What to Wear on a Humid Ride?

[shootingstar]

Technical fabric (which means polyester or with rayon blend) jersey but light/bright colours on a hot, humid day. My short sleeves are not tight around my arms. Only black tops, if it's sleeveless which for me, is an off-bike top.

I tend to wear my jerseys not tight against my body anyway...which to me, is liberating. I can't, I'm quite small-boned and small all over, anyway.

I actually never wear tank tops nor sleeveless tops when I cycle. AFter all these years of cycling..last 18 yrs.

(I'm actually glad, cause I can see the difference in skin quality after years of cycling sun exposed skin vs. areas with less. I don't worry about wierd tan lines, my natural skin colour isn't stark white anyway.)

[marni]

Tech absolutely. Although it may seem counterintuitive, I also wear a sleeveless wicking base layer and it actually does help keep me cooler.

I have a sleeveless Craft wicking underlayer that I absolute will not ride without in the spring summer and fall here in hot and humid Houston. Even when I am not sweating, it provides a layer between me and the slimy feeling jersey fabric. In this case, two layers are definitely better than one. I also have arm coolers that not only keep me cool by wicking away the sweat, but also protect my arms from sun heat.

In the late fall, winter and early spring, I will wear either the craft as an underlayer or if its a bit colder, I have a wool underlayer that I love.

marni

[Velocivixen]

Thanks for the input. I did feel icky wearing my jersey and I'm not sure why. I am going on that same ride again tomorrow under similar conditions and I am wearing my Lucy training tank, which is my all around go the the gym, go running sleeveless tee shirt in a tech fabric, but it doesn't look "shiny" like the Castelli. Of course it doesn't have pockets, but I have other places to keep things.

[Norse]

I have a sleeveless Craft wicking underlayer that I absolute will not ride without in the spring summer and fall here in hot and humid Houston. Even when I am not sweating, it provides a layer between me and the slimy feeling jersey fabric. In this case, two layers are definitely better than one. I also have arm coolers that not only keep me cool by wicking away the sweat, but also protect my arms from sun heat.

In the late fall, winter and early spring, I will wear either the craft as an underlayer or if its a bit colder, I have a wool underlayer that I love.

marni

I totally agree about the anti-slime factor that a wicking base layer helps to provide. I have not tried the arm coolers but did get a pair for DP for her birthday as she commutes to work by bike and doesn't always like to coat on the suntan lotion - she absolutely loves them and sings their praises.

[Catrin]

Maybe it helps that at the same time, I usually have some booby ice tucked down the sports bra and more ice in the back center pocket. I highly recommend booby ice for hot, humid rides.

Boobyice...I like that I've only done this once, during a very hot and humid mtb skills private session, and I was surprised that the ice actually didn't feel cold! It did help though

[limewave]

Boobyice . . . lol. We have a vagifreeze system in our house.

[jelee1311]

I wear the tech fabric tank from Target and it works well, better than my sleeveless jerseys. My ride leader recently sent me an article about keeping cool during rides. It said to use a tube sock filled with ice tied around your neck. So last week it was close to 90 when I went on my ride and the icesock kept me cool. It does melt all over your top so that helped keep me cool as well (thank goodness my shirt wasn't see through) I'm sure it looked kinda dorky but my wimp factor in the heat makes me not really care. Maybe next time I'll try the boobyice

[buffybike]

I live in Florida so I know a thing or two about humidity. Good quality technical fabric is the only way to go IMO. I've found that I really like the Under Armour Cool max shirts under a sleeveless jersey. They're really tight and long sleeve which seem counterintuitive to wear when it's 99 degrees with 80% humidity, but somehow the breeze created while riding make my skin underneath feel "cool". I don't get it...I just know it works. In addition, we drink lots of water ( at least a bottle per hour) and use an electrolyte supplement. My skin's surface was so salty after today's ride that the salt was visible all over my arms/chest and I felt itchy all over.