Yet Another Cycling Forum

General Category => The Knowledge => Health & Fitness => Topic started by: Andrij on 07 July, 2008, 01:31:31 pm

Title: Coping with heat
Post by: Andrij on 07 July, 2008, 01:31:31 pm
In spite of my well known comments on the 'rainy season' here in the UK I readily admit that it can, on ocassion, get hot - especially on those rare days when the sun comes out.

I know from past experience that spending the day in the hot sun can drain you.  This was recently confirmed on Everybody Ride to Skeggy 300 where I was saved by the sea breezes.

I have another long ride coming up this weekend.  I haven't looked at the forecasts yet (too early) but I am conscious of the possibility having difficulties if it's a nice, sunny day.

How do others cope with the effects of riding all day in the sun?
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: Greenbank on 07 July, 2008, 01:35:42 pm
Wear a cotton cycling cap (it does help keep you cool).
Drink plenty of water + Zym/Nuun hydration tablets.
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: MSeries on 07 July, 2008, 01:38:23 pm
short hair, exposed flesh, sun screen. String vest, full or 3/4 zip jersey. Drink lots, eat proper food, don't ride too hard.
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: Charlotte on 07 July, 2008, 01:45:31 pm
+1 to the MSeries.

The week before last on TRAT, I learned that when it's stinking hot, drinking a bottle an hour is pretty much a prerequisite for me not conking out.  I made up my bottles with one containing strong Ribena and the other with Boots rehydration salts.  Combined with enough food, if I managed to do both bottles in the space of two hours, I didn't feel weak, dizzy, crampy or any of the other symptoms I've felt in the past.

I shall probably run on coke + water or whatever I can buy in garages this weekend.

Other than that, wear sunscreen.  It helps.
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: andygates on 07 July, 2008, 01:47:44 pm
Sounds about right.  If it's really hot I wear sleeveless stuff (like my triathlon suit) as I overheat fast and exposed shoulders let me cool down properly.  Sunblock on the exposed flesh, of course.

Stick a sachet of rehydration salts in your tool pack as a just-in-case. 
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: MSeries on 07 July, 2008, 01:50:51 pm
plus also Andrij, the more you do in the heat the more you'll get used to it. Difficult I know in an English summer. Heat was what did it for me on my 2003 Raid Pyrenean and I was hoping that 2007 PBP would not be similar !! :-)
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: Really Ancien on 07 July, 2008, 01:52:20 pm
If it's really hot, soak your hat in water at all opportunities and keep one bottle of fresh water to pour over yourself or even fill your shoes with water. If you are supported as on the 24 have sponges handed up to squeeze over yourself.

Damon.
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: MSeries on 07 July, 2008, 01:55:10 pm
keep the back of your neck shaded with a damp neck scarf or foreign legion style flap on the back of you cap
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: rae on 07 July, 2008, 01:55:35 pm
Doing 120 miles on a scorching day in southern Spain probably qualifies me here. 

1) Get used to it.  There's no substitute for practice.  Don't be frightened of it.

2) Keep drinking, almost until you feel sick.  1.5 litres in 2 water bottles is good for about half an hour of hard effort if you are going all day.

3) Mix electrolyte bottles and plain water.  Too much electrolyte and you'll hurl

4) Full length zip on the jersey, undo it completely when climbing, your chest will be shaded, and you will lose a lot of heat

5) I often got for full length arms to combat the UV.  Whatever, use factor 50 or 60 for exposed flesh. 
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: Regulator on 07 July, 2008, 02:00:41 pm
I find that sitting in a cafe with a cold beer is the best way to deal with the heat.

HTH.
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: Chris S on 07 July, 2008, 02:03:41 pm
If this is an Audax, and you have time in hand, don't be afraid to lie out under the cool shade of a tree between (say) 12pm and 2pm, and make the time up in the evening or early o'clock in the morning. "Mad dogs and Englishmen..." and all that.
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: MSeries on 07 July, 2008, 02:04:58 pm
I find that sitting in a cafe with a cold beer is the best way to deal with the heat.


