Another weekend training ride to rack up the miles. Or was it to help us learn to cope with the heat?
We’ve been going out early (leaving our starting point at 6:00 am) to do anywhere from 40 to 70 miles. Today we did just around 50. We had originally aimed for 60, but the heat got to us a little early and we opted to head back to get out from under the hot part of the day. Really, almost 4 hours was about long enough to be on the bike. And we averaged almost 14 mph.
As I read more on the RAGBRAI Facebook pages, I see more folks asking: “what exactly are we training for: mileage or heat tolerance?”
Both, really.
While the heatwave going on in Texas as I write this (lows in the 80s, highs in the triple digits) is much more severe than the weather anticipated for Northern Iowa the last week of July (highs in the 80s and lows in the 60s), the mileage argument seems to be the real point.
However, heat is heat. Spending up to 15 hours a day (there is one 100-mile day on the schedule) on the bike even in 80-degree heat, can be taxing to a body not prepared for temperature extremes. And it is most likely not a dry heat: there should be some humidity and a “feels-like” temperature variant.
It really is part of the training plan. Remember the quality miles versus quantity miles argument? It really applies here, too. Being able to make the miles from a cardio capability makes no matter if you can’t tolerate the heat and don’t know how to effectively hydrate during a hot day’s ride.
So we are on a mission to do the miles and condition our bodies to the heat. I’ll report back in this space once the ride starts.
Fifteen days until the first day of the ride.
Relentless
