dog days

Our recent heat wave engendered some questions about my biking. Dressed for work I'm asked whether I'm riding and when in bike duds asked how I can do it. One example: On the stairway (I downward, she upward) a young Japanese woman says "Very hot!" I say "Sure is." She: "You bike?" Me: "Yes; lots of water!" (holding up water bottle).

Foul air -- ozone code red -- keeps me off the bike, but we haven't suffered that yet this year. High temperatures, even coupled with high humidity, isn't that much of a problem. Hot weather riding brings to mind pre-season football practice. In college, we'd run ourselves ragged in the late-August dog days. In those times, who knows why, we didn't rehydrate during, but only after each session. I remember my weight varying ten and more pounds in 24 hours. We did windsprints to close out the day. Coach said he knew when we'd had enough when the linemen could no longer stand straight -- we'd weave to and fro.

[Update: This afternoon, supposed to be the last of this round of "excessive heat," I managed to ride home in good form -- one of those combinations of good luck and a little extra effort resulting in few and short delays for traffic.]