Got a little toasty on my ride today...

[Rat407]

Nice and warm, but that's a dry heat right?

Here in eastern NC the humidity is killer and now in the 90's for the most part. My Garmin is accurate as long as I'm moving. If I stop it reads higher because the sun warms it up. I have to have a good head band to keep the sweat out of my eyes siince it doesn't evaporate like out west.

 

[Kurtatron]

Agreed. I grew up in CA for the first 25 years of my life. I was in central CA where it hit 110s. I am now in the Midwest, where it doesn’t get nearly as hot, but the humidity makes the 90s into an absolute sweat bath. And it doesn’t cool down much at night. Desert heat cools down nicely at night. But I don’t miss that lack of rain out west!

 

[Brons2]

I went on a night ride last night about 16 miles with some friends, it was cooler than in the day but man the humidity was killer. It rained a lot here at the start of the summer and the humidity never left. We're having kind of a gulf coast kind of summer. In 2018 when we had over 50 days over 100F, the air was a lot drier.

Plus I'm a bit out of shape, that didn't help when my friend was going gonzo. Apparently stopping and drinking a couple of beers has the opposite effect on him than it does on me. I'm like 22? Can we turn down the testosterone a little? I'm thinking 13-14 sounds niiiiiice after those beers.

 

[vavavroom]

Riding in the heat puts your cardiovascular system to the test. Hydration, hydration, hydration.

 

[IndyIan]

90 in NC is worse than 107 where OP lives...

Having been to most of the United States' deserts and a few others, it is almost always a shock coming home to NC in the summer.

In southern ontario we get pretty ridiculous humidity with our heat as well, so I was surprised how nice mountain biking in 98F was when the humidity was low. We never get that here. Fat biking down to -15C is pretty nice though if there not much wind.

 

[IndyIan]

Anyone rig up a mister?

I find soaking a tightish fitting cotton T shirt to start, works pretty well to stay cool even when its higher humidity. Your body gets to save the first quart of sweat atleast until the t shirt dries out, although I find that never happens in my 1-2 hr humid mtb rides. I guess for longer road rides you could just bring a plastic bag and some extra water to re-soak it if needed.