robyr

https://articles.kwch.com/2011-07-18/...death_29788896

Be careful out in the heat, guys. Many being affected aren't used to the high-heat summers, and won't know what to look for when it comes to heat stroke. If you are feeling dizzy, have a head ache, or begin to be confused, you need immediate hydration and to remove your self from the sun and heat. Do not try to make it that last mile, because it may be your last mile. Another sign is goosebumps, lack of sweat, or cramping.

Seattle Forrest

What heat? We've had exactly 78 minutes that were 80 degrees F or warmer ... since last September. 12 of them happened on July 2 and the other hour and six minutes took place on July 16th. Last night I made the mistake of riding to the gym in a short-sleeved wool tee shirt, and had to ride in the aerobars to protect my arms from the chilly sea breeze. I could see my breath in the air.

bluefoxicy

Dude, I'm carrying a ton of water with me. It has salts in it too; I sweat this acrid, corrosive salt water that would turn a 1971 Porsche into a pile of rust in 20 minutes, I know what I need going back in.

If you're out in the heat and you suddenly find yourself in desperate need of hydration, you did something wrong. The first alarm should be when you have only like 1/2 liter of water left, more if you're on a longer trip or water isn't easily accessible.

People are freaking out because I'm still biking hard in this weather. Hell, right now I have 1 liter left in my camelbak to get home, maybe a bit less. I noticed I sweat a lot more when it gets hot and I'm not used to it; when it stays hot, I start to lose less water. You know what? Doesn't matter. I'll need about 3/4 of what I've got left to get home--half the ride is through a wooded area, and trees absorb light and thus heat--and I'll drain it all anyway most likely. If it were more questionable than that, I'd have a back-up 20oz bottle of Gatorade stuffed on my bike.

I'm fine with it.

waynesworld

Please get me a job where you live. Please...

chrisb71

According to the article the guy had water on him. So it's not enough to have the water, but we also have to drink it.

I've had terrible headaches yesterday and today and already don't drink enough (I had a kidney stone last year). I've been trying to drink more all day today before my ride home. Of course I took so much Excedrin it's hard to tell what's happening to my body. I'll drink a little more before I leave today. Luckily I have a 4.5 mile commute.

Someone helpfully posted these symptoms on my local bike forum for people not used to the heat:

Heat cramp symptoms include:

• Severe, sometimes disabling, cramps that typically begin suddenly in the hands, calves, or feet.
• Hard, tense muscles.

Heat exhaustion symptoms include:

• Fatigue
• Nausea
• Headaches
• Excessive thirst
• Muscle aches and cramps
• Weakness
• Confusion or anxiety
• Drenching sweats, often accompanied by cold, clammy skin.
• Slowed or weakened heartbeat.
• Dizziness
• Fainting
• Agitation

Heat exhaustion requires immediate attention but is not usually life-threatening.


Heat stroke symptoms include:

• Nausea and vomiting.
• Headache.
• Dizziness or vertigo.
• Fatigue.
• Hot, flushed, dry skin.
• Rapid heart rate.
• Decreased sweating.
• Shortness of breath.
• Decreased urination.
• Blood in urine or stool.
• Increased body temperature (104 to 106 degrees).
• Confusion, delirium, or loss of consciousness.
• Convulsions.

https://www.thechainlink.org/forum/to...mment%3A386131

MNBikeguy

Weren't you the one feeling like puking from insufficent hydration about 2 weeks ago?
You've come a long way in such a short time...

robyr

LOL.

Anyways, this is more of a warning than anything. A lot of the people affected by this heat aren't used to this sort of heat. Those of us in the southeast are used to this, but the guys in the northern midwest and northeast may not know when it is getting to them. I have a friend of mine that moved here from Minnesota, he didn't understand that the heat and the humid conditions work together to bring on heat exhaustion extremely quickly, and that the proper way to survive the heat here is to stay out in the sun no longer than 30-45 minutes at a time. When exerting yourself hard, such as biking hard or jogging, its even shorter. Last week he passed out while hiking in the mountains here, and thank goodness he had a friend with him that was able to render proper aid, because there is no doubt in my mind he would have died with the weather being like it is.

steve0257

Main thing is people need to to realize that in the high heat and humidity they need to slow down and take ore frequent breaks. Went for a ride with some friends on Tuesday and about six miles into it I flat out said I was done. My skin had gotten hot and I had just quit sweating. Both signs that I need to stop right now and sit in the shade for about a half hour drinking water. I then turned around and rode home being very careful not to push it at all.

