Send As SMS

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Packing for Heat

I started out this morning for a road ride. Since the last tune-up for a long string of events coming up, I needed to put in some intensity.

A few hours up the coast, probably do some hill work, and then in the afternoon I’d help Mark grind the concrete counters that we have been making for the kitchen. I packed a jacket.

The coast was foggy and cool, waves on one side of the road and green rolling hills on the other. Cows. Always lots of cows up there.

But the coast is sort of flat. So I turned east towards Route 46. And began to climb. Rte. 46 which leads to Paso Robles, is the twisty road where James Dean crashed his Porsche. The wine tasters were out in full force today, eyes and brains everywhere but on the road.

As I climbed away from the chilly coast, the fog fell away. Past the wineries it began to get hot. Paso can easily get to 105 degrees and often higher. This extreme afternoon heat and the cool nights are reasons why the region is well known for excellent wine.

But it can really put the hurt on a roadie with just one water bottle (it wasn’t hot at my house!). On a two hour climb. My tongue started swelling, and my right leg kept breaking out with goosebumps.

marla streb
Suffering heat exhaustion

I eased up on my cadence, but the funny thing is the slower you go, the longer it takes you to get to the top and the hotter you’ll end up anyway. At least if you keep working up the hill you make your own breeze. As I rode on I could see the shrubs turning from green to brown. The cows in the fields were no longer gamboling along the white picket fences, but instead hunkered down in the shade of the straggly bent oak trees. My eyeballs wandered independently. I took a dirt road shortcut.

It wasn’t a shortcut.

I remembered reading somewhere that Japanese baseball players stick some frozen cabbage leaves under their cap to stay cool. They had heard that Babe Ruth used to do that.

I had a pump, a tube and some patches, but I didn’t have any frozen cabbage leaves handy.

At the top of the climb I finished the last warm drop of Clif Shot drink in my bottle. Descending back down the hills weren’t much cooler. It was like dropping down into a blast furnace. Where I spied them, I pulled off to the side and drank from farmers’ garden hoses. Tasted like weak unsweetened sun tea made in your dad’s rubber galoshes.

I wobbled to the coast and stopped at the first convenience store where I chugged three bottles of something sweet and cold in the check out line. Then sat on a dirty curb with my shoes in an oil stain in the parking lot and drank more. After pedaling an hour home I stuck my head in the fridge and drank cold spring water, some more Clif Shot recovery drink, and then polished off a half quart of yogurt shake before I even thought of stripping off my chamois.

The night before this weekend’s Downieville Classic, I am going to stick in the freezer a three quarters full Kelty hydration system to wear on my back. For good measure, maybe even a cabbage leaf or two.

9 Comments:

Chris said...

hey, Marla! i just stumbled upon your blog yesterday. i enjoy reading it. you are my hero! you've accomplished so much and are from Baltimore just like me. i got to meet you at Greenbrier last year and i wanted to let you know how thankful i am that you took the time and were so nice. it made my day... even after i raced poorly.

7:27 AM  
randymar said...

Baltimore??? Marla, you're from Baltimore??? David Byrne's from Baltimore (Actually, Scotland then Baltimore, then New York ... but you get the idea)

I have a problem with Baltimore ... every time I take I-95 South to Baltimore, it rains. As soon as I cross from DE into MD ... sprinkle, sprinkle. However, last year I made it from our house in NJ to long term Lot B in approx 2:15.

Good / Bad contributions from Baltimore (depending on your point of view)

1. John Waters

2. David Byrne

3. Edgar Allen Poe

4. Frank Zappa

5. Babe Ruth

6. Yoo-hoo

7. Tom Clancy

8. David Hasselhoff

9. Barry Levinson

10. Upton Sinclair

8:51 AM  
marla streb said...

Yeah, Baltimore IS a funny little town. But it's unpretentious and quirky, and there's nothing like sprinkling Old Bay on your eggs in the morning!

9:49 AM  
Anonymous said...

ok first of all you have all the conveniences of the road - gas stations, telephones, nice friendly citizens everywhere, etc...Second of all its your own fault for only bringing one water bottle for such a hot day. THIRD -you made it home and never actually even bonked out from what i can tell, much less getting heat exhaustion. I ride strictly Mt. and one nice 98 degree day I accidently turned a 3 hour lung burner into a 6.5 hour pain marathon where i ended up hallucinating, getting cold chills, damn near passed out on the trail and ended up in the hospital for the night (my body temp. actually dropped 2 degrees). Felt like i had been hooked up to a wall outlet by the time i got to the hospital and was puking everywhere. Thought for sure i was gonna die that night. Now THATs heat exhaustion...at least from what i know.

Andrew

10:53 AM  
marla streb said...

Hey Andrew

I have had heat exhaustion where I was hospitalized with IV's, etc. So I know what that feels like.

And I could have knocked on a farmer's door and asked for water, but my bonk really hadn't reached that level yet.

THe real point of the story was that before I left my house on the foggy coast, I only prepared for riding on the foggy coast.

I even packed a jacket!

11:08 AM  
Anonymous said...

Marla -
Didnt mean to rail on you or anything. Sometimes im not as sympathetic to rd. riding as i should be. Actually ive just now read some of your other blogs so i can see you ride mt. too. We are all riders though whether rd. or mt. And yes i know how hard it is sometimes trying to figure out what to bring without bringing 10lbs of junk you dont need. Really wasnt trying to be a total prick but thats hard to see on a computer. Just glad you made it home and no hospital visits and your story will hopefully make ppl more aware of the heat because its nothing to mess with or take lightly. Rock on, be careful out there.

Andrew

8:23 AM  
Rich said...

In Marla's defense, here on the Central Coast the temp can vary greatly within less than 10 miles. I went on a Dual Sport ride today, it was over 90 at 9 am in North County, and it only got hotter. This afternoon on the coast it was in the 60's and foggy, it was like riding into a walk-in freezer.

Up here in north county even if you have 2 bottles it probably isn't enough. It's 6 pm right now and it's still 101 degrees.

Rich

5:56 PM  
gwadzilla said...

hot is hot
whether on the road or in the woods

in looking back...
I think I have had far worse experiences on the open road with heat stroke than in the canopy of the trees
well... I guess all dirt trails are not in the trees (ie desert)
and
I seldom ride the trails as long as I may be out on the road.... unless it is the Shenandoah Mountain 100
(shit... just typing that makes my heart race with anxiety... I am in no condition for this off road epic)

2:13 PM  
Chris said...

I've been a mt. biker for awhile and just recently got into rd. biking. Man, that is tough work! Roadies seem to be stuck up, not all, but most. Mt. bikers are much nicer in general, it seems.

7:11 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home