Hot Weather Riding 90?+

[Buffalo Bill]

Just wanna hear what's your heat limit?
Do you start shedding ATGATT piecemeal?
I can ride hot weather, but it has special needs, like dunking my mesh jacket in water and having to keep moving to keep cooling.
Short rides are out, don't want to be struggling with pulling my jacket off my sweaty arms.
Morning is my prime time, fewer cars and not as hot.

At track days we all wear polyester leotards, tops and bottoms. Wicks sweat and makes it easy to slide the leathers off.
Perforated leather is a must have. I wear a 2 piece so I can have my jacket off right now.
We drink a few quarts of water per day.
Sitting in my car between sessions with the A/C on, is life saving.

 

[TxGSrider]

I don't know my limit, but I rode my wife's 250 in to work today so could get it inspected at lunch and the weatherbug app on my phone says "96 degrees and 41% humidity". It'll be a hot ride home in traffic.

 

[LAB3]

Can't honestly say I've not ridden due to heat. One thing is for sure though, my bike makes a lot more noise once the temps get into the 80's. About a month ago I was riding reasonably comfortable in 100 degree desert heat, now that I'm back in the east it seems stifling at 90 degrees with the humidity. Haven't tried soaking my mesh jacket, should try that one out.

 

[salty_monk]

I've ridden in 110+ temps before. The 395 gets to that at this time of year, so does the 1 in Baja going into the sea of Cortez..

Helps to take on some electrolytes if it's a full day.

If you use a cooling Vest don't use MESH. It dries out too quickly (I don't bother, I just use mesh (A Motoport set).

 

[GS1150Pilot]

For days when its's REALLY going to be hot, this is the ticket for me under a mesh jacket. Doesn't last as long as they say, so it's really only good for commuting or rides across town.

https://www.amazon.com/FlexiFreeze-...ocphy=9030067&hvtargid=pla-522829314449&psc=1

 

[Buffalo Bill]

For days when its's REALLY going to be hot, this is the ticket for me under a mesh jacket. Doesn't last as long as they say, so it's really only good for commuting or rides across town.

https://www.amazon.com/FlexiFreeze-...ocphy=9030067&hvtargid=pla-522829314449&psc=1

I suspect it needs to be reloaded every half hour. For that half hour it can't be beat, and helps a lot for another half hour.

 

[alke46]

Yesterday, temp was upper 90's but I wanted to go to a bike night thing just to listen to the band. The band was Freebird USA and they do all of the Lynyrd Skynyrd songs. Pretty good listening but I was in the minority for wearing as much of the ATGATT stuff. I did leave my boots at home and just wore my running shoes. I know, bad idea but nothing happened. I also was in the minority because I failed to go rent a H-D for the night. Miniature Sturgis crowd.
At least the ride home was nice but with the high humidity level all day and evening, I had a hard time getting my mesh jacket off when I stopped.

We had a high today of 103* with the dew point in the upper 70's. It was nasty but still better than all that record snow we had last winter. I prefer this to that.

 

[dorkburger]

I know my limits at work, where I?m often on acres large industrial flat roofs working on HVAC equipment. If the sweat stops and my head feels like it?s on fire, it?s time to get water, but I try not to let it get that far. Typically in that mode, I constantly drink plain old room temperature water, often over a gallon on a really hot day.
Most of my cycle time is at night, so even hot nights are not as bad. I did run to the hardware store this evening and took the long ish way home. I did leave the riding pants in the garage, in favor of jeans for airflow. My pants are not vented and I?ll typically wear shorts under them. Still wore the jacket though.

 

[Carter Turk]

Last GS rally I participated in was 2007 I think.
We headed to Lake Curlew in Eastern Washington, the High School digital thermometer in Republic showed 104.
Gustuv, Charlie G, John ST, Sandy, and one other Canadian, who had a falling out here on this site.
I guess it was a relatively dry low humidity day, but not a temp I enjoy riding in.
Agree with Lab, the bike makes way more noise when it gets hot.
Give me 65-70 and it's all good.
Don't really even consider riding when its 80+, unless I'm at a paid trackday, I'd rather go swimming or surfing.
Going to The Ridge Motorsports Park tomorrow for 2 days of fun. Temps will be 83 down to 79 on Monday.

 

[alke46]

A couple of years

ago at the Dave Davis Memorial Rally in Farmington, Mo. at one gas station we were stopped and a digital sign showed the temp. was 102?.Several of us took our helmets off for the duration of the stop and tossed them in the ice cooler for relief. Felt good to put them back on but the cooling only lasted a short time. This was also the time I decided I needed to upgrade my gear. Dumb on my part but I was not wearing mesh at that time.​

 

[Carter Turk]

Turned out to be 89 today @ The Ridge.
Survived 7 sessions.

 

[Buffalo Bill]

Turned out to be 89 today @ The Ridge.
Survived 7 sessions.

Wow! A real ordeal!!
Do you have a best session, and then decline?
Myself, I usually peak about the 3rd-4th session, and decline afterwards.

 

[Carter Turk]

Wow! A real ordeal!!
Do you have a best session, and then decline?
Myself, I usually peak about the 3rd-4th session, and decline afterwards.