One of my pet peeves in this weather is the people that still insist on going full bore and expect the rest of us to. Some of us just don't handle heat that well. Of course, many of those that won't slow down in this heat are the sae ones that skip the rides when it is 40 to 45 F because it's to cold to ride.

El Duderino X

My wife and I are both occupational first-aid attendants/medics and get a fair bit of training/work experience with environmental injuries and illnesses. This PDF from our provincial Worksafe is a pretty good document for learning about dealing with heat stroke or heat exhaustion. Though its work oriented it applies to any heat emergency. Enjoy.

Preventing Heat Stress at Work

bluefoxicy

I was the one that broke 30mph, then came to a sudden stop at a red light, chugged tons of very cold water, and then nearly puked after gorging myself on more water than my stomach holds.

ZmanKC

Exactly. The morning commute is no problem. It's in the 80's and I go at my normal pace. On the way home it's been in the 90's to 100's for the last couple of weeks. I slow my pace by around 2 mph and guzzle water and haven't had any problems.

dsprehe89

That would be me if I did group rides. I love this heat, but I am use to it. I've always loved the heat and hated cold weather, too bad I live in an area that gets both .

nashcommguy

Aren't you the one quoted above as saying, "If you're out in the heat and you suddenly find yourself in desperate need of hydration, you did something wrong."?

So, then you would agree that breaking 30 mph(I've got my doubts, btw...maybe 25 w/t wind and right gearing ), stopping and chugging tons of cold water is definitely desperate, wrong and frankly, quite stupid.

oban_kobi

No idea why this isn't included as a heat exhaustion symptom: Feeling very very hot. Happened to me last summer. I wasn't expecting the hill ride to make it that much harder to ride in 100F+. Ended up feeling very hot, woozy, dizzy, and tired. Took me a minute or so to remember that those are bad things, and that I should stop, heh.

MLKATO

If I ever win the big one,I'll be moving.

Ira B

Isn't it awesome!
I was working in the yard today and actually caught a bit of a chill.

BarracksSi

Good point, I hadn't thought of that. It's basically natural for me to keep drinking water and making sure I eat well when it's this hot.

I tell people that it's possibly more important to drink water before you go outside -- even better, the night before. I think (therefore, I can't verify ) that the body needs some time to absorb water into its systems, so getting well-hydrated beforehand gives yourself a chance to turn that water into sweat. After all, it's got to move from your digestive system to your skin -- nobody (at least, nobody I know of) uses urine to cool off.

And keep eating, too. No need to overeat, but over-hydrating can be a real problem as well. I can't say that lots of sweating would prevent it, but I've read about enough instances of people dying that I just stay with reasonable amounts of water. Poke around for overhydration hyponatremia for more info.

brothersbutler

Could you believe that I've never seen snow?

bluefoxicy

Cyclocomputer registered 30 and my odometer is consistent with what Google Maps says the distance is. 30.5 was what I registered.

I was well and good on hydration methinks; but that doesn't stop me from overheating when I'm pushing with all I've got at a high cadence trying to break the speed limit in 101F weather. Hint: being hydrated doesn't help if your body's hydrated entirely with hot chocolate. If the water in your cells is over 100 degrees and you're not a dog, you're overheating, well-hydrated or not.

This is what happens when you ride around in direct sun pushing yourself beyond the breaking point. Your metabolism is based on fire; your cells burn glucose or fat, by adding oxygen, to release enough heat to activate ATP to release even more heat to activate biological chemical reactions. Ramp it up without proper cooling and you'll start boiling yourself to death. You sweat to cool down and you rehydrate because you need the water in you to sweat; if you exceed your body's ability to sweat fast enough (you're not going to gush a liter of water in 10 seconds) or exceed the effectiveness of evaporation cooling, you will get hot.

