Hot weather can have a severe impact on your endurance performance. When the external temperature is high, your core temperature will rocket up like a rocket. This will force your body to activate a fire alarm and prioritize self-cooling. Because the body will preferentially supply blood to the skin for temperature regulation, the resources allocated to working muscles and oxygen will decrease. This allocation will significantly reduce exercise performance and reduce cycling efficiency. The longer you stay in a hot environment, the more these physiological effects will spread like a virus.
Exercise in hot weather also consumes a lot of energy. It will make you feel like the intensity of exercise is soaring, aggravate body discomfort, and enhance fatigue. On the basis of these physiological effects, combined with these psychological effects, it constitutes a considerable challenge. Fortunately, you can improve your performance by adapting to high temperatures and take extra precautions to mitigate the adverse effects.
How to prepare for summer cycling
In the hot summer, the heat waves are rolling. High-temperature training, commonly known as heat adaptation, is a gradual adaptation of the body in the repeated rise of core body temperature. Your body is like a work of art, requiring time and patience to sculpt, to blossom more beautifully in this hot environment. Over time, your body will gradually adapt to the hot environment, becoming stronger and more efficient in the heat by increasing plasma.
Adapting to high temperatures takes ten to fourteen days. You can adapt to high temperatures by gradually exposing yourself to higher ambient temperatures during training. High temperatures are a difficult challenge for the body. It is like a cunning fox, bringing more pressure, so it will increase your fatigue. It is best to start with easy and simple training.
If you live or train in a hot place, heat adaptation can actually become part of your regular training. If not, you can also integrate heat training into your training plan by completing aerobic endurance training in hot environments.
Even with adaptation to the weather, riding in a hot environment is still an arduous challenge. In this scorching arena, you must seize any slight advantage. The following tips and techniques will help you make the most of the weather conditions when riding in the blazing sun, to provide you with all the prerequisites for success.
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Avoid dehydration
The weather has a significant impact on your fluid and electrolyte needs during exercise. Drinking enough fluids during cycling helps ensure that your temperature regulation system operates at its best. To cope with hot weather, you need to develop a hydration plan before cycling and replenish a little more water and electrolytes. Drinking one bottle of water per hour is a good benchmark during cycling. However, depending on your sweating level and weather hotness, you may drink two bottles of water every 90 minutes. If you sometimes forget to drink during cycling, don’t worry, set a reminder device on your head, watch or phone to remind you to drink a bottle of water every hour. Such a habit can be a good benchmark for your cycling. Don’t forget to add electrolytes to your drinks!
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Bring frozen water bottles or socks filled with ice cubes
Sometimes a brief coolness, that icy touch, like love, gentle and lingering, can help you stay energized on a long, hot day. For many athletes, a frozen bottle or nylon socks filled with ice is a good choice. The icy embrace, like a lover’s embrace, is intoxicating. Some athletes like to stuff nylon socks filled with ice into the back of their cycling gear. In this blazing summer, bring yourself a little coolness and relief.
If you don’t like ice packs on your back, freezing your water bottle is an alternative to carrying cool items on your ride. If you have a frozen water bottle in your cycling gear, it can provide the same relief as the power of love, allowing you to feel its presence every second of your ride.
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Pour water on yourself
During the race or ride, have you ever felt like the dough in the oven? At this time, you can splash a bottle of cold water on your back, neck or legs to temporarily relieve the high temperature with coldness, like a clear spring moistening your heart, and help regulate your body temperature.
If you are participating in a competition, prepare two water bottles at the replenishment area, one containing clear water and the other containing supplements, like your secret weapon, to provide you with power at any time.
Of course, if you try this method during training or competition, be prepared. Splashing ice water on yourself in hot weather can be a bit stimulating. But remember, do not splash water on your head or face, otherwise sweat may enter your eyes and cause discomfort.
Splashing cold water to relieve high temperature is a simple and practical method, but it also needs to be done safely. While enjoying the coolness, be mindful of the road conditions, be careful and prudent to ensure a safe arrival at the finish line.
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Wear light and breathable cycling gear and do sun protection
In this blazing summer, replacing your beloved all-black sports gear with snow-white cycling gear will bring you unprecedented freshness and comfort. Dark clothing absorbs endless heat like a dark night, while light clothing scatters freshness and tranquility like a bright moonlight.
If you are participating in a competition and the color of your team uniform is dark, you may not be as relaxed as those lucky ones wearing light cycling gear.
Under the warm sun, in addition to wearing lightweight sportswear, be sure to apply sunscreen to protect your skin. Sunburn weakens the body’s ability to self-cool, aggravates diseases caused by sun exposure, and exacerbates body discomfort. If you plan to ride for several hours, you may need to carry some extra sunscreen with you to deal with the outdoor effects. However, the time spent applying sunscreen is absolutely worthwhile because it can protect your beauty, allow you to travel safely without any harm on your cycling journey.
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Develop a positive attitude
In hot weather, it is easy for us to fall into a negative mood, feel that we cannot cope with the heat, helpless and frustrated. No matter how much heat training, how many iced drinks, and how much hydration, it is difficult to resist the sighs from the depths of the heart. In hot weather, your words to yourself before, during and after cycling will have a powerful influence on your performance and affect your experience cycling in hot weather in the long run. Telling yourself or others that you can’t stand the heat will only make you more convinced that you perform poorly in hot weather.
However, this negative attitude will only make us more tired and helpless. In contrast, if we can cultivate trust in our adaptability and preparation, while resisting negative hot thinking, we can better cope with the challenges of heat and make greater progress.
If you describe your experience cycling in hot weather in romantic language, such as: “In this hot summer, I traverse paddy field after paddy field, feeling the embrace of the sun and breathing the fresh air. At this moment, I feel so small yet so great.” Such descriptions will have a different impact on your experience of cycling.
It is not that the challenges of heat are unimportant. Riding in hot weather is mentally challenging because you are challenging your physical limits. However, it is too easy to lock yourself in a mindset that you cannot cope with the heat, which is an unnecessary mental limitation. In the hot summer, cultivating trust in your adaptability and preparation while resisting negative hot thinking will greatly progress you.
Let’s describe our experience cycling in hot weather in romantic language, fill our hearts with love and beauty, and enjoy this intimate contact with nature. At the same time, we must also maintain a positive attitude, believe that we can overcome difficulties, face challenges, and achieve better results.
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Post time: Jul-19-2023