Riding in the Summer Heat

Shuey

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John,

1. Hydrate. You need to have a source of water on the bike that you can drink while riding. Waiting until a gas or rest stop and chugging down a bottle of something isn't sufficient. If you can keep it cold (iced) it will be even more effective at controlling your core temperature.

2. At 93 degrees and higher you need to . . . button up, close vents, zip up your jacket, close up your full face helmet, raise the windshield to block air and keep the wind off you. I don't wear mesh at all, but specially not in high heat. The air coming through the mesh on high heat days doesn't cool, it heats and defeats the bodies cooling mechanism. Yep you'll feel hot, but opening up makes you even hotter. Sweat evaporating only cools when the air temp is lower than your body temp.

3. Stop more frequently, get inside someplace (I like fast food places) with great AC, then peel off your insulating outer layers and cool down. Drink up! Get something with electroylites (I like H2O flavored water better than Gatoraide, less sugar). If you don't need to make a pit stop . . . you're not drinking enough while on the bike. This is not a 10 minute break, it's a 20-30 minute or more break. You'll need time for your core temp to drop. BTW, your riding jacket will feel wonderfully cool when you put it back on after leaving it drapped over a chair with the lining side out. :)

4. If you start feeling nausea, headachy, faint or dizzy, you stop sweating . . . things aren't going well for you. STOP somewhere ASAP. See item #3. Become familiar with the symptoms for Heat Exhaustion and Heat Stroke. Riding in extreme heat can be deadly and it can come on faster than you'll want to believe. The main prevention is #1 . . . STAY HYDRATED!

Shuey
 
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As I understand it so far,

1. First, keep hydrated. I do have a Camelbak. I think ice and low cal Gatorade, or something with some electrolytes, will help. As the ice melts, the Gatorade will be diluted.

2. Really hope not to travel in 90+ degree heat since even 85 is challenging for me. As mentioned I did travel on a long, hot day, albeit at 80 mph, and made it without incident, but don't like to push it. The options seem to be:
a. Use a hydration vest. The residual air through a sealed, or partially sealed, jacket will provide evaporative cooling. With a mesh jacket and a hydration vest, the cooling is greater, but the vest needs frequent recharging. Good idea to stop every couple of hours anyway. I think that sweat, or evaporation, is effective at all elevated temperatures, as long as the humidity isn't high.
b. Use a phase change vest. This sounds better to me since it also cools at low and no speed. This would be used with a sealed jacket. Needs recharging and suggestion to wear one and keep one recharging is a good one.

3. Stop and reaccess body's condition periodically. It's easy to gradually slip into a state of unclear thinking.

4. Don't get old.

John-
P.S. A couple of years ago I bought a Veskimo but haven't used it. Trying it on, it felt like wearing a space suit.
 
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John-
P.S. A couple of years ago I bought a Veskimo but haven't used it. Trying it on, it felt like wearing a space suit.
I would love to hear how you like the Veskimo. I had never heard of it until you said that and I looked it up. Looks really cool. I would like one with the 9 quart cooler, but couldn't go $350 for one. Let me know when you use it how it works.
 
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As I understand it so far,

1. First, keep hydrated. I do have a Camel

John-
P.S. A couple of years ago I bought a Veskimo but haven't used it. Trying it on, it felt like wearing a space suit.
Would you be interested in selling it? If so, give me a PM. :)
 
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I haven't used my Veskimo. It uses a Camelbak to store the ice, which you wear like a pack. There are a couple of heavy duty tubes that go to a vest that you wear and a battery powered pump to circulate the cool water. It was evaluated by Motor Consumer News a few years ago and quickly sold out. My vest is size medium and the battery pack uses ordinary alkaline AA's, although a Li-ion could be substituted. I'm the kind of guy who feels self conscience wearing a bright riding vest (or used to) and didn't care for the space ship style tubing connecting the vest to the Camelbak (you can see I'm a natural salesman too). I suppose I should give it another try and compare it to the phase change vest before selling it. I really need to do something to be able to ride in the summer heat.