High-performance cycling racers actually pack ice around themselves. Garmin uses full-on ice vests when their racing teams train. There's a point where you just need somebody to spray you down with a hose. Those of us who aren't triathletes and TDFers you'd think wouldn't be up there; but we're worse for dealing with the heat than they are, and we're going to see more temporary stopping than someone doing a 2 hour cycling race. Cold water is really good when you've come to a full stop only to realize the wind was the only thing keeping you from dying and you're now running a fever of 106F; it's physically addicting just because it's cold.

As another poster has said, you need to slow down in the heat. I push myself sometimes, yeah, and this is what happens to me; right now I can't because my body's past exhaustion and I've declined to take a rest for two weeks, so my muscles are too beat up to do anything but limp me to work and back in reasonable time that doesn't approach my top speed (an hour; for a while I did 45min regularly, 40min was my best time). I'm taking a rest this weekend--I have errands, but I'm not doing them, and I'm sure I'll survive. Breaks like that are, apparently, important; I'm learning, albeit slowly.

In the same way, going a bit slower in the heat keeps your metabolism from maxing out so hard that you reach that "I can't stop or I'll die" point. You can wander around in the sun at 110F all you want. Dress light and breathable, stay covered, put on a hat, some sandals that allow your feet to breath, keep access to water, and the desert is no problem. You can't performance cycle in the desert like that; it won't work. When it's 105F outside, you need to ease up so you don't become your own internal heat source--you wouldn't run the heater in your car like this, would you? Don't guzzle all the water you can as fast as you can, either, or you'll just wind up full of hot water in 10 minutes; keep it cold, keep it on hand, and nurse it constantly to cool yourself off. Some cyclists go as far as to dump water on themselves if it gets too hot.

Anyway, I'm still going hard, still drinking plenty of water--used 1 full liter to get home yesterday, left to go to work with 1/2 liter and a bottle for the return trip (and I'll buy a 20oz Gatorade to take with me in the second bottle cage). This is probably the wrong day to not rely on my camelbak, since the feeder hose gives a huge advantage in hot weather ... stop-and-chug-5-times-as-much is not as good as taking a mouthful while moving 5 times as often. But oh well, I'll live.

robyr

Are you aware of how much you contradict yourself on the internet? You say you "break 30MPH", but still have problems making an 8.5mi commute in under an hour? You say you stay well hydrated and make a big fuss about your camelbak, but you obviously incorrectly hydrated. When you discount the very real dangers in the heat, you are doing a disservice to all that read your drivel. I am convinced that you write these long posts simply to hear yourself talk.

Just an FYI, the way you talk and attempt to interject opinion as fact in near every thread on this forum is extremely grating.

DGozinya

The "ignore list" helps a lot, until someone quotes him...

monsterpile

It was 87 yesterday and it felt like it was like 70 degrees out in comparison ti the 100 or near 100 with high humidity. It was a nice ride until I had to wait in the sun for over 2 minutes to get across one street. I did have some entertainment as the cop across the street was holding a radar gun and pulled over a truck. Its been hot, but I have been doing pretty well in the heat.

MNBikeguy

All distractions aside, this in a timely thread with good information. Thanks for posting it.
Personally, I don't mind heat, but we've had a stretch of dew points in the 78 - 80 range which makes me soaking wet simply standing outside.
As you said, be careful out there!

Seattle Forrest

My apartment is on stilts over the salt water, west of the Ballard Locks. Last night, I had to use the car to move some stuff ( from the old apartment that I'm leaving ) and used the heat in the car. Mind you, it was 10 pm and 56 F with a chill coming off Puget Sound.

glowrocks

So, are you just trying to get people to hate you? :-) :-)

It gets cool at night here as well. Oh yes, it does, all the way down to 79 if we're lucky! It's usually over 90 at midnight!