Long Distance Competition/Ultracycling, Randonneuring and Endurance Cycling - Heat, hills, and humidity

My first 300K brevet was yesterday. Very hilly, temperature up to the mid/high 80s, humidity up to about 90%.

Heat, humidity, and hills are not my three best things. I finished, but I got the first saddle sores of my life, and I'm tempted to blame atmospheric moisture for some minor drivetrain difficulties.

This is also the farthest I've ever ridden in one shot. Since the saddle sore hot spot didn't start until somewhere around the 80-mile point, and I've done centuries and a 200K brevet with no discomfort at all, it seems reasonable to assume I didn't prepare adequately for the humidity.

So my question is: What do you do to prepare adequately for humidity on a long ride? Although I've named my two specific issues, I'd like to keep the focus of the question loose because I'm interested in your experiences with these conditions.

Ride more in humidity. It took me a while to get used to it in Manitoba too, when I first moved there.

As for avoiding saddle sores ... try washing yourself down there with water mid-ride to get rid of the salty sweat, and then dry yourself well with paper towel. If you don't have access to water (and any convenience store washroom will give you access to water), try baby wipes ... a wet one to wash, a dry one to dry. You're goal is to be clean and dry ... and the humidity is causing you to sweat, which makes you salty and wet.

A teensy-little dab of Ozonol on the sore spots when it develops also helps.

Thanks.

Once the location in question is clean and dry, is there anything that can be done about the bib shorts being sweat-soaked, besides putting new ones on?

First, a big congratulations! on completing the 300k. That's a big accomplishment, especially under the circumstances you had to deal with.

Humidity sucks. Drink a lot. Make sure you're getting your salts. Be vigilent about the sun screen (you sweat it off, and all ends up in your eyes!). Slow down a bit. Sometimes, quite a bit. Take breaks on the road in the shade, even if for a few seconds. The Shen 1200K last year had brutal heat and humidity, conditions which DNF'd about half the field (that and the god-knows-how-much climbing that characterized that route!). You just have to take it slow and do whatever necessary to keep your core body temperature down. The last day we were all icing ourselves down at every stop. I probably stopped every ten miles to cool off. Those who didn't respect the hand that Mother Nature dealt didn't ride 1200K....

My tricks for avoiding saddle sores involve keeping everything meticulously clean and as dry as possible. If you're really soaked from sweat, I'd carry a change of shorts (I usually ride no more than 400K in a pair of shorts under any circumstances). If you feel a sore developing, hit it with some tripple-antibiotic right away. Make sure your seat is positioned well and supporting the things that need supporting. Move around a lot on the saddle to pressure different areas in differently. And accept, on some level, that some people are more prone to saddle sores than others. Best of luck and hope things heel up fast!

400K in the future?

Thanks.

Once the location in question is clean and dry, is there anything that can be done about the bib shorts being sweat-soaked, besides putting new ones on?

Simply cleaning the area makes a big difference, even if you have to put on the same old shorts. On rides of 600K and longer I will carry a second pair of shorts.

I have also found that on hot, humid rides I do better with a cotton blend shorts with a very thin padding. Lycra or spandex or whatever it is, tends to turn my legs into a massive rash of hives on hot, humid days. When I was cycling in Queensland, Australia I often wore a bathing suit and beach shorts because that was a more comfortable combination than traditional cycling shorts. I know other long distance riders who wear loose-fitting regular shorts in a T-shirt type of material.

If you are doing a lot of long, hot, humid rides, you might want to bring a pair of beach shorts or something with you ... change into them partway through the ride, ride in them for a while, while letting your cycling shorts dry, and then return to your cycling shorts.

Thanks, both of you. (And for the congratulations, too.)

I think for the lack of experience I have, I did all right. There's room for improvement in pretty much all areas, but now that I know what a hilly 300K is like, this issue was the one with the greatest likelihood of preventing a finish.


400K in the future?

I think so. The other NJ Rando riders told me that people's times on their 400K are generally about the same as on their 300K because the longer ride is flat. What's got me potentially bummed is that their 600K is Father's Day weekend, and there are family things going on that may mean I can't do it. If the chance of an SR series drops to zero, the 400K is a little less attractive, but I haven't looked for another nearby 600K yet; I figured I'd wait until my brain was working again.