jkemp9

Yesterday was one of those days where every time I left work I went, "Damn it's hot." High of ~95* with a max of 93% humidity; news people said it felt like 108*F! It was ~90*F with 80% humidity at 6:30pm when I finally talked myself into going for a ride. After ~30 seconds of standing outside, coming from a/c, even my bike and glasses were sweating. I only did 18 miles, I usually manage 30+ on week nights, especially after a no-ride weekend(<---). I actually found that the heat/humidity didn't affect my riding much. I didn't seem to need nearly as much water, I only drank about 8 oz of the 24 that I brought (although I drank 2 liters in the afternoon at work). I guess because my sweat didn't evaporate as fast? My legs seemed to feel good a lot quicker, normally takes about 8-10 miles to feel good, took about 4-6 last night. I won't say that I like riding in such heat/humidity but it was definitely bearable and I'm glad I decided to go rather than lounging around in front of the tv/xbox all night.

I'm curious if anyone else is dealing with this right now, extreme humidity that is. Do you take any precautions?

Also, does anyone live in a place that's never humid? Does such a place even exist?

Condorita

Well, southern California is supposed to be semi-arid desert. But that "non-existent" global warming has it damned humid right now.

Missbumble 

So I am a newbie...so take this for what it is worth ....and yup riding in the humidity is a bear. The hardest part is actually starting out like you described.

I am not sure about dringking less water - maybe cause it's so yucky out that you only think you need less water. I think I would stick to the same amount of water you need on most rides - our bodies don't tell us when we are thirsty really on the bike. I am told there's a fine line between drinking enough and drinking too much, but I guess I'd rather err on the side of drinking too much water.

ctwxlvr

There is a fine line on drinking too much water, most of us never have to worry about reaching that line.

Riding in humidity is a fact of life here on the east coast, I find that if I don't drink enough before the ride, during the ride and after the ride, I pay for it the next few days as my body craves liquid but it just flushes out as I have no need for it(at work no need for the extra water). I still get exercise as the closest facility is 6 flights down the stairs.

Iamkar33m

Do NOT wait until you feel thirsty to drink water... you should always be drinking water regardless of what your body tells you. If you wait until you feel thirsty then you're almost at the point of dehydration and that's not good.

jkemp9

I've heard this numerous times. Seems like stupid body would know when to tell me to drink, if it doesn't want to get dehydrated. This is the only reason I drank any water on my ride yesterday. I was around mile 12 and thought, "Dehydrated, you will be, if you don't drink before thirsty" Then chugged down half a previously frozen bottle; really cold water = .

smyth

what's the old saying? drink before you're thirsty, eat before you're hungry and shift before you need to.
yeah i'm pretty sure that's it. i take a swig ever 10-15 minutes on the bike at least, thirsty or not. especially when its hot out it at least helps my mouth not get all dried out. i only "eat" on the bike if the ride is going to be more than an hour or 2 though.
and yeah you can drink too much water but that is hard to do, and it isn't so much that you have too much water. the reason it's bad is because to much water messes up the water/electolyte ratio in your body. At least that's the problem from what i know. you can help compensate for that by using sports drink or home recipes of drinks that are high in electrolytes instead of just plain water. I'm not a doctor or anything, but from everything i've read that's what i know

kyle

Iamkar33m

I usually have my 100oz. camelback with Aquafina water and two 24oz. bottle of Gatorade's Propel water. The Aquafina is just my regular hydration water and the Propel contains electrolytes to keep my body from water poisoning. I try to drink about 10 fl. oz. of fluid per mile that I ride and on a 12-13 mile ride that can equal about a gallon of water!

-Devil-

eh, in louisiana we are used to humidity ... i still drink my way through most all the water i bring with me even on days that it is in the 90% range ... but it is out of habit .. i don't wait for my body to tell me it wants some ...

a lot of people seem to go by if their mouth feels dry ... it is to late then, esp in a humid climate.

10 Wheels

Most of The Gulf Coast AREA rides are High Humidity. I have had ship Captains tell me Houston Area is the Highest Humidity they have ever seen.
Today's 4 mile ride #168:


Storm Ride: Warning::: As Exciting as watching toast in a toaster.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh2uMlyHT58

mo_feezy

Check out this.
https://ag.arizona.edu/maricopa/garde...ather/heat.htm
Scroll down a ways and you can see a table showing temperature by humidity and the perceived temp. To the OP, it's WAY higher than 108 when it's 95 w/ 80% humidity (Check out the heat stress index).

I am from southern CA, and now live here. The humidity just destroys me. There is no way to cool down when it's humid. I was just in Boston, and even though the temps were much lower, I was sweating like a ***** in church the whole time.

jkemp9

So it's humid everywhere. Any Canadians with input on this?

Jerry in So IL

Its hot and sticky here!
The one thing I DO like about the humidity is that I get a good sweat and keeps the muscles warm quickly.

Like others said, keep drinking, even when you don't feel you need to.

Jerry

Pamestique 

I was just complaining at lunch because it's about 90 degrees out and about 75 - 80% humidity. Really nasty for Southern California where weather is generally dryer. We seem to be going through a particularly nasty summer, much more humid than usual. Heat not so much a problem, I'm used to that. But humidity? sucks! It's really hard to keep enough water in as I seem to be sweating it all out.

The only good thing here - it does get cooler at night and a little breeze comes up. It's gets almost pleasant. I know back east it just stays sucky.

StephenH

My inlaws used to live in Grand Junction, CO. Got hot there, but low humidity.

Sunday, it was 103 or so here, but humidity was 30% or so. So the wind chill was 101 I guess.

Pamestique 

Last year I did a ride in July, through Montana. Every day it was over 105 but the only thing that kept me moving was the fact it was very dry out, probably less than 20%... I couldn't sweat if I wanted to!!!! Heat and low humidity is doable. Heat and humidity? Time to take in a movie!

Stujoe

I'm near St Louis and it has been miserably humid the last couple days. yesterday was heat index of 110 and today was about the same. In other words, a normal August. lol

I rode in both days. I was going to ride all the way home yesterday but played an hour and a half of 3 on 3 walleyball after work and decided to take the train half way home to avoid the highway. I was a little worried about the combination of heat and tired legs on the stretch that has a long (for me) climb and fast moving traffic.

The thunderboomers are happening right now so maybe it will break the humidity.

jboyd

The 3 Southern Illinois boys have chimed in. Stujoe is nestled near the heated concrete of 2million folks in St. Louis and the moisture of the Mississippi. Jerry and I are about an hour and a half south of Stujoe and are hemmed in between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and the summer humidity around is always horrible.

I was diagnosed last Friday with Pnuemonia and the 98 degree temp with 90% humidity feels like I am being strangled. I have a charity ride at Midnight on the 16th of Aug in downtown St. louis. Not for sure how that is going to go

Jay

Tom Stormcrowe

If you have pneumonia, and still have fluid in your lungs on the day of the ride, you should really think about aborting.....

You can't get full oxygenation unless you have full lung capacity. You could very easily wind up inpatient.

dscheidt

Well, thirst response lags dehydration. You don't feel thirsty until you've lost 1 or 2% of your fluid volume. And you're limited to the rate at which you can absorb water. In hot weather, it's quite possible to sweat two liters an hour, but very hard to drink that much. Thirst perception goes down with age; people over 50 have greatly reduced thirst response to the same fluid loss.

Jerry in So IL

Jay

Take care of yourself! I would hate to miss you at St Louis.

Jerry

jaxgtr

A truer statement has never been said. That place is miserable. My dad used to live there and I hate to visit no matter what time of year. Then my in laws moved there for a short period of time. I still sucked.