August Rides

[ny biker]

Did an 11 mile ride this morning, at 7:30, with DH. 70 degrees and 100% humidity. Another heat emergency later on. I told DH I did not want to hammer, but he thought I needed a "workout." This is his go-to short route, I've done a slightly different version of it, as what we did today has a left turn onto Main St, from a street with poor sight lines... I don't even do it in my car, as the house on the left hand corner of a T intersection, sticks out into both streets. It is very weird! But, Sunday morning, it's fine. I was pissed the whole ride, and I kept up, but I keep wondering why I get so angry when I have to ride fast. I feel fine now, and my average was very respectable for me, including one annoying climb.
Hoping for normal New England weather next weekend.

I understand getting angry when you feel you "have to" ride fast. It's one thing to push yourself to work hard because you want to, but another thing entirely when someone or something is pressuring you to ride above your comfort zone. As for the weather, well, it was 85 degrees when I woke up yesterday at 4:45 am. I would have been thrilled with 70, despite the humidity.

We had our club's annual picnic ride yesterday. As a ride coordinator I was expected to lead one of the rides. I missed the previous all-club rides this year when I was supposed to lead, so I felt that I did not have the option to miss this one too. As a result I ended up doing a 43-mile ride on a day with excessive heat warnings, very high humidity and temps in the high 90s. There is absolutely no way in hell I would have done anything like this on my own. If it were up to me I would have done a much shorter ride and would have started earlier. I was mostly okay for the first 30 miles. Most of the people I was "leading" were so much faster than me that I never saw them at all the entire day. After the rest stop I was with a small group for a while, but then I decided to stop. Someone from our club had arranged in advance with a local business owner for us to use his place as an optional water stop if needed, and knowing the hills that we had to climb before reaching the end I knew I would want that extra water. However everyone that I was riding with chose to keep going, so I was alone after that, for the last 10 miles. Even with the extra water and frequent stops in the shade to take off my helmet and pour water over my head, arms and torso, I barely made it. I don't think I've ever been that badly affected by the heat -- I almost started to cry a couple of times. My stomach was bothering me so I probably didn't have enough to eat, which was making things worse. Fortunately the last few miles were flat.

When I finally reached the end I went straight to my car, which I had parked next to a building where there was some shade from the sun. I had several blue ice packs in a cooler in the car, and I took them out and put them inside my jersey, front and back, and sat down. Took off my shoes and helmet and just sat there. Drank some orange juice that was also in the cooler. Thankfully there was a bit of a breeze. At first I was worried, I was breathing rapidly. But after a few minutes I felt better. I took one of the blue ice packs and held it against the back of my neck, then the top of my head, then either side of my face. Many of the other people in the club had already left, after doing a shorter ride or finishing the longer ride much faster than me. Most of the rest were inside the building. But eventually a few people noticed me and asked if I needed anything. One came over to talk to me, another came over with a tall spray bottle full of water and gave me a good soaking. I was surprised at how fast the water dried, even with the humidity. Eventually I felt better and started to feel hungry, so I went inside and got some food. I still looked like hell, though -- people kept asking if I was okay. On the way home I went back to the place where I'd gotten the water and bought some stuff, to thank them for letting us stop there.

I thought I was the only person who was so affected by the heat, but later I found out that I wasn't alone. Several of the faster riders had cramps that continued after the ride ended. One person on the shorter ride stopped and called her husband to come get her. And one person at the picnic felt like she was going to faint, but didn't say anything to anyone until a man noticed her and asked if she was okay, then helped her move over to the doorway where there was a breeze and cooled her down with the hose.

When we do these all-class rides, they tend to be chaotic. The "leaders" don't really lead anything. Each group starts separately, with someone else telling them to go, and no chance for the leaders to make any pre-ride announcements or even get a good look at who is in the group so they know who to look out for on the road. And we don't have the option of making changes or canceling the ride if the weather is bad enough to be a safety risk. I am planning to say something about this to the club decision-makers.

On another note, this was my first ride with the new drive train. There were two big changes -- a 46T large chain ring instead of a 50T, and two larger cogs on the back (28 and 32) for easier climbing. Because of the heat I didn't want to push myself too hard, so I stayed in the small chain ring (34T) for most of the ride instead of using the new 46T large chain ring. For a few miles of flat road I did try out the new chain ring, and it was definitely much easier on my knee than the 50T ring and also easier to shift between large and small since there's not as much of a jump between them. I did use the new larger cogs on some of the hills, especially at the end when the heat was getting to me. For the most part the shifting was smooth but a few times it felt off. I will probably do 2-3 more test rides and then take the bike back for a derailleur adjustment. But overall I am already glad that I made the changes.