riding into the heat of july

[Helene2013]

July 1st I set out to ride our Crux. Temperature is not bad and we have time before hitting the heat/humidity index in the 30c+. It's in the Eastern Townships a gravel road, mostly hilly. It was only 44km ride but I knew it would not be easy due to all combinations.

So I did 38km...and stopped (a few times in the last 3km). The last stop was one forced by my husband. He said I've had enough and should stop before getting into an accident. I was overheating and not even cold water on my head, arms, etc did. I was fighting off vomiting but wanted to finish the last 6km left to get to our car. I knew they would be harsh to achieve as there is a big climb for about 3km of those 6 left. Full sun, no shade and it is over 30c now. I just cannot tolerate heat. Add to the fact that I'm out of shape since my knee fracture of January combined with other knee issues prevented me from training properly.

So when he saw me purple and white and unable to cycle more than 12-13km/h on a stretch I'd normally do at 20-21km/h and I was lagging behind he forced me to wait for him at this rest area and he went to get the car. He said it was a good thing that I stopped as he is a fast and strong cyclist and the wind facing us was so strong, full sun and heat that he only was able to manage 24km/h max to get back to the car when he left me. His norm would have been over 34km/h on that stretch.

While waiting for him I tried to lie down on a bench on my back but made the headache worst. So I removed all the clothing that I could, watered myself down with what was left of my 2 bottles and sat and waited for him. It took me a day to get back to normal. I was sooooo disappointed not to complete just those 6km that I could not stop the tears from rolling down. Hubby said I push myself way too hard. He said I should be proud to have accomplish that much in hard conditions, and with minimal training this season, that I did not fall, etc. Those 38km are much better than someone sitting on tv munching on chips and Coke. hihi He's right. But it did take me a good 20-25 minutes to get over this. Then I went for ice cream. Life is still good.

So that was my July 1st outing. Wanted to go out for a retake yesterday but winds were pushing at 45km/h. Not going to kill myself this time. At least it was soooo cold it would have been perfect weather for me, if it had not been for stupid winds. hihi

[Skierchickie2]

Wow Helene! That sounds just brutal! It's a good thing you had Hubby with you. Glad you're okay!

[north woods gal]

As above, Helene. You were fortunate to have someone with you and, especially, someone who recognized the signs of heat stroke. It can be so dangerous precisely because it impairs your thinking and clouds your judgement. Very scary. So glad you caught it in time.

[azfiddle]

Helene, you can be proud of those 38 km. It's good to know your limits. Even though I live in the desert, I am subject to overheating. I have to plan my rides for the early part of the day, pace myself, drink enough water and sometimes I have had to get off the bike and lay down in some meager shade until I felt okay to ride. Glad you're okay. There are more rides in the future!

Yesterday I rode one mile. That's it. One mile to go to the gym and do some other exercise and swimming. Today I rode just 18.5 miles, pretty flat, and mostly on the bike path. It was warm and humid (50% high for Tucson is very humid). I got going late for summer riding here (after 7 am). And came back in time to watch the last 20k of the Tour de France live.

[Geonz]

Abnormally cool here, too. We're on four day workweeks for the summer so I could sneak out 8:00 for a 30 mile exploration on Friday for today's ride... and see construction that didn't apply today (don't know if we went past it or if they finished it Friday or...??) ... and then took my new cargo bike to the bike shop for its 30-day checkup (cables tightened, etc, and a little cleaning). Then took my Gazelle the 1.5 miles over to The Bike Project to discern that yes, the bike shop had been correct and it was time to retire it (part of the reason I got the new cargo bike). Too many places with deep rust in that frame... (it got me back home, just fine, but James agreed with the bike shop guy: "You have to stop riding this bike.")
Oh, but there was still a little shopping to do... so a 4-bike 47-mile day :-)

Saturday I led my "Level 1 Saunter" ride in the cool air and ... did an extra loop because otherwise I'd have had to try to do something productive. That and an errand run got me 47 miles, too
Sunday was the "Rain. All day." Still rode to church and then in a pause in the precipitation (the heavy rain was a little to the south)... ducked out to investigate a new brewery and tap room which is, in fact, accessible with a multi-use path, *and* theyhave decent bike parking! So... a 12 mile day...

