How to ride your mountain bike in hot weather (and not overheat!)

So you want to trip your mountain bicycle in a heat wave? If you just can’t pass up out on a day of driving, you can acquire a handful of additional safety measures to ensure you have fun devoid of overheating.

1. Continue to be hydrated

To stay away from dehydration, get a lot of liquid with you to consume when you go out riding, and make positive you consume lots in advance of you go and once more when you get back again. Staying thirsty on a trip isn’t just distracting dehydration can influence your cognitive function, potentially escalating your odds of crashing, and critical dehydration can have significant penalties in and of by itself.

Dehydration is where your entire body loses much more fluid than you acquire in, according to the UK’s Countrywide Health Services dehydration suggestions. Gentle signs or symptoms consist of thirst (clearly), emotion dizzy, drained, darkish-colored pee, and a dry mouth and eyes. Appear out for these, and rehydrate if you detect any of them.

The basic suggestions is all over a single litre every hour in temperatures more than 30°C, but as the temperature rises, you will possibly have to have to consume far more.

2. Hold your electrolytes topped up

The banana. A vintage trail snack for a rationale.

In hot weather, you will be perspiring greatly, even far more so if you’re training, and your overall body will get rid of the vital sugars and salts, AKA electrolytes, it demands to run competently. Make sure you replenish them.

You could use a flavoured hydration pill dissolved in your hydration backpack reservoir or, if you use water bottles, alternate ingesting from one with this in and one particular filled with h2o. You could also use basic rehydration salts that you can get from most pharmacies and drug suppliers, or make your very own by incorporating a little pinch of salt to some fruit squash.

You can also get electrolytes from meals pickles are a well known preference, as is the superior outdated banana. Cheese, melon, milk and nuts are also great resources. We’re pondering a good, icy chilly write-up-journey banana and peanut butter milkshake is sounding very superior proper about now.

3. Prevent riding through the best aspect of the working day

Prepare your ride to stay clear of the most popular parts of the day. In the British isles, the Achieved Office recommend preventing training involving 11am and 3pm.

The early morning and late night are a great deal cooler, so head out early or late, or as an alternative of a person extensive trip how about two quick ones each individual stop of the day?

4. Dress in light, breathable clothes

This is a bit of a no-brainer, but effectively decide your lightest, most breathable kit for any rides you have prepared.

Choose for shorts in its place of trousers, opt for clothes that are manufactured of hugely breathable materials or with temperature-regulating characteristics, eg. shorts with laser-slash ventilation holes, helmets with a good deal of air ports, and gloves and socks that have a finer knit.

5. Remain community

It is tempting to want to drive off somewhere to go trip, but you’ll do yourself (or your bike) no favours by currently being in a scorching vehicle for a interval of time, particularly if you get trapped in targeted traffic since absolutely everyone else has experienced the identical strategy.

Or if your motor vehicle has remarkable air conditioning, likely from amazing automobile to warm path will also be a little bit of a shock to your program – if you are likely to do this, give you a bit of time to acclimatise to the outside temperature in advance of rushing up that first climb.

So continue to be community if you can, hit your nearby trails, and you are going to also be closer to dwelling when you want to awesome off later on.

6. Head for the trees

Rooty operates by way of the forest are far too superior for the hardcore to hoard. Pic: Andy Lloyd.

Got a forest in close proximity to you? Head there for your trip.

The temperature in shaded spots beneath trees is commonly noticeably cooler in between 1°C to 5°C in simple fact, in accordance to the United States Environmental Defense Agency. This isn’t just for the reason that the trees offer shade, but also because of a thing identified as transpiration the trees launch h2o which evaporates, drawing heat away with it. Thank you trees!

7. Apply loads of sunscreen

Obtain some SPF30 (or higher than) sunscreen. Use it liberally to each and every space of your system which is not coated by garments and that will be exposed to the solar. Repeat at any time pair of several hours.

Solar melt away is not pleasurable, and skin most cancers is substantially even worse, so slop that stuff on and hold making use of it throughout the day as you will sweat it off over the study course of a journey. Contemporary sunshine screens are reasonably priced, and quick to implement – we like the spray-on kinds.

8. Go over up if you can

It can appear counterintuitive, but if you can cover up locations that are frequently exposed to the sunlight with light, breathable fabrics, you are going to insert an more degree of sunlight security. What’s far more, a lot of contemporary breathable materials may well even help you feel cooler, thanks to dampness evaporating from the cloth and drawing your physique heat with it. This is particularly significant if you are heading be out in the open up and not sheltered by trees.

Feel about a light-weight breathable bandana or buff for the back of your neck, a loose lengthy-sleeved top and comprehensive-finger gloves.

9. Defend your eyes

Your eyes are also sunlight-sensitive, not to point out the simple fact that there’s possible to be a load of dust kicked up when using in a heatwave. Get a excellent pair of cycling sun shades with tinted, mirrored lenses that will give your eyes security from UV rays and brightness.

Likelihood are your helmet has a peak in any case, but these are also handy for supplying a little bit more overhead shade for your face and eyes.

10. Really don’t trip far too hard

You may perhaps be in the center of instruction for an event, seeking to raise your exercise, or only have a confined window of time to get out for a spin, but a warmth wave is not the time to drive your body to the limit.

Heat adds worry to your program as your body performs to hold alone amazing more than enough to operate thoroughly. Exercise adds extra warmth to the blend, and hence much more pressure. Though you might be fantastic on a light spin,  entire-on max coronary heart rate uphill sprints may possibly be a little bit considerably in this climate, and you do not want to idea about into warmth exhaustion or its much more really serious sibling, heat stroke.

So, postpone the interval training right up until temperatures have reduced (or go away it for the cooler early mornings) and decide for a slower, steadier pace instead.

11. Keep away from alcoholic beverages

Ah, that put up-trip cold beer. So pretty tempting. But it might be worth substituting it for a soft drink or a decrease alcoholic beverages option like a shandy or radler, as liquor contributes to dehydration.

If you had a couple of drinks the night right before your journey, make excess certain you’ve obtained plenty of liquids with you to compensate.

How incredibly hot is way too sizzling for mountain biking?

There are some quite actual dangers to riding in extreme temperatures, this sort of as heat stroke, dehydration and sunburn, and if you have received any underlying health and fitness circumstances, this adds far more danger.

So though it is obviously beautiful to get out riding when the trails are dry and the sky is apparent, if professional tips is to steer clear of training then ask your self if you seriously have to have to go out for a huge experience, or can you wait till temperatures drop to safer stages.

A person of the major pitfalls from riding in serious heat is heatstroke, which is a critical situation that necessitates urgent professional medical consideration. Commonly, a person will display screen signs of warmth exhaustion initially a headache, dizziness, nausea, pale clammy pores and skin and other signs and symptoms as described by the NHS. Intense dehydration is also no joke.

If you discover these indicators in by yourself or any one else, you need to assist the person great down, and preserve an eye on them. Initially assist advice for heat stroke from the Crimson Cross  is truly worth realizing. And if you’re sensation at all sick for the reason that of the heat, request assistance from a clinical qualified.

Remain awesome, take pleasure in your journey!