I failed

[wildeny]

How could I have trained to have been able to tolerate the heat?

Here is my experience.

I just attended a hilly race of 63 km to the top last Saturday. The race started around 8 am but it's over 38 C (100+ F) after 9 am (by the time I finished it's a little over 11:30 am). Many people were dehydrated and had muscle cramps before the last steep 6.3km climb (to 700 m in altitude). Some of them couldn't even continue. Being a female cyclist to finish the race is already a big achievement for me.

I'm not a fast rider. In order to finish before the closing time, I did practice the route -- especially the last climb -- twice before the race (two Saturdays). From the first experience, I learned that the two factors were important to finish the race: heat & water.

Heat:
Besides the hot weather, to make it worst, the organization even gave us number hats to cover our helmets. (see that yellow thing?)

I just had to learn to deal with the heat. Keeping myself hydrated helped.

I took the arm covers off before the climb. I even took off the sun glasses so that I could wipe out the sweat easily. I also unzipped my top a little bit.

Water:
The organization didn't supply any water or food along the route, nor could the teams. It's a 2-2.25hr for the pros so it's all right, but for amateurs it's 3-4hr. I knew this so I already planned to stop in the middle to get two bottles of lemon water from a convenience store. Some people didn't check and ran out of water before that long, steep climb.

Another important thing to finish the race is
Power conservation:
In my case, before the 6.3km climb, it's 57km of ups and downs, which could consume your energy a lot during a hot weather. It's a difficult climb so conserving some energy for that would help. Some people who arrived the hill before me couldn't ride any more, not even walking, because they ran out of their energy (as well as experiencing serious dehydration, muscle cramps etc).

Even though I wasn't fast at all, I finished the race (holding the certificate).


This is my personal birthday gift on my birthday. (and it's my first race and my first three century trips in km -- I had to ride back. , unlike those with the teams who had a ride home)

babynoahsmom, practice & planning ahead help. Next time you can also finish your race.

[babynoahsmom]

Thanks for even more advice. I hope to see some of you guys at the BDB. We should all wear something to identify us? Any ideas.....I WILL NOT be the one splayed on the side of the rode being chasing by the Ambulance. Hos ironic is it that a Lawyer's wife was chased by an ambulance? LOL!

[babynoahsmom]

Boy my typing sucked on that last post. I swear I have not been drinking. Just using a friend's laptop. I did by the way ride 15 miles tonight. I went by myself so that if I had to stop I wouldn't mess up someone else's ride. I just needed to prove something to myself by getting back in the saddle.