Today we had our annual "perimeter" ride and ... we didn't take the short cut I usually do (mainly because the route determiner has a much higher tolerance for traffic and his route is on Leverett Road which is fast and busy) because it hadn't gone through on Friday's exploration... and Leverett Road wasn't busy at all!
... because *it* was closed. So we added 5 miles and finished at 45.6 miles -- so I rode a little longer way home to take it to 63.
It's the first metric I've done in over a year and yea, every year I get, you know, older... so it feels *very* good to only have a bit of an ache in my left shoulder (and a need for a hot shower since the rain held off for all but that extra 10 miles at the end...)
Lots of things have to "work out" to get in a 1000 mile month (esp. since I'll have a weekend of traveling), but, maybe... except like Helene , I come apart with heat, and ... I'm not going to be a slave to numbers. "No pain, sounds good!"

[Crankin]

I had a very hot ride today, also, and Helene, I was thinking about you.
We set out at 9:30 AM for the first 25 miles up to Kimball's Fruit Farm in Pepperel, MA, on the border of Hollis, NH. There is one big climb right before you get to the farm, with the rest rolling, a couple of smaller hills. It was OK, the temperature was going up, it's breezy, though and not too humid. There was a lot of shade in this part of the ride. I decided not to mess around, because I always get about 3/4 done with this ride, feel like I am going to bonk, and start chewing Shot Blocks. Today, I ate them every hour and it really helped. Because I rode my Trek, I couldn't bring a cooled lunch, and they don't sell stuff except fruit at the farm. I brought half a walnut butter/jell sandwich for lunch, with a Lara Bar. After lunch, there was less shade in various portions of the ride, a very steep climb (in the shade) after we get back into MA from Nashua, NH, and then we ride a rolling section by a lake that fools you a bit. There is one big climb after this, and then we are sort of heading toward where we start. Maybe 8-10 miles left? Anyway, there seems to be a hill every couple of miles, and right at the end, there is one that is completely unshaded. I was good about drinking my Skratch (I had 2 bottles) and some plain water, which I also used to cool myself. I was losing it when we pulled into the lot where our cars were, but I got in the car, ate another Lara Bar and we were home quickly (the start is in a neighboring town). I then proceeded to drink 2 huge glasses of ice water and eat some left over white beans with whole wheat cous cous.
All in all, I did better than I thought, given the fact it's 87 degrees out, my quads and hamstrings are sore from my hike yesterday, and I rode 48.6 miles, with about 2,500 ft. of climbing. We are bringing people on this ride in 2 weeks and it better be cooler. I was questioning our sanity about doing this, but we have led a version of it for several years and people like to torture themselves, I guess.

[north woods gal]

Heat plus all those hills makes for some tough riding. Really helps that you know the route and how your body handles it, though. Good for you, Crankin.

Just decided to relax a bit, today, and go back on pavement with one of the road bikes. (I am fortunate enough to have both MTB and road biking, right out my door.) Did a very easy 25 mile loop past some of my favorite lakes. Met a guy on a fat bike as he was about to head up the same trail I did, yesterday, and warned him about all the ATV activity. On the way home, doing my usual steady 13-14 mph and admiring the scenery, some guy passed me like I was standing still. He did wave, though, as he passed me.

As I rode, today, I reflected on just how lucky I am. My county really is road bike heaven. Hundreds of miles of paved roads with very little traffic and not a single hill that I can't handle with a compact double up front on one of the road bikes. Each road seems more beautiful than the next. Heat, at its summer worst, is very rarely a problem. Life is good in my north woods.

[ny biker]

We're having bizarre weather for July. A few days ago the forecast for the weekend said it would be near perfect both days, sunny and 80ish degrees, with Sunday a bit less humid than Saturday. So I planned to lead a ride yesterday (Sunday). I didn't expect a big group because it was up in northern Maryland which is a long drive for most of the people in my bike club. It's my favorite place to ride and I haven't been there since December. It's actually not great for long rides in the summer because there are long stretches of unshaded roads through farmland, but with the forecast for near perfect, unhumid weather I figured we'd be okay. Fast forward to Saturday, which does have perfect weather, and the forecast for Sunday has gone downhill, with rain showers expected. But they weren't calling for anything severe so I planned to ride anyway. When I woke up on Sunday, there was a big blotch of rain on the radar map but it was all just barely south of the area where I had planned the ride, with clouds but no rain expected there for the rest of the day. So the ride was on.

