goldbond is the roadie's best friend.

thanks for coming out Judah, wheels or none. You missed the drunken conclusion... and three other drinking holes in between. But hey, next time, bring your ride!

(me, i'm happy work sent me to nice, cool, un-humid LA for a week...)

damn chimbly enjoy LA while you can!
the riding around here the last two days has been stoooopid hot!
what with the "heat advisory warning system" in code yellow and all...
bring back some of that cool un-humid stuff

we still ride hard though
some things can never change

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...feyverk-42.jpg


_ dc street pirates _

tink, what's with the dc/nova location? Do you have two apartments or something?

Judah: I spent years running and cycling in DC's heat and humidity. After a couple of weeks of regular and sustained exposure to high heat and humidity your body will complete a process known as heat acclimitization. Once your body is acclimitized to the heat you will be amazed at how little you sweat. But the first week or two of it are brutal.

Heat and humidity are quite dangerous, though, and I always consumed a mininimum of 20 ounces of water per hour of running or cycling.

i don't really buy that. i've lived in dc for 6 years and still sweat like a dog all summer long (lovely picture, i know). you never really get used to this nonsense, and your body isn't really made to take it unless you grew up in it.

And I don't really buy that. :)

I've lived in FL for 23 years. I can't ride around the block during the day without getting salty. The (east coast) summer sucks. It can be made slightly better by living near the beach, but it mostly sucks.

Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about since I'm only speaking from my experience as a native. Maybe everyone else is much worse off...in which case, hahahaha. Sorry.

I can't wait until the winter riding gear threads get dredged up again.

Whoever's pics those are, they just got blogged by Nerve

Yup. I'm calling BS too. My natural acclimitized state is sweaty sweaty sweaty. I can stand still in a meat locker and break into a sweat. Luckily it's the purest shimmering droplets and I don't smell bad, just look gross.

I think you do get used to the heat, but I have never stopped sweating so profusely.

So you back now?

back? me?
i'm working in LA until Friday, where it's far cooler.
(but the prizes for the Elvis Race are piling up in the meantime.)

Nah, jrowedc. He went off to Belgrade or Belarus or something similarly ridiculous (I kid!) for a minute.

I really can't believe the weather across the states..very nasty! Of course, here in the foothills of the Front Range we have:

A lovely 85F, 17% humidity

just a little mention:

the philadelphia inquirer reported today that Philly declared an "excessive heat emergency" for yesterday and today. This is a condition declared only by parts of arizona, nevada, and socal. So my question, is it really possible that this heat wave is so concentrated that it only affects philadelphia county? or could we possibly overreact more? couldn't my wage tax go towards tax-payer subsidized goldbond handouts?

Agreed. Get the old people into some AC and let's move on with our lives.

Actually, it's sort of nice. When we declare a heat emergency here it does mean things like community centers, libraries, public buildings, etc are open to loiterers to simply come hang out in the cool for a bit. That's a nice touch of humaneness.

did you successfully transport Sue in a Suitcase?

nope. sue fit, but wheels didn't, and so it was a big mess.

here here, i second variety. sure, the seasons can be miserable, but it can also be an adventure! having the same weather every day sounds boring.

Belarus. I got back last night. Wait 'til I post a pic of the SS I rode. Next week.
If you acclimitization skeptics would like to cite your sources in the medical literature, I'll cite mine.

I cite my filthy, smelly clothing (no hygiene jabs -- it's the weather, seriously). :)

I cite my having lived in hot and humid climates all my life and still sweating like a junkie in withdrawal.

I'd be interested in what the literature has to say, though. :)

I cite my un-sweaty clothes after running an hour in LA this morning, and my godawful clothes after a mere 3 mile commute in DC each morning for the last 6 years.

I see the source of confusion. I didn't mean to imply that any of you were acclimatized, or even that I currently was. I have been in the past, though, and it's nice. I read about it originally in Lore of Running by Tim Noakes. Here are some useful links:

http://www.sportsci.org/encyc/heataccl/heataccl.html
http://www.clinicalsportsmedicine.com/chapters/48a.htm
http://www.physsportsmed.com/issues/...9/sparling.htm

Umm... According to Noakes:

The human body adjusts to exposure to hot conditions by increasing blood volume and venous tone and, particularly, by alterations to the sweating mechanism. The main ways in which the sweating mechanism is affected are by:

* earlier onset of sweating
* increased amount of sweating
* increased dilution of the sweat

Which all stands to reason. It's hotter, so you should kick the sweat machine into high gear. Us sweaty bastards are acclimatized.

Profuse sweating is not an indicator of acclimatization. Acclimatization is indicated by improved performance in heat and humidity. That is how you know if your body has adapted.

In any case, sweating doesn't cool you: transfer of heat from your skin to the air and evaporation or dripping of your sweat cause heat loss. If the air is hotter than your core body temperature, then there is no transfer of heat to the air by convection. That leaves evaporation and dripping of sweat. But if the humidity level is very high, then obviously evaporation will be minimal. So you are left dripping, and dripping isn't half as effective as evaporation (Noakes). The only way for your body to adapt is to produce less heat. That is what acclimatization is about. At least that's my interpretation of Noakes.

Right, but you were alleging it was accompanied by reduced sweating. Exactly the opposite is true.

Yes, but core temp is 98.6 Fahrenheit, so for most of us, ambient temp will suffice for cooling, even in temps that are considered quite hot.

Anyhow, the complaint was about sweating and all the sources you cited indicated that heat acclimatization means increased sweat production and sweating at a lower temperature threshold, among other things.

It looks like it. I consider myself informed. I hope I'm not alone.