This and raes tip about arms reminds me of when I pedalled from Melbourne to Port Arthur. It was a hot day, 45 C, I had to put my woollen arm warmers on to try to protect my arms, my sunblock wasn't working. I did suffer from sunstroke or whatever that day. Next day was still very very hot, I went for a short ride to look at a blow hole but it was too hot so I retired to the pub to watch the cricket on TV. Some Australian motorcyclists invited me to join them, so they could rib a pomme as we were getting thrashed at the cricket. The bikers had seen me suffering the previous day. As I drank my cold piss beer I started to sweat, I'd been too dehydrated to sweat before then
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: Tom B on 07 July, 2008, 02:05:36 pm
Andrij, I think you're talking primarily about endurance / speed riding, of which I have no experience  :)
But I was pootle-touring (admittedly with full panniers) during the 2003 heatwave in France, when it was in the high 30s for much of the day. It took a while to get used to things but soaking my shirt (a baggy cotton   LS one) in water at every cemetery I passed was delightfully refreshing; i've never felt so clean, in fact  :D
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: MSeries on 07 July, 2008, 02:06:23 pm
If this is an Audax, and you have time in hand, don't be afraid to lie out under the cool shade of a tree between (say) 12pm and 2pm, and make the time up in the evening or early o'clock in the morning. "Mad dogs and Englishmen..." and all that.

and that reminds me of Raid Pyrenean in 2003 when some very experienced American randos did just that, whereas the Englishmen went out in the midday sun.
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: peliroja on 07 July, 2008, 02:08:41 pm
Doing 120 miles on a scorching day in southern Spain probably qualifies me here. 

1) Get used to it.  There's no substitute for practice.  Don't be frightened of it.

2) Keep drinking, almost until you feel sick.  1.5 litres in 2 water bottles is good for about half an hour of hard effort if you are going all day.

3) Mix electrolyte bottles and plain water.  Too much electrolyte and you'll hurl

4) Full length zip on the jersey, undo it completely when climbing, your chest will be shaded, and you will lose a lot of heat

5) I often got for full length arms to combat the UV.  Whatever, use factor 50 or 60 for exposed flesh. 
Two references to puking  :sick: in one post! Oh, don't we love cycling!  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: Frenchie on 07 July, 2008, 02:12:24 pm
Get used to it; and keep you head/neck cool. It is not really hot over here BTW...
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: nuttycyclist on 07 July, 2008, 02:15:37 pm
I find that sitting in a cafe with a cold beer is the best way to deal with the heat.

HTH.

Same here.  I absolutely hate the heat.  It's one of the reasons I haven't ridden much this year (the ruddy sun came out when I was getting interested in the longer rides).   I also think it's a major reason why I found the Beast from the East so easy last year when many others struggled.

If you have to ride, then try to stay indoors during the day and ride overnight.


Roll on Autumn!!!!

Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: Wendy on 07 July, 2008, 02:17:28 pm
*amazed* at all the too hot comments, and I don't even come from a hot country.
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: Regulator on 07 July, 2008, 02:24:39 pm
I like the heat.  I only resort to the cafe tactic when it gets too hot - above about 35oC - for me.
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: ChrisO on 07 July, 2008, 02:43:01 pm
I'm riding mostly in Abu Dhabi where it starts at 30C and gets up to 40+ by lunchtime. Though we rarely cycle past 10am at the latest.

I wouldn't advise drinking too much water. IIRC your body can only effectively process about a litre of water per hour so any more than that is a waste. Unfortunately you can lose more than that so the simple fact is you will get de-hydrated and you have to recognise it.

Large areas to cool off, water on hat (I use a UV Buff), and electrolyte drink both on the bike and after - you can get specific drinks for replacing the salts that you lose.

You have to then put a lot of effort into recovery. Plenty of water and electrolyte replacement, drinks like chocolate milk are good as well, and eat properly.

On a Friday ride (Friday being our Sunday) of 120km or so I can go through 4 litres of water and then a couple more when I get home followed by lunch and more drinks and it might still be 5 or 6 hours before I am hydrated properly.
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: tiermat on 07 July, 2008, 02:45:25 pm
Well said ChrisO, it's amzing how many people don't realise about Hypotremia as well dehydration when exercising.
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: Notsototalnewbie on 07 July, 2008, 02:53:07 pm
I have a merino summer weight jersey (one with long sleeves, one with short) and I think they help with heat regulation moreso than synthetics, and I really am one to wilt in the face of any heat whatsoever.

