Summer Heat

We are in the dog days of summer now. That means riding in hot weather. Last weekend the temperature was close to 100 degrees so had to get out early for a short ride in order to beat the heat.

This week was a little cooler so I lead a 60 mile ride from Mansfield. I had a good turnout and we maintained a fast pace. We were over 17 mph at the rest stop. The route is pretty flat with a lot of long stretches with no turns which makes it easy to crank out quick miles. Heading back from the rest stop we had a slight headwind that slowed us a little be we mostly stayed together as it got a little hotter. 

Most of the roads are relatively smooth except for Eayrestown road which was didn't have a lot of pot holes but was just rough with a lot of cracks and patches. It will be off my list of ridable roads until it gets paved. 

The fast pace caught up to me about 3 miles from the end as I cramped up. It took me a couple of minutes to stretch it out and be able to ride again but I made it back with out any more cramps. As I have gotten older I cramp up more than I use to need to watch my miles and pace. I also have to continue to experiment with Gatoraid and Gu and other supplements to see if I can reduce the amount of cramps I get. 

Still even with the cramps I came in at 16.7 which was one of the faster ride I did on this route so am riding strong and definitely feel better this year than last. I just would like the weather to cool off a little bit. 

Still the summer does provide some good sunrises.

 

 

 

I ended up stay down the shore one night and got up to see the sunrise. It was a clear morning so ended up getting a couple of nice pictures of the sunrise which was a nice deep red.

 

We probably have a few more weeks of hot summer rides so will try to stay in the shade and keep cool until the the summer heat waves end.