Drink 3-4 bottles per 2 hours and a wet bandanna helps it keeps you cool by staying wet thanks to your sweat

Gets really !@#$% hot here in Tennessee. My commute is 9 miles each way. When coming home, I go slower and make sure I have a bottle of chilled ice water in an insulated bottle. It still ain't fun and you never "beat" the heat, but I like to think it's at least an uneasy truce. Also, for me anyway, moisture-wicking shirts, helmet with plenty of vents, and find the most shady route, if you have a choice.

Roy Curry
Hixson, TN

^^^agree with above about finding the most shaded route. I also read a good tip in another thread about wearing a camel back full of ice. I'm trying that one tomorrow.

I used to work in a factory with someone who used a similar product during the summer months. I never tried one myself (it was provided for him by the company) by he swore by it. A bit more high-tech than ice in a sock but seems to me like it works on the same principle; cooling down the blood being pumped through the carotids.

Ahhh comfy. Say wha? Suckas!!!

Just teasing. I'm actually riding this week. Gonna be some hot weather. Calling for high 80s.
Drink lots and pace yourself. Cheers!

When I read "Beating the heat" I assumed it was about someone who got away from the cops on their bike.... it's winter here in Oz.

It hit 102F here in DC yesterday, fortunately we didn't get the crushing humidity that typically defines Summers here. I had, at least, 80 ozs of wather/Gatorade by the time I left for my afternoon ride home and, drank about 1/2 a bottle on my 10 mile ride. My wife adised that I eat a bag of salty potato chips before leaving, which I did-even with all that I was slightly dehydrated by the time I got home. I took it easy spinning the whole way, I also removed my helmet near the end of my ride to help cool down and jumped right in the shower once home. My left leg developed a slight cramp and I had to stop once or twice, it's amazing how this kind of heat really shuts the body down. I spent the evening filling up on water and will continue to do so through the day. I think we're also expecting the humidity to creep back up today so, it may be an even more difficult ride than yesterday. In addition, I'm eating light and continuing my daily supplements. Hopefully we'll get some relief by tomorrow.

My primary problem with cotton is it gets saturated and then heavy. Once it's soaked through sweating more doesn't do anything to help cool me down. I've always tried to wear wicking layers close to the body, regardless of what my outer layers are. Cross Country Skiing, Bicycling, etc.

I'm surprised no one brought this up, but, I offer additional advice, free of charge.

Ride on the MUP or on dirt and stay away from buildings when possible. There's a lot of heat that comes off of buildings and roads. Blacktop is bad--I rode 18 miles on the MUP Sunday and was fine, but when I got off at Pearl Road, I was steaming my last couple of miles! Four lanes of fresh blacktop and full sun changed my environment dramatically. It felt like 80 on the bikepath but was more like 110 deg. F on the road.

Also, if you have a choice between blacktop and cement roads--take cement. It's cooler.

There is nothing wrong with cotton. The primary advantage of quick-dry fabric is that it "sucks up" and then distributes the sweat over a larger area of the outside of fabric. So with the increased evapouration rate(due to increased suface area) you'll get a better cooling effect and end up more comfortable because your shirt isn't sopping wet. Regarding skin temperatures i'm not sure if there is a large difference, the cotton will eventually get hot because it retains the water and becomes like a second skin, but i'm not sure if cotton is actually increasing your body temperature or just moving the sweating one layer out. Another benefit from quick-dry fabric is it lets air in when it is wet due to the way the fabric is weaved.

+1 - Yeah, it's not too complicated. Riding in the depths of winter is complicated.

fixed that for ya! and yes, this is very true.

Just to echo everyone else, got some experience with heat in Phoenix. Plenty of water, take it easy, sunscreen. If it gets real bad, 110+, I make sure to pour a bit of water on my head through my helmet every once in a while. It's so dry here, it dries up and cools you off quick. I agree with a previous poster about not stopping, if you start to feel crappy, slow it down. If I stop at a light, I am immediately uncomfortably hot and sweating from head to toe. Get going again and I feel great.

roll up a bandana and soak it and then put ice in the middle of it and tie it around you neck. It helps to keep cool

Safety concerns:

1) Sunscreen and sunglasses.
2) Lots of water - BUT, be careful of ice-water! The trick is to sip continuously rather than gulp down a big chug - this can lead to painful stomach cramps.
3) No shame in walking up Heartbreak Hill - don't court heatstroke because you wanna go macho.
4) If you find yourself seriously overheated, find a convenience store or somesuch, and rest a few minutes in the AC before moving on.

