riding into the heat of july

[emily_in_nc]

We did another laundry ride yesterday. Finally, finally a day with nearly no wind. Temp in the 70s! Doesn't get much better. Just a nice little 20-miler round trip and two clean loads of laundry to show for it. Today is cleaning and yoga -- I've ridden quite a few days in a row, so it is time for a day off!

[north woods gal]

The mountain biking continues, even though I could just as easily get back to my road biking, now that the traffic is back to normal after the big music festival. Actually, my mountain biking automatically includes a fair number of pavement miles, too, because I ride my bike to my mountain bike spots. Sure, I could load the bike into the car and drive to my spots and then go biking, but I've always done everything in my power to keep a car out of the equation for my outdoor activities. In fact, there have been several times in my life when I have sold my car and lived solely off my bicycle and been very happy.

Anyway, 60 plus miles of all kinds, these last two days - pavement, gravel roads, sand roads, mysterious fire and logging roads that haven't seen a vehicle in years, and my favorite, lots and lots of tough single track. Getting better on the single track. Only a few bumps and bruises.

[ny biker]

Catching up -- I've gotten in some good rides over the past few weeks. Summer has finally heated up. Last weekend (the 9th or 10th, don't remember which) I rode 55 miles with some friends in a shady, sparsely-populated part of southern Maryland. Another friend was leading it as a club ride but starting later in the morning, too late for me on a hot day -- even with many miles shaded by trees, the ones at the end were too exposed. As luck would have it someone else needed to start early due to having plans that afternoon, so three of us joined her at 8 am. Despite the early start I still had heat rash on my legs (probably related in part to a flare up of hives that I've been dealing with).

Then I had to postpone last week's Wednesday hill ride due to the threat of storms. There was a chance I'd be able to avoid the rain but I've just become too risk-averse when it comes to summer storms with the possibility of lightning, wind and/or heavy rain. As it turned out, it didn't rain at home but there was a pop-up storm a few miles away where I would have been riding. We had the same storm chance on Thursday, so I went to the gym that night and finally did the hill ride after work on Friday. It was uneventful except for one on-the-fly decision to change the route slightly -- the road I chose to explore ended up being a very steep hill. With every pedal stroke I considered stopping and turning around, but I did make it to the top (with tired legs and on the verge of wheezing).

[ny biker]

Catching up, part 2 -- yesterday's ride was one that I won't forget.

A friend had planned a long birthday ride on Saturday, but I decided not to go because it would have involved riding all afternoon on another hot sunny day. I'm still not fully acclimated to the heat yet, and with the recent flare-up of chronic hives finally calming down I didn't want to put myself under the physical stress of being outside during the hottest part of the day. Instead I decided to do a ride on Sunday in northern Maryland with the club that I rarely ride with. The reason I rarely do this club's rides is their survival-of-the-fittest approach -- there's never a sweep, and if you have a mechanical or health problem you're left behind. And there's also so much pace inflation that you're likely to be dropped early and left to ride alone even though you're maintaining the advertised pace. But this is an area I know well, I was able to plan some short cuts in case I needed them, and a friend was going to be there so I could ride with her. Most importantly the ride started early enough that we would be finished early in the afternoon.

So, as expected, my friend and I were dropped immediately. After a few miles I noticed one man who was riding alone not far ahead of us, and we caught up with him at an intersection. He asked if he could ride with us, and we said of course, please do. It turned out that his Garmin was not working and he didn't have a cue sheet, so he had no idea when or where to turn. And he was new to the area, having moved here just a few weeks ago after a job change and a divorce.

Somewhere around mile 12-13 he asks how far to the first rest stop, because he had inadvertantly left his water bottles at home. The first stop is 28 miles into this 65-mile ride, well over two hours of riding at our pace. There are no other stores around in this rural area and not much shade. So we stop and give him some water (my friend and I both started with two full bottles.) We ride on and reach the rest stop (a convenience store/gas station) with much interesting conversation but no further incidents.

Riding on, around mile 35 we reach a steep hill. He walks up part of it. No problem, we wait at the top under a tree. He hasn't ridden in months due to all the stuff that's been going on in his life. He starts riding more slowly and I ride ahead, keeping an eye on him with my handlebar mirror. By mile 45 he's been out of sight for a while so I stop and wait, then ride back about a mile until I see him coming. It's quite hot by now and we have a bit of a headwind. Around mile 49 we're close to the next stop (another convenience store) but I'm starting to bonk so we stop in the shade for a snack. My friend had gone ahead but we all meet up at the store where we cool off in the shade and get more food and cold drinks.