John-
 
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Come spend a winter up to 43 paralell and you will enjoy overheat as a welcome compensation...

Rosevelt was having a summer house in Campobello... and he was not the only one to travel up north as a necessity.

If you like chilling, pust to Newfoundland. During summer the climate is a little cold in the mornings to ride...

Zachary Richard is touring every summer in the northern areas.

Last year in Furnace Creek, we read 119 degrees. And the picnic tables were metallic... So we drove to the next pool.
 

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I have a bottle of water in my cup holder with a straw for constaint sips of water while riding. More when I stop.

If it is really hot I will put on a evaporative vest under my mesh jacket and this works great.

If it is a short ride I have a phase cooling vest /hybrid that can take me 3 hrs on a charge then I carry extra cool packs to change it out for another three. If I have ice in the cooler they will recharge in 30 mins. This is nice because I do not get wet.

Sometimes I just soak my wicking shirt. and that will work for awhile.
 
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2. At 93 degrees and higher you need to . . . button up, close vents, zip up your jacket, close up your full face helmet, raise the windshield to block air and keep the wind off you. I don't wear mesh at all, but specially not in high heat. The air coming through the mesh on high heat days doesn't cool, it heats and defeats the bodies cooling mechanism. Yep you'll feel hot, but opening up makes you even hotter. Sweat evaporating only cools when the air temp is lower than your body temp.

Shuey
Interesting, this may be a matter of personal set point or it may be tied to the relative humidity level. I have a Roadcrafter one-piece that I really can't use above 90, its my cold weather suit. On tour I take a Darien light and layer up as needed for cold and then mesh for extreme heat. I've found the mess to be much more comfotable when it gets hot, particularly on a sustained
basis (8-10 hours a day). Without air flow even with the Darien it just gets too hot for me. The exception to that may be in high humidity. Traveling thru southern Alabama and Florida last July I hit 95F++ with very high humidity. In those conditions I'm not sure anything helps, much. In the much drier desert southwest tho, the mesh and vest helps quite a bit i found. Having tried both I default to the mess. So perhaps its true: its not the heat its the humidity.......
 
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I haven't used my Veskimo. It uses a Camelbak to store the ice, which you wear like a pack. There are a couple of heavy duty tubes that go to a vest that you wear and a battery powered pump to circulate the cool water. It was evaluated by Motor Consumer News a few years ago and quickly sold out. My vest is size medium and the battery pack uses ordinary alkaline AA's, although a Li-ion could be substituted. I'm the kind of guy who feels self conscience wearing a bright riding vest (or used to) and didn't care for the space ship style tubing connecting the vest to the Camelbak (you can see I'm a natural salesman too). I suppose I should give it another try and compare it to the phase change vest before selling it. I really need to do something to be able to ride in the summer heat.

John-
I may have to break down and buy one. I am thinking about getting the one with the 9 quart cooler for longer use. I am doing some riding down into southern Florida this summer and then up into NY. I think a Veskimo would feel good.
 
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O.K. So, I'll sell my size medium vest, backpack Veskimo. I put water in it once to test it otherwise it's new, in the original box, with the original documentation and the AA Alkaline battery pack. Looking at the manufacturer's site, it sells for $ 457. I'll sell it for half price. PM me to arrange a sale.

John-
 
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A coat is never too warm when it is cold. And there is no solution to avoid extr?me heat, except riding with shorts and T Shirt, slowly on small roads. Not worst than riding a bicycle in some conditions, but with a steady bike with good brakes and big wheels... But never fall !
 
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I picked up a Veskimo last yr w/ the 9 qrt cooler. It works well and provides 2-3 hours of serious cooling. You can certainly feel it pull heat out of your core. It also doubles as a traveling cooler if you aren't wearing the vest.

K
 
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