Riding in the Summer Heat

Old Glory

Old Glory

Joined
May 25, 2007
Messages
496
Location
Huntsville, Alabama
Bike
ST1300
STOC #
7219
I'd appreciate some hints on how to cope with riding in the summer. I know it's prime season for a lot of forum riders and most of us are ATGATT.
I have mesh jacket and over pants and find an evaporate vest helps but when the temperature reaches 90 plus, I'm cooked. Soaking my head works
for half an hour. Last year I rode from NC to Alabama passing through Atlanta when the temperature was 95. Somehow I made it but for the most
part I was going 80 mph and at time my stomach felt a little queasy, and, oh yeah, I'm a geezer. Stopping is murder. I realize a lot of this is personal
levels of endurance and heat tolerance but perhaps there are some techniques that I'm missing. I'd appreciate your sharing them.

John-
 
I gave away my cooling vest. I prefer a winter weight, mock turtle neck shirt which I soak at every opportunity when the humidity is low enough to allow evaporation under my mesh coat. If I'm riding and the humidity is high enough for the evaporation to not work enough, I fill an oversize bandanna (27") diagonally with ice-cubed or crushed. I roll the bandanna and wear it around my neck. One 32oz McDonald's cup of ice will last several hours in even extreme heat. I've even put ice in pants and coat pockets. When I go inside a store with ice coolers out front full of ice bags, I leave my gear in the cooler until I come out.
And, as others have said, hydrate. A frequent sip is much better than an occasional chug.
 
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Valker said:
When I go inside a store with ice coolers out front full of ice bags, I leave my gear in the cooler until I come out.
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Aw, DANG!!!!! That is Brilliant!!!!

Daughter and I were on a (car) trip thru Death Valley a few years ago, 118 Farhenheit. At Stovepipe Wells we came across a couple of Canadian riders laid out on the floor of the convenience store in near heatstroke. I thought they needed an ambulance, but they didn't. I took that lesson to heart.
 
Smash said:
Hydrate hydrate hydrate hydrate!! That's the only thing that gets me through. I'll easily empty my 2 liter camelbak reservoir every 140 miles of highway travel. Certainly more if I'm traveling on slower back roads. Staying away from caffeine and large meals helps too, along with plenty of fresh fruits and veggies.
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:plus1:

I usually wear the jacket I wear year-round when I ride in the heat. I have found that even when I remove the insulated vest from the jacket it makes me feel more warm. Lots and lots of water inside is what makes the difference. Stay away from really cold water though. That always upsets my stomach. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.
 
Someone mentioned cold water causing some issues, but I've used a really old trick of adding some ginger to the cold water. No stomach issues.
 
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Last year there was an excellent article on this very subject on this forum. I think it was originally published in an IBA magazine. Use the search function and I bet you'll find it.

Good luck,
Daniel

MTGMTT
 
Way up North---you guy's have to put your bike's up for the winter which is understandable. In hot/humid Louisiana the August temp's are dangerous, I just do not ride in the hot sun because it is miserable and if I am not enjoying the ride my bike sit's inside. I do my riding early morning and at night when it get's late summer.
 
Excessive comfort breeds weakness. Or..... turn off the car AC. Drive with the windows down, mow the grass. Or..... get used to and it won't bother you as much. Ride more to condition yourself to hot days. Or just ride in the cool mornings.

How "comfortable" are we anyway? 2-3 billion African, Asian, Australian (might be pushing that one), South, Central, Americans handle it everyday.
 
I was raised in the swamp with no air conditioning, went all summer with no shoes as a kid and spent 8 years in the Marine's and after that worked military contract's in combat situations all over the world in every climate imaginable. I am no wimp when it comes to the extreme however I ride my ride to enjoy now. Being 52 years of age and not "having" to ride in the ridiculous heat I choose not too.
 
you don't need my advice but here it is anyway: I'm 58 with 5 1/2-marathons under my belt and I'm not fat. But I AM 58... heat never bothered me.. really?

last summer, coming home from Yellowstone, mid-Kansas, about 100 degrees, stopped for entire bottles of water, no bad food, etc.. the heat sneaked up on me and I didn't realize it. I was woozy, woozier than I realized, and zipping along in rural Kansas at a ST1300 clip. All I'm sayin' is, don't be a hero and don't underestimate what being out in the open in the sun, ATGATT (mesh notwithstanding) and a helmet on, will do to your blood thickness and mental sharpness.
 
I also live in Shreveport, Louisiana and my fav thing to do with the bike when it's hot is pick a nice spot by a lake that's about 70-100 miles from the house to make a decent ride. I carry a hammock and set it up by the water with a good book and a nalgene bottle of water. I can spend a good bit of the day even when it's up into the upper 90s swinging by the lake in the shade, reading and napping. makes for a good day on the bike and out of the house. I've got spots to stop at up in Arkansas at White Oak lake state park, Lake of the Pines in Texas, Toledo Bend on the Texas side or Louisiana near Many, Wright Patman in Texarkana and Bistineau closer to home.
 
Thanks for the responses. I'll try some of these. Maybe pack a Camelbak with ice and then fill with Gatorade.

The article is great also.

I'll report back, hopefully, not from an ER.

John-
 
I am with jonjon and if it ain't fun I am not riding. I have had an easy life compared to him but at 78 I still consider myself a good back road ST1300 rider. Can many of you say that? Don't like hot temps except for water skiing and never did. That is one of the reasons I chose to retire 23 years ago (from L. A.) to a Sierra Nevada lake.

Ed
 
I have had good luck with the phase change stuff. You need 2 sets of inserts so you can have one recharging in ice as you ride. You want to have a microfiber base, then cotton, then the phase vest, then solid jacket...no mesh! This is what I use for extreme heat...aka Kansas and South! Raymond just likes to show off...me and OKC Keith are chickens when it gets to 118 degrees!

this is the company I bought mine from...works really well!

http://store.coolvest.com/
 
I rode a 1300 thru Death Valley last summer. At 10 in the morning it was 107F. What works for me anyway is:

1. mesh jacket
2. cooling vest under that mess jacket, nice and wet
3. a hydration pack with bite valve so you can drink while you ride

The blue hose you see top of the seat bag is the hydration pack, I clip
it to my jacket in extreme heat. With that set up you can likely ride thru
hell tho Death Valley in summer is as close as I've come to that.
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Old Glory said:
Thanks for the responses. I'll try some of these. Maybe pack a Camelbak with ice and then fill with Gatorade.
The article is great also.
I'll report back, hopefully, not from an ER.
John-
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If I go with gatorade I mix it maybe half strength.
Or maybe water in the camel back and a bottle of some kind of electrolyte drink at a rest stop.
Straight gatorade is too strong for me and you have nothing to dump on your head or in your jacket.
 
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