Cycling in the heat

 Heat Waves make cycling awful and awesome!




I took a few days off from work to get things done around the house and just not think about work for a while. It just happens to be the week that my area is having a heat wave again. I do not mind the heat or the cold all that much but I do mind when sweating so much that my eyes sting after about 5 minutes of cycling. I decided today was going to be a longer cycling day. Nothing too crazy no 100 miles on a whim or anything but just not think about it and go out there and ride for as long as I felt like it. Well right at the start I was sweating. It was already 90 degrees when I left the house and it was not noon yet. I had a bottle of water and figured I could stop at a store if I really needed more than that. 

I started the normal route I take and added a little extra on to it. Before the end of the path there is a another path I can take that crosses a major road and takes you onto another path section and into a state park. The path that takes me to the state park is not covered by any trees and is on a highway so there is a lot of heat and no chance pause to cool down. That part is the part that got me today. It was 15 miles into my ride and I had finsihed all my water and was riding to a state park where there are no stores around for a while. The sweat was dripping into my eyes and stinging them. I kept pressing my helmet to my head so the sweat band that is inside would wring out but it was not really all that useful. The effects only lasted about 5 10 minutes at best. Either way I was too far in to turn around and figured I could pause at the state park anyway. I got to the state park and found they added some water bottle filling stations so I filled up my water bottle and found a nice spot to sit for a while and relax. 


I was going to try to do a much longer lap around the park but after relaxing a bit and drinking water I realized that I was exhausted. I have done more miles before and I have gone much faster before but the heat and sweating was cauing me to feel off. So I turned around and headed back home. On my way I was feeling better thinking the water had finally started to help me so I thought I would stop at the store get more water and keep riding. 

I left the store and about 5 miles later started to feel off again so I doubled back and called it a day. When I got home I took off my shoes and sat down by my AC and have been relaxing since. I still do not feel right and I know its becuase I did not prepare for riding in such heat but I have more than enough water now and the AC is cooling me off properly so I am not worried about it. Aside from feeling off and exhausted I also feel kind of good. It feels good to be able to just set out for the day and ride for a while getting all my thoughts sorted out even if I did not prepare properly for it. I have another ride I will be doing this weekend but this one is planned and much more of a relax very calm ride. I will remember to bring more water though as it forcasted to be around 90 on the next ride day. 

I am off to relax more near my AC and plan my next ride!  Thank you very much for reading have and wonderful day!

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