Cycling in hot weather...

CamperMan

I am currently in the south of France, been here for 3 months now and the heat is insane, over 30 Degrees sometimes hitting over 40.. I like to cycle but with the heat, it's down to riding indoors on the turbo trainer..

any suggestions on how to cope with riding in the heat?, what clothing to wear, what kind of food should I take and how much fluids would be needed?

Or shall I just keep riding on the turbo trainer indoors?

Cee-Jay-Cee

What about early mornings, crack of dawn time to go for spins, it'll be the coolest part of the day.

Foods depends on how long you plan being away but water/drinks would be very important in hot weather. I'd have at least 1L of water in one bottle and 750ml of water/electrolytes in another and alternate drinking from them on spins.

Clothing, the bare minimum I suspect with a good high SPF sun cream.

Lucena

Ideally you'd want to be cycling in the early morning, setting the alarm for 5 or 6 a.m., getting a good breakfast into you and hitting the road then. If you've been in France for 3 months, maybe you're working, so it's not always possible to go for a three-hour spin before work. In that case, your only option is weekends or evenings, but even in the evening it's still quite hot.

When I climbed Mont Ventoux in late June a few years back, I was on the bike at 6am and at the top around 9am and had no trouble with the heat, even though the weather had been fairly warm at the time.

Brian?

I lived in Arizona, regularly got up to 50c in the summer. We used to head out at 6am, back and in the pool by 10 when it was hitting the high 40s.

The biggest problem is fluids. You simply can't carry enough, so every spin needs to include a garage or 2.

Shave/wax your entire body. It's worth it.

Carawaystick

Get up early(earlier)
freeze one of the bidons the night before - it'll thaw over an hour or 2

Lucena

Brian? wrote: »

I lived in Arizona, regularly got up to 50c in the summer. We used to head out at 6am, back and in the pool by 10 when it was hitting the high 40s.

The biggest problem is fluids. You simply can't carry enough, so every spin needs to include a garage or 2.

Shave/wax your entire body. It's worth it.

Up at the crack of dawn, eh? :P

2 Wheels Good

Has it got any easier over the 3 months?

I do Bikram yoga and find the heat part of it really helps my body adjust to the heat in France. Hydration before and during are crucial though.

Ranjo

I'm away in 30 degree heat and noticing loads out cycling. Its a different mindset to the soft cool Irish air. I grew up in the heat and can give my 2c.

Hydration and sunburn - Primary considerations.

Agree with others, start early and avoid the midday heat.

Quality sunglasses. Sun cream applied before you go. Light clothing, light colour. Stop more often for a rest in the shade.

Start with shorter spins and work your way up until you're comfortable and know places to refill water and rest.

Seaswimmer

Ranjo wrote: »

I'm away in 30 degree heat and noticing loads out cycling. Its a different mindset to the soft cool Irish air. I grew up in the heat and can give my 2c.

Hydration and sunburn - Primary considerations.

Agree with others, start early and avoid the midday heat.

Quality sunglasses. Sun cream applied before you go. Light clothing, light colour. Stop more often for a rest in the shade.

Start with shorter spins and work your way up until you're comfortable and know places to refill water and rest.

Contrary to popular belief the hottest part of the day is from about 15:00 to 17:00. Remember that "local" noon (when sun is directly overhead) can often be as late as 14:30 local time in Spain for example so heat can peak a couple of hours after that.

I recently had a Spanish cycling holiday during the heatwave and once I knew the suncream worked I was happy to cycle up to about 16:00 each day. Plently of stops and plenty of water. The worst was when any wind was behind you as you didn't then generate your own breeze but by and large it was doable.

triggermortis

It's been hot here for weeks now and I've managed a few spins outside of commuting and I try and get out as early as possible. Drinking lots helps the most I find. Luckily there are a lot of water fountains here (several in each village usually). I got through 4 bottles of water and 1 of hi-5 today in 3 hours

ROK ON

I like cycling in the heat and have spent many family holidays at foothill of In South of France with friends of my wife who are from a village between Foix and Carcassone.
The locals get up really early - like 6am early. Then at 1 of 2pm all the kids are packed off to bed. Everyone gets up again at 6 and stays up late.
Effectively they get two 3-4 hour sleeps during July and August as opposed to one 7-8 hour nightly sleep.

I have cycled there and did four ten to twelve hour days in the saddle when the temp hit 45.
We would meet a few local cycling club in the road at 7-9am. After midday we would meet no one, not even cars. It is effortless, I find, to cycle in 30degree heat. It is arduous to cycle in 40 degrees. Hydration becomes a huge issue. I kept drinking to stay hydrated but eventually I got really sick from drinking. There is a fine balance.
One day I reckon I too 12-14 litres of fluid over 200km with 4000m of climbing. I felt awful - the following day I drank less, just kept sipping and felt better.

One thing I found useful was many villages have water pumps - use these to cool down wrists/underarms/back of neck - thisnhelpsmto bring down core temp (or at least feel like it does).

I would agree that hottest time of the day is not three but closer to five PM.

If I was heading back to France to cycle I would cycle from 6-12 with a minimum of breaks and try and get indoors and sleep till five, then cycle from 6-9pm.

Enjoy

Koobcam

I spend a good bit of the year in Beijing, and it is bloody hot in the summer months. This year in particular was bad, it got proper hot from about mid-May, with temperatures up to the mid-to-high 30s every day. Beijing also has serious issues with air pollution, so that combined with the heat means you have to ride early. It would be quite common for me to start a ride at 5 or 530 am. I would not normally bother with breakfast-we would normally do an hour or hour and a half and then go to a cafe to get breakfast, then everyone rolls on to work. I think anything longer than a two hour spin though and you would need to eat first. There is also the option of night riding-I have done a few mountain rides at night time in the hills to the north of Beijing and it's actually a lot of fun, though the descents can be a bit dodgy. Probably better to do flat spins if you are going out in the evening, or at least nothing where the speed downhill is going to be super fast.
With weekend mountain spins in Beijing, there is no escape from the heat, but at least if you start early (around 8am by the time you have driven out), you can avoid the worst of it. If you can design a route that gets the really hard climbs out of the way early and then throw in some long descents it definitely helps.