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Handling Humidity

06.08.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 11 Comments

Texas — and much of the rest of country, from what I’ve been seeing online – is going through a patch of very humid weather. I really felt its effects on last weekend’s club ride. I was drenched in sweat and had trouble keeping up my pace. Others had it even worse. Our ride leader blamed himself for not drinking enough, and was hit with cramps in both legs that nearly knocked him off the bike.

Most people I talk to about the humidity complain more about being uncomfortable than anything else. One Bike Noob reader wondered if it’s even possible to beat humidity.

The problem with high humidity is that it inhibits the body’s ability to cool itself. That’s because the saturated air doesn’t allow water to evaporate. You sweat more, but it just stays on your skin. You’re still losing water and salt, so dehydration becomes a greater risk. Therefore, a lot of the advice about dealing with humid weather is much the same as advice about dealing with hot weather. Mainly: stay hydrated.

Cycling coach Diane Stibbard reminds you to drink before the ride, even starting the night before. Take 16 ounces of liquid before you go to bed. Drink another 16-24 ounces in the morning before you head out. You might want to include some kind of electrolyte in this pre-ride drink.

During the ride, you should be drinking every 15-20 minutes.  Your water bottles probably hold 12-16 ounces, and Stibbard says you should try to drink 16-24 ounces the first hour of the ride. That would empty both bottles in the first hour.

After the first hour, add sports drink. Some folks say it might even be a good idea to add a pinch of salt to your sports drink. For one thing, it would eliminate the sometimes cloyingly sweet taste. But maybe a salty snack might be even better. Pretzels have both carbs and salt. Salting your food the day before the ride might help, too.  But you should know whether your body can tolerate sodium.

Other ideas, in no particular order and of varying value – you decide:

Wear a helmet with lots of vents. I can feel the difference in my recently-acquired Bell Sweep helmet with its big vents, but on humid days, I sweat just as much as with the old helmet.

Wear a jersey with mesh inserts.

Fill your water bottles halfway the night before, and freeze them.

Use a Camelbak or similar hydration system instead of water bottles for its greater volume.

If the humidity is greater than 50 percent, take along an extra bottle. Stick it in one of your jersey pockets.

Go early in the morning. A friend and I hit the road by 7 a.m. for our Saturday ride. Caveat: mornings can be cooler, but also more humid, so you still might not evaporate sweat and might still have to deal with problems caused by dehydration.

After the ride, remember to continue replacing the fluids you lost. Coach Stibbard recommends another 16-24 ounces in the first hour.

So, you might not be able to  “beat” humidity. But if you take the right precautions, I think it’s possible to keep it from beating you.

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Categories // Heat Tags // heat, humidity

How to Drink From a Water Bottle

06.06.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 10 Comments

Boy, today’s ride was uncomfortably humid. Not terribly hot, just humid. The kind of day where you start sweating when you open the door and step outside. The kind of day where your cycling gloves are soaked through before you’ve ridden five miles. And when the group takes a short break, you can take the gloves off and wring them out — and they drip moisture all over the road. Ditto your sweat band.

I found myself reaching for my water bottle more than usual today. That’s a good thing, because I tend to drink too little when I’m on the road. But both of my slightly-larger-than-normal water bottles were almost drained when I finished the 33 miles — about all I felt like doing. I had plenty of trouble keeping the group in sight today.

I also noticed the way other riders took their water. It seems there’s not just one way to drink from a bottle, but three distinctly different ways. I couldn’t get shots of all the different ways as we were riding, but when the ride was over I had young Alexander, who rode with us today (and who left me well behind), demonstrate.

The first way is pretty normal. You grab your bottle, and drink from it like you drink from a glass. Or a beer bottle.  Most people seem to use this method.

The way most of us drink.

But there’s a variation I often see, usually from riders with many years of experience. Saw a lot of pros in the Philly International Championship on TV today drink that way, too. They reach down for their bottle, but instead of keeping their thumb at the top, they turn their hand over so the thumb points down. That brings the water bottle to the mouth already pointing down.

The upside down method.

But there’s a third way, that I’ve seen associated with European racing teams. You hold the bottle normally, but then turn it so your hand is on top of the bottle.

Hand on top. You don't see this very often.

I once read about a team of French cyclists using the hand on top method, and figured what the hey, I’ll give it a try. It seemed that the water flowed more freely. Of course, that could be just my imagination.  But I use this way from time to time, if I think about it while on a ride.

Personally, I’ve never liked the upside down method, but in my experience, cyclists who use it won’t drink any other way.

Ultimately, the important thing is to get the water in the mouth. So I suppose whatever works for you is the way to go.

Do you have a preferred method of drinking during rides? And if so, what’s good about it?

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Categories // food, Technique Tags // hydration, water

Bike Mods In Place – Let’s See If They Work

06.03.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 1 Comment

Back in April, I had a bike fitting, which I’ve already talked about here. One of the conclusions that came from the fitting was that I needed to make two equipment modifications to the bike. I needed wider handlebars — 46 cm, although the fitter said 44 would do — and I needed shorter cranks.

In each case, the mods were not urgent, and he told me to get them when it was convenient.

They’re here, and they’re on the bike.

Our resident club mechanic, David,  posted that he had some surplus gear he wanted to get rid of — and one item just happened to be a set of 44 cm handlebars. Not only that, they were Ritchey Biomax, which have a shallow drop — something I thought I could use. He was willing to let them go for a song.

New bars in front. Only 2 cm wider, but you can still see the difference.

Of course, nothing ever falls into place without some kind of glitch. I pulled the old bars off my bike — which also involves peeling off the bar tape and removing the brake levers — and found out the new handlebar is a different diameter than the old one. They wouldn’t fit.

A bike without bars is a sad sight.

Bike mechanic David said I was in luck — that a shim was available that would let me fit the new skinny bars into the fat stem. Technical aside here: Handlebars used to have a diameter of 26 mm, but that’s been replaced by a new standard — 31.8 mm. At Mellow Johnny’s bike shop in downtown Austin (the one where Lance is part owner) one of the mechanics said he’d have to order the shim. “You’d think these would always be in stock,” he said. “It’s a reasonable request.” He ordered the eight-dollar part, and I had it in a week.

Step one done. New bars on, bar tape wrapped neater than before.

I could feel the difference right away, and I'm already used to it.

Meanwhile, our frequent guest poster Don Blount had switched to a new crankset, and offered to send me his old one. It had the 172.5 mm crank arms I needed (I had to replace the 175 mm arms that came with the bike). After a series of delays, I finally got the bike and the new crankset over to David, and he put them on today.

Ready to roll. If the weather cooperates.

Both Nelo, who did the fitting, and David told me the shorter cranks will improve my hill climbing. I’m stoked.

But it rained much of last night and today and the roads are wet. I have to pick up Mrs. Noob’s car from the shop, and then pick her up when she comes back from a business trip this evening.

I’ll climb tomorrow.

Ed. Note: Did 18 mi. one day after this post, including three intermediate hills. Hills seem to be easier. Will post in more detail after I’ve done a variety of rides with the new setup.

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Categories // Equipment Tags // Equipment

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