They are expensive, but you can wear them for a long time before smelling, which I like. The Ground Effect ones are the best value, I think.

I see on the Team Estrogen site they have these things called Cool Arms, which are supposed to also be good at reflecting heat if you want to stick with existing jerseys (I know you don't have all that much oestrogen yourself, but I presume blokeshaped ones are available).
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: Really Ancien on 07 July, 2008, 03:08:35 pm
Well said ChrisO, it's amzing how many people don't realise about Hypotremia as well dehydration when exercising.
Monitoring what your body tells you is important, the colour of you urine is a good indicator of how much water you need, if you are not getting enough salts you will probably cramp. One side effect of relying on liquid feed is that you couple feeding with drinking and you can end up in imbalance if the weather differs from your predictions. Too hot and you will need to have more plain water, possibly with electrolytes, colder or wetter and you will be stopping regularly to piss.

Damon.
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: Regulator on 07 July, 2008, 04:43:01 pm
Hypotremia

Hypotremia is a condition known as water intoxication. It is usually associated with long distance events like running and cycling. As the person consumes large amounts of water over the course of the event, blood plasma (the liquid part of blood) increases. This dilutes the salt content of the blood while at the same time the person is losing salt by sweating. Consequently, the amount of salt available to the body tissues decreases over time to a point where the loss interferes with brain, heart, and muscle function.

Do you remember the London Marathon runner who died through drinking too much water that day?


Also common in those taking Ecstacy or other such drugs in nightclubs.  Some clubs, such as G-A-Y, even had their own paramedic teams and gave regular advice about not drinking too much water.
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: blackpuddinonnabike on 07 July, 2008, 04:48:12 pm
Personally I love the heat.
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: Chris S on 07 July, 2008, 04:49:45 pm
Personally I love the heat.

I'm no huge fan of it - but it's infinitely better than this perpetual autumn we seem to have to put up with these days  ::-).
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: hellymedic on 07 July, 2008, 04:53:52 pm
A wet flannel will wipe away salty sweat deposits and help cool you.
As one who mostly wore cotton T-shirts, I can recommend drenching them with water.
Sunscreen leaves the skin sticky. Sometimes I prefer to keep the sun off with long sleeves.
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: nuttycyclist on 07 July, 2008, 04:55:55 pm
Personally I love the heat.

I'm no huge fan of it - but it's infinitely better than this perpetual autumn we seem to have to put up with these days  ::-).

It's not perpetual Autumn  >:(

Even though I was camping this weekend (yes the tent did flatten on top of us a few times in the gusts, before springing up in the lulls) and it's hissing down at the moment, I'm still too ruddy hot.    Autumn is when the temperature cools back down sufficiently that I can wear normal clothes instead of sitting outside at gone midnight in shorts and T shirt trying to get cool; or, as in the case of today, give up with the home working and drive to the office in search of air-conditioning.
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: Greenbank on 07 July, 2008, 05:09:02 pm
Hypotremia

Hypotremia is a condition known as water intoxication.

Ah, the joys of "Google Knowledge". Mis-information repeated several times doesn't make it right.

Hyponatremia refers to a depletion (Hypo-) of Sodium (Latin: Natrium) in the blood (-emia suffix). Often caused by drinking too much water.

The hypo-element-identifier-tremia terms are detailed here:- Water-electrolyte imbalance - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolyte_disturbance)

The hint should have been that there are only 83 hits on google for Hypotremia, yet "Hyponatremia" gives 597,000 hits. "Hypotremia" also doesn't appear in any dictionary (including Blacks Medical Dictionary).

The latin-type name for "Water Intoxication (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication)" is simply "Hyperhydration". It certainly wouldn't be "Hypo-anything" since the prefix hypo means depleted.
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: alchemy on 08 July, 2008, 12:22:07 am
It's not hot until it's over 35 (that's degrees C) ::-)

Anything between 18 and 26 is very nice - especially at this time of year  :thumbsup:

And if it's less than 18 degrees it's most likely a dead cert that you'll find me wearing jeans and a fleece (and possibly a woolly hat as well)
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: Greenbank on 08 July, 2008, 10:47:25 am
Also common in those taking Ecstacy or other such drugs in nightclubs.  Some clubs, such as G-A-Y, even had their own paramedic teams and gave regular advice about not drinking too much water.