We hit the road again with 15 miles to go. With 5 miles to go my friend and I reach an intersection and stop in the shade to wait for him. After a few minutes we don't see him so we start riding back, and find him after about a mile working on a flat tire. We spent at least 45 minutes trying to fix that flat. Three different tubes fail when we try to inflate them -- apparently due to stem problems. The tire -- a Conti GP Attack, I think -- was very tight, very hard to get off and on the rim. At one point we thought maybe my friend's frame pump wasn't working so we tried mine instead. Finally we give up, tell him we will ride back to our cars and one of us will drive back to get him.

So much for starting early in order to finish by early afternoon -- by the time we finished riding the last few (unshaded) miles it was 3 pm and the heat rash was already appearing on my legs. But the club I usually ride with is not like the one we were riding with yesterday -- we never leave anyone stranded. I volunteered to drive back to get him. I quickly loaded up my car, drank some orange juice that was in my cooler, made a quick pitstop at a nearby gas station and headed back to where we left him. He had started walking so I found him about a mile and half from where we'd left him. We got his bike into my car and soon were back at the ride start.

Over the years I've been helped by many people who were patient enough to wait when I needed to rest or helped me fix a flat or gave me water when I was too hot. I'm glad I had the chance to pay it forward. In the end my friend and I agreed that it was a fun ride in spite of the drama.

[Aromig]

Over the years I've been helped by many people who were patient enough to wait when I needed to rest or helped me fix a flat or gave me water when I was too hot. I'm glad I had the chance to pay it forward. In the end my friend and I agreed that it was a fun ride in spite of the drama.

That is an awesome attitude! In the past, I've been annoyed by such drama (really, didn't bring water bottles? maybe he should have just tried to join the next week when he hadn't forgotten), but then again, it does feel good to pay it forward. And there but for the grace of God go I....I've always appreciated when I'm not alone. If he's new to the area, and recently divorced, and had other things going on, I'm sure the kindness you shared him was greatly appreciated. Good for you!

[Crankin]

Yes, I may have been more than mildly mad, too, but only if it was on a ride I was leading; if I just happened to be in a group with someone in that situation, not so much. And even though I get upset, I help. They may have done something stupid, but if it's health or safety, I don't mess around. People are generally appreciative. And the last one I tried to help sent an apology for being a beeach to me!

[emily_in_nc]

You are definitely a good soul, NY! I think I would have been majorly annoyed at someone showing up to a 65-mile summer ride with no water bottles. WTF! We do all have brain farts, myself included, but I am still sure I would not have been happy to have to share my water with someone who was obviously not ready to do that ride for many reasons. Good on you.

We did another grocery ride today. We overbought, and I still can't believe we actually got it all into DH's two panniers and rear basket, my Rackpacker and small backpack. As we started out with this load, we realized that both our rear tires were low, and with all that weight, that was not a good thing. So, we stopped and DH pumped them up. We made it back to our motorhome without incident, and this ride put me over 1500 miles for the year (by .9!) Yay! A very pretty day with highs in the low 80s, sunshine, low humidity, and light wind.

We're due for some very hot and humid weather in the next few days, which we've mostly avoided until now, but it is mid-July, so I truly can't complain!

[Geonz]

Per Crankin's hopefully non-hive-generating ride... Hey, sometimes when you see somebody whose Day is Going To Suckville Hard and Fast... and you can be the one to make it Not Suck... that's a good day, even if it takes the day. He was prob'ly feeling like a black burnt biscuit on a hot summer day, as they say in Culpeper Virginia when you're so low you gotta step on a nickel to see over a dime...

[Sky King]

We did another laundry ride yesterday. Finally, finally a day with nearly no wind. Temp in the 70s! Doesn't get much better. Just a nice little 20-miler round trip and two clean loads of laundry to show for it. Today is cleaning and yoga -- I've ridden quite a few days in a row, so it is time for a day off!

Transport not sport Sunday we had many errands to run and we wanted to ride our bicycles. We managed to buy new sheets at JC Penny's in the local mall, visit a friend at an assisted living, treat ourselves to lunch, do our grocery shopping and visit the fruit and veggie stand. A round robin day that included 26 miles of bike riding.

[Crankin]

I could not bring myself to do a 40 mile club ride in the heat today. The ride itself is local and nothing hard, has the usual short, steep climbs around here. I think my 4 days of riding in 90+ heat last week gave me a bad attitude. So, I went to the gym and did my second power lifting class of the week. Enough weights until next week, so I think I will skip circuit training tomorrow early AM, and do a 5 AM ride, which is the time it's decently cool. We are supposed to have rain starting tomorrow night, through Friday, and hopefully, this front will be blown out. I am now behind in miles, which sucks, since I was ahead in June. Oh well.

