Best Summer Gear/Tips?

It is getting hot here in California. Last Friday was a 450 mile - 11 hour ride, with the last 3 hours in 90 degree plus weather. I had to stop a couple of times to stand in the shade and realized that I was very unprepared for the summer - when it gets really hot. So, how do you handle riding in 90 plus conditions for hours (say 4 plus) at a time? Gear? Technique? I am looking for recommendations assuming 'all of the gear, all of the time'. So an ensemble of tee-shirt, shorts, baseball cap, beer in the trunk, and bare hands may keep you cool - but hoping to get more safety oriented recommendations. Looking to get suggestions in the following categories: gloves, jackets, pants, boots, helmet, undergarments, cooling vests, hydration, rests, and whatever you think helps keep you cool! Thanks.

x

Light colors, mesh gear, and stop more

bigbird wrote:

Dimond wrote:

Looking to get suggestions in the following categories: undergarments

There's only 1 brand of undergarments to wear in hot weather:

Commando

I have my own tips:
1. Make sure you wear a helmet. Sun radiating straight on top of your unprotected head will heat you up faster. A helmet will provide some insulation

2. Mesh gear with caution. The caution is this: with a mesh jacket, you will now have 90 degree or hotter air whipping across your body. I don't think this is good for cooling. Open vents enough to help exhaust heat from your clothing, maybe use some cold packs (neck wraps, vests) to help keep you cool.

3. Stay hydrated! Again, at 55mph you have hot air circulating around your body, this will quickly dehydrate you.

4. Keep in mind that sometimes it is just too hot to ride. Change riding habits to early morning or later evening.

Vic

I have Mesh jacket=sucks. Too cold when a little cool in the AM. at 90 degrees has hot spots.

I find natural fiber stuff that is not air tight fine. Wet down. I worked at Yuma Proving Ground, so know how to handle dry heat. I live in south now, have to contend with hot/humid----keep moving, get off often and get out of sun.

Drink a lot of water. I wear full gloves regardless, no underwear, boots with air space inside. Leathers just too hot, helmet with venting if possible.

I've been wearing various brands of technical underwear under my riding gear for years. They are all moisture-wicking and breathable, and can be easily washed in a hotel bathroom and dryed in a few hours. None of the pants have seams near my delicate butt cheeks to cause hot spots and irritation on long riding days. The only disadvantage of technical underwear is it will stick to the Velcro patches on your riding gear like dog **** to your shoe.

There are specialist US suppliers like LD Comfort that's already been mentioned, but do a little lateral thinking and check out outdoor outlets like REI and Eastern Mountain Sports. Here where I live in Cumbria I often have a ratch round the the specialist outdoor shops in the Lake District.

I've been wearing a selection of US made helmet liners for many years, they are also a lot easier to wash than the inside of your helmet, and as I usually wear open face helmets I'll regularly put sun block on my lips to prevent cracking or triggering cold sores. Another essential item is a SuperVisor on my helmet, as drop down sun visors are essentially rubbish. To seal any annoying draughty gaps round my neck I wear a neck tube, and with short summer gloves I wear towelling wrist bands to seal the wrist area. It's also a good way to cover an expensive watch you might be wearing.

I've got a favourite Hein Gericke vented summer suit than I favour over the other ones in my wardrobe, and I stopped clumping about in bike boots after I got into maxi scooters. Yes I know you Americans don't like that name, but that's what we call them in the UK. Since my feet are inboard a pair of Hi-Tech Magnums are my all year round choice of footwear. As for gloves I'll take along a spare pair and wear them if the others get a bit sweaty.

Cup holders seem to be an American thing, I've got a Camelbak I can wear and I've fitted an insulated drinking tube, but if you haven't and don't like sipping the warm water that's been in the tube, just blow it back into the reservoir and the cooler water will fill then fill the tube. Usually I take a water bottle with me in the top box and have a drink off the bike. Carrying this water proved valuable a couple of years ago when I was over in Northern Ireland. My eyes started stinging really badly on the road into Enniskillen, I don't know what was causing the problem but I was probably downwind of some heavy crop spraying. When I could I managed to stop and irrigate my streaming eyes with water from my bottle. I was fine after a few minutes but I've have been screwed without that water.

Summer gear tips.
Last summer I purchaced a cooling vest,you soak it in water for a couple of minutes,gently squeese out excess water,put it in a plastic bag and store it in your trunk until it becomes uncomfortably warm then take it out and wear it,the air circulating around you evaporates the water thereby cooling you down.This works great and even works under a jacket that has airflow mesh,it wil work for several hours, and if you need to, you can stop and resoak it at the next rest stop.I have used it at mid 90s temps and it has made all the difference in alowing me to enjoy riding all summer long.

Meldrew,
Good tip about blowing the water in the tube back into the camel-back.

Cheers,

Might seem like a no brainer but wear a white helmet. Makes a huge difference compared to a darker colour.

Lots of good suggestions here. I like the idea of the soakble vest. There are also those neck bandanas with crystals inside that you soak in water. They work for a long time and really help since you are cooling an area of high blood flow that helps to cool the whole body

i would wear underarmor its supposed to regulate your temperature. you could also wear this on your neck http://www.besafeplus.net/cooling-bandanas.htm

Those cooling bandanas are fine if you remember you've got one soaking, I forgot once and it ended up looking like one of those neck pillows you use on planes.

For what it's worth, Icon makes a nice vented riding glove with scoop like vents at the knuckles that help cool your hands .
I bought myself a pair last month even through there hasn't been that
warm days around here in Maryland so far.