Leah Betts was the famous case.

And this was reported today: Dead after drinking too much water | Metro.co.uk
 (http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=207970&in_page_id=34)
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: Frenchie on 08 July, 2008, 10:49:01 am
Personally I love the heat.

I'm no huge fan of it - but it's infinitely better than this perpetual autumn we seem to have to put up with these days  ::-).

+1
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: Ian H on 08 July, 2008, 11:33:48 am
It's peculiar, but I cope much better with foreign heat. In the UK I suffer when it gets hot.
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: ChrisO on 08 July, 2008, 12:39:21 pm
I love it.

On my one-in-four weeks back in the UK I tend to ride less because I figure I'll be back in the heat within a few days.

Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: Andrij on 10 July, 2008, 03:05:18 pm
Thanks for all the replies.

I agree that the UK doesn't have 'proper' hot weather, but there are the odd occurrences - like the day of the Skeggy 300.  I'm used to much hotter weather.  In fact, before I moved to the UK by this time of year I wouldn't consider it hot unless it was 90F or more.  The problem is there is little opportunity to get used to it here.

But this discussion has all been rather academic - the weather for East Anglia this weekend looks a bit on the cloudy and damp side.

But information is never wasted!  Filed away for when global warming gives the UK a Mediterranean climate...
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: teethgrinder on 11 July, 2008, 08:52:16 pm
It's peculiar, but I cope much better with foreign heat. In the UK I suffer when it gets hot.

It's a bit humid in England, it could be the heat combined with humidity.

My secret weapon is tomato juice. I've tried fancy and expensive electolyte drinks and I only used one which was any good, but don't know where to get it from. (It was handed out in the Mersey 24 years ago, but they no longer use it)
Tomato juice is cheap (less than 50p a litre for Tesco Value) and easily available. At least use some kind of fruit juice if you can't get tomato. Dilute it if it is really hot. I sometimes carry a tube of tomato puree to squirt into a bottle full of water to make a good emergency electrolite drink. Try tomatoes, you'll be surprised!

Keep drinking too. Don't worry about the drinking too much water thing. You have to be pretty determind to do yourself harm by driniking too much water.
I've cycled through Arizona and Death Valley with the temperature just over 100 (It was spring, not quite as warm as summer) I took a sip, sometimes a very tiny sip, from my bottle at every milepost and had absolutely no trouble from heat. Neither did my friend who was with me and did the same. It could get serious in a place like that. Did get sunburnt pretty bad though because I sweated all my sunblock off my forehead. I started wearing my hat, which stopped it getting any worse.

I love the heat. I wish it was much warmer and am dissapointed with the weather so far this year.
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: Regulator on 14 July, 2008, 09:24:40 am
At yeterday's festival in Kežmarok it was too hot to walk with bare feet.

At 1.30 am the balcony felt like there was underfloor heating it had retained some of the day's warmth, with the overnight temperature dropping to 24°.

Today it reached 35° here in Poprad (source: Pravda (http://spravy.pravda.sk/slovensko-prezilo-tropicky-den-s-vystrahami-horucavy-na-cas-odidu-1dg-/sk_domace.asp?c=A080713_173937_sk_domace_p29)).

And then what happens?

This evening - 10.30-11.30 pm - we get the most spectacular thunderstorm I have ever seen. Multiple bolts of lightening out of both front and back windows lighting up everything to daylight level for a second or two. Lots of lightening went horizontally as if recharging a different cloud rather than jumping to earth. And rain like it was a monsoon, plus some strong wind. With the 2,654 metre high Carpathians just 15 km away there was a lot going on up there! And now, an hour later, apart from a few flashes and rumblings, it has all blown over.

By the way, I will be back in the UK on Thursday for nearly 3 weeks. Is it summer yet?

Well, we've been having torrential rain...




...so it must be summer!   ;D
Title: Re: Coping with heat
Post by: hellymedic on 14 July, 2008, 11:28:48 pm

By the way, I will be back in the UK on Thursday for nearly 3 weeks. Is it summer yet?

St Swthin's day is tomorrow; I'll let you know.