The heat of so Summer days always seems to take us by surprise. Much advice starts with saying acclimatise, living in a country where it can be cold and rainy one day a blistering hot the next. What can you do about it?
First off, try to go out first thing in the morning to avoid the heat of the day. Getting up early can be difficult, but the joy of quiet roads and trails make up for this.
Staying hydrated is hard. Having something with electrolyte is better than plain water. You can use a product such as High 5 or coconut water. Getting the mix doing it yourself is particularly hard. The general advice states that you should drink about 300 ml to 500ml before and during 1.25 to 1.5 litres per hour.
Getting the balance right is tricky. Remember you can over and well as under-hydrated. Keep hydrated the day before; you can eat watery foods to help and well as drinking water.
Protect your skin and eyes. Consider wearing long sleeves or arm protectors. Using proper sun protection, whatever colour your skin is it can suffer damage. I am very pale so, I use a factor 50 Soltan, or Riemann P20 Seriously Reliable Suncare SPF50 (waterproof). If worried about parabens, go for the Garnier Ambre Solaire Sensitive Sun Cream. Sunglasses are a must, although not going for the dark sunglasses as it makes it hard to see in shadow.
Cooling, ice place on your neck, but don’t place ice directly onto the skin as this can also be damaging.
Take it easy and enjoy before long we will be cycling in the wind and rain.
Happy cycling.
Alex
Photo credit: Brodie Vissers from Burst - Instagram @TheNomadBrodie
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