The pace increases as the day goes on, but sometimes the last session of the day is the least crowded, so try to save energy for it.
2nd to last session on Sunday I had a big "moment" in the heat. I was banked over left accelerating out of the corner when the front end went away.
I skidded outward about 2 feet, but my puck was already touching, so I turned the bars in the direction of the slide, pushed my knee down harder and regained front end traction.
Phew.
Monday I notched down the pace a little and was a little wary of that corner all day.
My tires Q3+ are near the end of their life span 52 8 lap sessions 2.47 miles per lap.

 

[Buffalo Bill]

The pace increases as the day goes on, but sometimes the last session of the day is the least crowded, so try to save energy for it.
2nd to last session on Sunday I had a big "moment" in the heat. I was banked over left accelerating out of the corner when the front end went away.
I skidded outward about 2 feet, but my puck was already touching, so I turned the bars in the direction of the slide, pushed my knee down harder and regained front end traction.
Phew.
Monday I notched down the pace a little and was a little wary of that corner all day.
My tires Q3+ are near the end of their life span 52 8 lap sessions 2.47 miles per lap.

I can comment on race tires end of life on a race car.
Usually it happens because you want to hold off buying new shoes until it's obvious you need them. Yeah it's suddenly real obvious!
On a race car you just spin out, probably no harm done.

 

[Chuck78]

96 over the weekend and dewpoints in the low 70's, moto-camping trip for myself, 2 friends, and my wife...
Ventilated (zippered vents) or mesh arms + ventilated jacket + drenching your cotton t-shirt every gas stop or scenic break worked wonderfully... I clocked 633 miles in on my 1st riding trip post-knee-surgery. Over 500 miles of twisties, ALL swelteringly hot... From 945am until 715pm, if we were not moving on the bikes, in an air conditioned lunch stop restaraunt, or dunking in a swimming hole (which was like 74 degree bath water even!), then we were unbearably HOTTTT!!!!
The wet shirt + ventilated jacket and riding pants trick really does wonders...

Before leaving the house, I hosed myself down with a garden hose COMPLETELY aside from my feet. I wore shorts under my riding pants. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND soaking your underwear, FYI... In this scenario, they never ever dried out on a 136 mile 2.5 hour trek, & that was not terribly comfortable. Day 2 & 3 were lots more miles & almost entirely twisties, so I wore padded spandex bicycling shorts under the armored vented riding pants. Accidentally drenching those was a non-issue.

The biggest issue was my knuclebuster gauntlet cuff gloves... My hands were SUFFERING. Made me really consider the need for a heavilly armored set of perforated summer gauntlet gloves to alleviate the sweaty sweltering palms...
Marino wool socks on days 2&3 seemed to help vs thin cotton on day 1.
I love my zippered ventilated leather jacket + non-ventilated leather armored pants, but I left them at home even tho i had already crashed once (unexpected hardpacked clay layer from mudslide cleanup directly out of a fast blind curve, freshly wetted by a 5 minute rain, on a balding rear tire on way home from a 1400 mile mountain road trip, was like hitting ice!) in the abrasion-resistant denier fabric armored suit that I was wearing, and hence had burned a hole through the knee/shin area outer layers & near one elbow a smaller hole in the outer layers... Hadn't gotten around to patching them yet, but still feasible when adjusted properly/snugly...

 

[ddaniels]

I find the older I get, the more and more I become a fair weather rider. I would just rather enjoy the air conditioner in the car than sweat it out on the bike.

 

[Buffalo Bill]

I find the older I get, the more and more I become a fair weather rider. I would just rather enjoy the air conditioner in the car than sweat it out on the bike.

That's honest. I prefer to ride in the morning anyway. A hot afternoon, with Sunday drivers everywhere, double ugh…Will do it in the fall.

 

[Grimly]

I find the older I get, the more and more I become a fair weather rider. I would just rather enjoy the air conditioner in the car than sweat it out on the bike.

Ditto. It's not like the heat here gets anywhere near the summertime scorchio of places over there, but some days are hot and uncomfortable enough to just avoid going out in them.

 

[Wingsconsin]

When I am riding in the HEAT I remember the 6-7 months of NOT RIDING due to the L O N G winters here in Wisconsin
The riding season is short here so I ride anyway --

HOT and SLOW SUXXKS -- traffic jam on the Interstate in 98 and 90% humidity for 5 hours going thru Chicago a few weeks ago was ...
the Seventh level of HELL ...

But rewards like today when it is 75 and low humidity make it worthwhile

To keep cool -- lots of water -wet your clothes - wear something to keep the sun OFF bare skin -
It is cooler when you are not sun-burned and I would rather sweat than bleed.
Even gloves when it's really hot for me-- long pants, mesh jacket, and a 3/4 helmet with a face shield - (the plastic cuts UV and wind burn)

Take a break whenit's the hottest mid-day - get a cup of coffee, lunch whatever for an hour or so... makes a real difference .

 

[bobgroger]

I find the older I get, the more and more I become a fair weather rider. I would just rather enjoy the air conditioner in the car than sweat it out on the bike.

That describes me, especially if I know I will be in stop and go traffic.