We had someone at NatSTOC that was passed out in the restroom from dehydration this past week. He's okay, EMTs showed up and looked him over, he took it easy and got some water and gatorade and recovered nicely.
This can happen to any of us and many times, by the time you realize there's an issue, it's too late to do anything about it.
I was dreading my return trip as I knew the temps between Nebraska-Kansas-Oklahoma would be hitting the 100's.
But, I had one of the easiest 800+ mile days I'd ever had. What did I do?
- Started early - headed out about 6:30am
- Stopped every 200-250 miles
- Drank a 32 or 16 ounces of gatorade at each gas stop
- Drank some water at each gas stop
- Poured cold water on my silk head liner at each gas stop
- Poured cold water on my shirt front/back - nylon shirt - at each gas stop
The helmet liner and shirt betting soaked with water would last about 75-100 miles.
Ideally, I should have brought my camelbak with me but it didn't mess with it when I left home so I was out of luck. But, with the above approach, I never got thirsty or felt bad, even when it was hot riding over fresh black asphalt and I could feel all that heat coming up, I was comfortable.
It's great to have water but you should have some gatorade type drink. Having a cooler attached to the bike would be nice as you could stop anywhere without needed to find a gas station. Being male, we tend to want to push our tanks to the limit and not stop 'til 300 miles... ego extraction is one thing that also needs to be done in hot weather conditions.
Not everything will work for everyone, so post your tips for hot weather riding.
This can happen to any of us and many times, by the time you realize there's an issue, it's too late to do anything about it.
I was dreading my return trip as I knew the temps between Nebraska-Kansas-Oklahoma would be hitting the 100's.
But, I had one of the easiest 800+ mile days I'd ever had. What did I do?
- Started early - headed out about 6:30am
- Stopped every 200-250 miles
- Drank a 32 or 16 ounces of gatorade at each gas stop
- Drank some water at each gas stop
- Poured cold water on my silk head liner at each gas stop
- Poured cold water on my shirt front/back - nylon shirt - at each gas stop
The helmet liner and shirt betting soaked with water would last about 75-100 miles.
Ideally, I should have brought my camelbak with me but it didn't mess with it when I left home so I was out of luck. But, with the above approach, I never got thirsty or felt bad, even when it was hot riding over fresh black asphalt and I could feel all that heat coming up, I was comfortable.
It's great to have water but you should have some gatorade type drink. Having a cooler attached to the bike would be nice as you could stop anywhere without needed to find a gas station. Being male, we tend to want to push our tanks to the limit and not stop 'til 300 miles... ego extraction is one thing that also needs to be done in hot weather conditions.
Not everything will work for everyone, so post your tips for hot weather riding.