Hot Weather Training Help!

I went out riding yesterday 88 degrees F. I rode out about 9.5 miles and I began to feel the skin on my legs tingling and my lips begin to tingle. I thought I had enough to drink but I wasn't sweating as much as I thought I should with that heat. I think I was in the beginning stages of Heat Stroke.

What should/could I have done differently to not have this happen again if I need to ride in hot weather like this? What do you guys, girls do?

Dude, where were you at? What was the temperatures and what is your current fitness level? All of this is relative...

1. Lots of water and electrolytes are needed for hot weather riding. Plan on drinking at least a 24 oz bottle each hour in moderate 88F weather. I go up to two bottles/hour when it's sunny and mid-to-high 90's. You can add salt to water, use an endurance sports drink, or take fancy electrolyte tablets to keep things in balance.

2. For longer rides in the heat, you'll need to plan your route to include water stops where you can refill every 20 miles or so. An option would be to carry extra bottles in your jersey, or a Camelback.

3. Slow down. Recognize that the heat puts added demands on your heart, diverting a good bit of blood flow to the skin for cooling. My HR runs about 10 degrees higher than normal on a hot (eg, 95F and sunny day).

4. With your troubles on a short ride in "only" 88*F, sounds like you need to do more summer riding to have your body adapt. Build up your mileage slowly.

5. Use plenty of sunscreen. Sunburn only adds to your heat stress over the course of a long day.

6. Finally, ride early in the AM or in the evening whenever possible; not in the mid-day sun. It's possible to ride a century in 100* weather, but it's certainly not something I go out of my way to do.

I stated in my original post that it was 88 degrees F. I have been riding about 1500 miles a year. I do an early morning 30 mile ride every Saturday that averages about 19 MPH. Las week we averaged 20.3 MPH. I'd say I am a pretty good rider not the fastest but always up in the front of the pack I ride with.

Other than drinking a lot maybe the day before the ride, these two tips are probably what I needed to do. This was my first Hot weather ride of the year. Every other ride so far has been in the mid 70's at the hottest.

Try training and racing in a 100 degree+. To keep hydrated is impossible on the bike. 8 lbs of fluid loss in two hours. I had to give it up, the upper 90s was fine, 5-10 degrees more killed me. Riding in it it is not bad, its the hard efforts that kill and over heat me. It will be over a 100 "everyday"here for the next few months.

Yes, exercising in that desert heat is kind of scary. I was in Las Vegas once in July and ran four miles in 103F heat. When I finished I didn't have a drop of sweat on me (and the inside of my mouth was like asbestos). Those conditions are worthy of respect.

If you follow the Roadbikerider guys, Fred Matheny needed a SAG on stage 2 of the Elite RAAM tour last week. He finished "only" 116 miles of a 160 mile stage across the CA desert in 100+ heat before dropping out with dehydration symptoms....including salt-crusted shorts. He said his mistake was to do all his training in the cool mountains around Boulder CO; with no conditioning time in the desert heat prior to the Elite tour.

Racing in the mid-day sun on a hot day doesn't seem like the smartest way to conduct competitions, but seems to be the rule here too. Our local state champ RR and crits are held in early August, with most events being mid-day in temps usually mid-90s or higher with humidity to match. It doesn't seem fair (or even safe) to make riders compete in the season's peak heat and humidity. Nobody rides their best in those conditions, when just getting enough fluids is a challenge.

dhk2, I am going to ride my bike on the trainer outside in the shade as it is 91 degrees right now. I think this will help begin my hot weather conditioning. I'll be in the shade, but no breeze. It's atleast a start. I figure I will go out on the road when it drops to 85. I am thinking that it is better to do the contitioning as you said and work my way up instead of risking my health.

Around here it's mid 80's in the winter and mid 90's in the summer, early mornings in the winter it gets a low as mid 70's. Midday in summer is pretty close to 100.

I train everyday, usually about 20-30 miles early morning during the week and long rides, 50miles+ or races at the weekend. All of our races start at 7 or 8am.

I drink over 2 liters of water everyday as well as cups of coffee and juices.

On a typical morning ride I'll drink at least 24 oz of Gatorade. This weekend I did a 115 miles with 3000ft of climbing and I had 10 bottles of Gatorade 4 bottles of water and 2 small bottles of apple juice, and I was still dehydrated when I finished the ride!!

You really need to plan your fluid consumption so that you don't get thirsty whilst riding and you always get to your point where you refill your bottles before you run dry.

Most probably another one of my mistakes. That day I decided at the last minute to go and ride, so I wasn't drinking the whole day.

100oz Camelbak is a must IMO when it gets hot. I ride to work most days & today at 5pm it'll be 94 degrees. I drink 32 oz. within 15 minutes before I leave & have my Camelbak full with a 'lil Cytomax mixed in. A good bit of ice in the pak helps as well.

Hey quick question for you more experienced riders... Is it normal for one of your hands to loose cirulation after a 10 mile ride? I ride 10+ miles a day (road bike training) and at the end of every ride my left hand is always tingeling. Mind you my shifters are in the the middle of my bars... just left and right of the ahead, so when i shift i usually have to keep my left hand on the bar while i shift with my right. Anyway, is there something I should know about this issue? besides changing where my shifters are? Thx