Keeping cool on hot days pt 1
05-05-11 | 07:18 PM
#26
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 677
Likes: 3
From: Grants Pass, Oregon
Bikes: Hard Rock Sport, Peugeot Triathlon, Schwinn Paramount Series 7
05-05-11 | 10:27 PM
#27
Senior Member
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 1,215
Likes: 0
The problem is that you don't know, usually, what half your water is. I've been on any number of tours where using half of my water to wet my body outside would have meant going without water for drinking for a significant amount of time. That's deadly in hot conditions. It's not great in cool conditions either.
The other issue is that water that goes in you will come out somewhere. If you drink too much, your kidneys will eliminate it if the sweat glands don't utilize it. You may have some problem with electrolyte loss but that's pretty easy to deal with.
Water on the outside is nice and, if you have adequate water and ready access to more, you can have a dandy wet t-shirt contest. But if you don't know where the next water source is, the wise choice is to keep it inside. Putting it on the outside doesn't keep you from dehydrating. Only drinking water will keep you from dehydrating.
The other issue is that water that goes in you will come out somewhere. If you drink too much, your kidneys will eliminate it if the sweat glands don't utilize it. You may have some problem with electrolyte loss but that's pretty easy to deal with.
Water on the outside is nice and, if you have adequate water and ready access to more, you can have a dandy wet t-shirt contest. But if you don't know where the next water source is, the wise choice is to keep it inside. Putting it on the outside doesn't keep you from dehydrating. Only drinking water will keep you from dehydrating.
05-06-11 | 10:12 PM
#28
Mad bike riding scientist
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 29,209
Likes: 6,286
From: Denver, CO
Bikes: Some silver ones, a red one, a black and orange one, and a few titanium ones
You kind of missed the point. A cup of water squirted onto your skin is a cup of water that you will not have to sweat out. If it is 100+ degrees out. You will be evaporating that cup of water one way or another. If you squirt yourself with water, you are saving the water inside your body from being sweat out because you don't need to cool down as much. You are not using up extra water, or running out of water you can't afford. One way or another, that water is going to get evaporated, this way just means you don't lose salt along with it, and you don't dehydrate from sweating.
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Dreamin' of Bemidji Down the Mississippi (in part)
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
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Stuart Black
Dreamin' of Bemidji Down the Mississippi (in part)
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
05-06-11 | 10:18 PM
#29
Senior Member
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 542
Likes: 1
From: California
Bikes: Trek 7.2 FX, Custom Vintage FG
As others have said, drink lots! If you start feeling really hot and a bit woozy, STOP, and rest. Don't try to climb the next hill. I tried that once, and spent the next half hour on the side of the road trying not to die. Not fun, don't risk it. You were smart to turn back.
05-06-11 | 10:49 PM
#30
Senior Member
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 164
Likes: 0
From: Thailand
Bikes: Kona Sutra
Pouring water on yourself will decrease amount of sweat that evaporate from your body.
Drinking too much water doesn't help because our body able to absorb certain amount of water, it can't absorb all water that you drink in the same time.(How much water you need is come from experience.Because each of us has different amount of water that can be absorb at a time.)
Drinking too much water doesn't help because our body able to absorb certain amount of water, it can't absorb all water that you drink in the same time.(How much water you need is come from experience.Because each of us has different amount of water that can be absorb at a time.)