[ny biker]

Over these past few weeks I've been able to ride in the heat thanks to some hard lessons that I've learned in the past about avoiding dehydration, getting enough salt, taking breaks to cool down. But on two different days I rode more miles than I wanted, more than I knew I should have, because I was with people who wanted to do longer rides and are not as affected by the heat as I am. I've paid the price after each ride with heat rash followed by several days of hives -- an autoimmune flare-up. From now on I will really have to stick to my own plan and do shorter rides in this type of weather, regardless of what others want to do. Hopefully there will be situations where I can just take a short cut and then wait for others to catch up so I don't end up having to ride alone.

Anyway now that I've learned the lesson, the current heat wave is almost over. It will still be hot but should not be as bad.

The weird thing is that even with all the planning and strategizing and getting up early to deal with riding in the hot sun, I still have this feeling in the back of my mind that the cold weather will be back any day now, with tights and booties and extra layers and unrelenting cold feet. It's not true, we'll have a couple more months before it starts to get cold again, but I can't shake the feeling that summer will be gone in a heartbeat and winter cold is imminent. Maybe I need to get out of the air conditioning more...

[Crankin]

I am like you, NY, in that riding in the heat produces an autoimmune flare up. During my trip, it affected my GI symptoms. In retrospect, I have had this every summer, which is why I start out so motivated, usually die out around now, and get my mojo back in September. I also have built up my ability to tolerate riding in the heat (I never could have done this last trip ten years ago), and when I first started riding, I would have been at the gym, in spin class.
Yes, it will still be in the 80s this weekend, but not humid, so that is more normal. DH is helping our friends move to Amherst on Saturday (well, the male half is starting his job Monday, so he is going ahead), so I will either ride with my friend, his wife, or do a club ride.

[ny biker]

I'm waiting another day or two to see how the weather forecast shapes up before planning anything this weekend. Specifically I'm hoping they are able to forecast the timing of thunderstorms with reasonable accuracy. I do hate getting caught in thunderstorms, and when they come at the end of a heat wave they often pack some strong winds.

(I wish I knew what to do to help my immune system calm down again. I'm taking two kinds of antihistamines -- H1 and H2 receptors. Other that than I'm just trying to get enough sleep and stay out of the heat for a couple of days. I've tried to eat more "anti-inflammatory" foods over the past few months, tuna a few times a week, an apple almost every day, more fruits in general, leafy greens. I had been eating walnuts and almonds pretty regularly but they seem to bother my stomach.)

[north woods gal]

Having been caught out in some severe T storms, you are absolutely right to be cautious. They can be very dangerous for a biker and in so many ways. I've waited out my share in whatever shelter I could find at the time.

August coming up and that is a rough month for my allergies, specifically hay fever/ragweed and once that starts, it triggers allergies to all sorts of other things. One thing that helps with allergies and also hot weather for me, is to reduce my overall calorie intake and staying with more of my usual greens with some fruits. Yes, nuts can be iffy for some people, but I tend to add more of those in my diet during the winter months.

I'm another one that pushes to reach some pre-determined goal, so I know what some of you are up against as far as overdoing it. Came home, yesterday, cut up and bruised - again - from doing more nasty mountain biking. I'm beginning to feel like I should be in one of those mountain biking commercials where everyone looks like they've been though a war. Got a lecture about it when I got home. Nice to have a hubby that helps me to put on the brakes, when needed.

Thunderstorms, today, so will ride some indoor miles. If you're not set up to ride indoors on a trainer, I recommend it as a great way to get some miles in when heading out is not an option or just not too healthy for some reason. Just catch a few miles on the indoor trainer and go as far as you are able and not have to worry about bonking and finding yourself 10 miles away from home.

[Aromig]

The weird thing is that even with all the planning and strategizing and getting up early to deal with riding in the hot sun, I still have this feeling in the back of my mind that the cold weather will be back any day now, with tights and booties and extra layers and unrelenting cold feet. It's not true, we'll have a couple more months before it starts to get cold again, but I can't shake the feeling that summer will be gone in a heartbeat and winter cold is imminent. Maybe I need to get out of the air conditioning more...

I'm there with you. I'm riding in temps I'm not acclimated to (we had such a cool rainy spring) and I don't really want to ride in some of these temps -- but I feel I'm missing an opportunity if I don't. I only have an opportunity (because of daylight) to ride in the weekday mornings during June and July and I haven't taken advantage of that and it's almost over! This is just making me feel even more anxious.