your ride, and other than the fact that it's hot, humid, and you're completely out of shape and overweight, there's no other factor affecting the bonk. Talk about completely humbling!

But we all have to start somewhere, even if somewhere is right at the 0 mark.