As it turned out, only one other person showed up. We started at a park that is a popular starting place for other clubs' bike rides, but hardly anyone was there at all, so I expect the holiday weekend was keeping many people off the bike with plans for cookouts and fireworks. Anyway the skies had cleared more than I had hoped. I've noticed that sometimes a cloudy day is gray and gloomy, but sometimes it can still be fairly bright with mostly white clouds, and that was what we had in the morning. The ride was mostly uneventful. We missed one turn (I was too busy chatting to pay attention to what road we were on) but had no trouble getting back on track when we realized our mistake. There was also a road closed near the end due to a bridge repair, but again we knew the roads well enough to come up with an easy detour. The only real incident was when a driver turned to pull into a parking lot too close to my friend, and he had to brake fast to avoid a crash.

The clouds did start to turn more gray in the afternoon, but overall the weather ended up just fine. The humidity was not too high and the temperature was in the 70s the whole day. We did see an occasional peek of sunshine but never felt uncomfortable. In all we rode 45 miles. The pace was slower than usual for me, my legs felt every hill and my back and neck muscles were sore at the end, but overall it was a good bike ride and a good first long ride after my vacation.

[rebeccaC]

Just rides around the neighborhood this 4th weekend doing errands, lunching with friends and some shopping. Took time to photograph some of the bikes around here. Mostly city cruisers but saw an interesting e-fatbike. The couple said they got around 50 miles to a solar charge. perfect low 70's with some clouds in the mornings. I feel blessed
















and since venice beach is the home of Linus bikes there are quite a few of them

[rebeccaC]

Left work a little early to ride the beach bike path to Manhattan Beach for a gathering of friends.

Got an image of a cute boy...perhaps he thinks people need to know to use caution around his bicycling


off to France saturday to watch the TdF ride by the family house in Gordes next thursday on the Mont Ventoux stage.

..safe rides for all !!!!

[north woods gal]

He may be on to something.

Rain, rain, rain for me. That means boring old indoor work on the trainer, but at least I can safely use my iPod to listen to some music. The good news is that the rain will make some of my sandy road trails more rideable with less fishtailing. Will be experimenting to see just how narrow I can go with tires before things get too spooky. Getting off the pavement to experience the huge variety of trail surfaces is very educational and very fun, as always.

[azfiddle]

Rebecca- hope you will post some pics and descriptions of the ride past Mt. Ventoux. Wow- envious!

It's too hot to be riding later than 9 am- I went out Weds for about 13 miles after watching the end of the TdF stage. Skipped yesterday and rode 17 miles up to Saguaro NP and back.


I had to stop to take a quick pic of this little Mamillaria cactus blooming along side of the road near the park. There were half a dozen or so- all sparked into flowering with recent summer rains. A nice surprise.

Untitled by Sharon Goldwasser, on Flickr

[Geonz]

Here's a solution: ride at night! We did a "Moonlight Ride West" this month, and about a dozen people (we'll see if we get the >50 tomorrow for the Standard Eastern version, but we're not on a weekend so who knows? and I'll be at a bike meeting and can't go unless it gets canceled for lack of quorum).
We had some wild storms this a.m. but in the afternoon but a single cell formed... happily a little further north and east than our destination (Mahomet DQ). It gave us an *awesome* color-cloud show that I've got a snap of but I don't think did the colors right, and the blue under the moon sky had a linear color pattern I've honestly never ever seen before with almost stripes of three shads of blue. I'm sure it was a mathematical function of the light reflecting off that thunderstorm cell.
There was neat cloud-to-cloud lightning here and there, too... little sparklies... which were over and done with by the time darkness really fell.
I'm going to put in a bid to find a local vendor who wants to feed us... DQ is so cold and processed and "fast food" as opposed to the Sidney Dairy Barn...
Ride back was Under THe Moon and since we were goin' east we could see it! Where there were cool microclimates there was spoooooky mist on the ground... and I'm glad the big honkin' bug that whanged down my shirt wasn't a biter, but it was a burrower so my attempts to find it and get it outta there ended with an exoskeleton crunch. THankfully I remembered it and tossed the bra in the shower and rinsed... it looked like a common beetle (and 3/4 inch... not really honkin' big...) -- but obvioulsy one of the flying sort.
My left shoulder is all stiff, though, which started two weeks ago Friday with a badly hung camelbak 30 mile ride. Hot shower but... I don't know if a massage (which I don't generally partake of) or a muscle relaxer (same there... I'm a chill dude) ... or maybe ice? would unlock things.
But dude! Yesterday I had ZERO miles!!! (the only day in many months for that to be true) because I was driving Baltimore to Urbana and Traffic Happened... but today was 52. I'll add pics soon...