I try and use one of these, too. Different manufacturer, same concept. I think it's great in lower humidity. Our current heat wave is on the dry side, so it's helpful. A week or two back we had a very humid, hot stretch, and in that case the bandana was helpful for about half of my 40 minute ride. After that, it warmed up to the ambient temperature and the high humidity kept it from letting the water evaporate much. I found that it was a little more helpful to pop it in the fridge for an hour before leaving, but even then, once it warmed up, it was not as useful. When the humidity is more manageable, like it has been this week, the bandana is much more useful.

This morning at 7:20am it was 95F/26% for the start of my ride to work. Expected to be 112/18% for the ride home.

My thoughts are to just give in to the heat, I mean you're out there exercising so who cares if you're dripping in sweat. Regarding commuting - there's nothing like biking to work as fast as you can then taking a cold shower once you've arrived at the show facilities.

Extreme Southwest Virginia (U.S.A) here with quite a few recent 95+ degree days (and close to 100% humidity) ...Consider taking a break every twenty minutes.

The heat really got to me about a month ago while I was mowing with a gas push-mower and trying to get the mowing done as quick as possible (I usually have no problem mowing 45-60 minutes strait through without taking any breaks or consuming fluids). I guess that's the closest I came to having "heat stroke"...At one point I could feel my heart beating like I had just ran a sprint and I actually felt kind of cold, so I really slowed down (I did have a wet towel around my neck that I used to wipe my face and head, which did seem to help). Of course I should have stopped at that point to take a break and drink fluids, but I finished the last 15 minutes of the mowing, went inside and sat down. I felt pretty ill for around 30-60 minutes. I didn't "black-out" or anything, I mostly felt "not right," like maybe I was going to start experiencing worse symptoms. The next time I mowed I "made" myself take a break after 20 minutes ( I went inside, sat down, drank water, and didn't go back out until I felt cooled down, which took about 10 minutes).

During this period of great heat (within the last month, and after the mowing incident) the closest I came to experiencing a similar "heat exhaustion" on my bike was when I tried to "power" my way up a hill (and the hill was not very big really). As with my mowing experience I was trying to get the climb over as quick as possible (my thought process was "If I get up this hill fast this climb will be behind me and I won't have to worry about it anymore"). By the time I was 3/4 the way up the hill I was feeling over heated. I'm pretty sure I got the heat-induced high heartbeat rate along with the higher heartbeat rate one would normally expect with exercise, but at least I was drinking water this time and I recovered okay on the decent. On the next hill, which seemed to be much bigger, I climbed as SLOWLY as possible and I never got that overheated feeling. Like someone already wrote, in this heat it is about survival over speed when getting to your destination.

I know sometimes it might be best to keep riding and keep a breeze going (as opposed to sitting under the sun and just roasting) but if you find a bit of shade to sit in (like every 20 minutes) that can keep you from overheating. Someone else made a good point about listening to your body and not ignoring warning signs. Some people (like me) might have to fight their impulses to just "power through" an activity in this heat. From my experience I will watch for these symptoms: a high heart rate ( I mean feeling it pounding in my chest) for no good reason, feeling cool (maybe it would be more accurate to call it "clammy"), and/or basically feeling overwhelmed by the heat and not being able to recover and get back to feeling pretty normal (or as normal as you can feel while soaked in sweat).

I'm surprised that no one mentioned heartrates during this conversation. During my 25 mile ride home from manhattan on the 102 deg day last week, I noticed that my heart rate was steadily climbing. I usually have to incorporate sprints to keep my rate at around 140 for the hour and a half ride, but in the heat my rate steadily climbed until at around 15 miles it was at 170 on a flat and I was not pedaling hard. I stopped and it didn't go down so I hit a starbucks for an iced tea and the AC and watched it steadily drop. The heat is a serious consideration even for those who are in decent shape.

Whoops, I didn't see that last thread that discussed heart rates....my bad....

merino wool

I wonder if you can buy a fancy ice-vest... do you think your co-workers would mind if you took over the lunchroom freezer??

Its 36 degrees cen in Malta right now.. friggin hot