Hot Damn Hot!

This sudden increase in temperature is a bit of a shock to the system for us in Vic.
I did 600km yesterday in 33ish degrees and another 100km today around the 35 degree mark.
I better get used to it but last week I had the heater on at work! 

I'm riding to Merimbula and back next Sat. Better not be in the 30's.  

Assuming you wear safety gear how hot is too hot?

high twenties then I start to peel off the jacket ....................squidding I believe is the term used..............mind you much hotter then a long sleeve shirt or my dri rider mesh jacket helps stop the sun burn at the lights
On a trip , 35 to 40 is starting to be uncomfortable with all the gear on ( have done 44+ .....)

Up here I keep the gear on all the time. During the build up to the Wet season (troppo season ie this time of year) it's always around 39 on my ride home (35kms South of Darwin) and usually around 29 riding in at 7am. Mesh jacket, jeans and  summer gloves are the go for me. I also find the gear actually protects a bit from the heat burn from the hot air.
A lot of riders up here ride in shorts thongs and t-shirts. I figure they've yet to taste hot bitumen.
I'm allergic (badly)  to bee stings as well, so I sook out on that front.

I know one person up here (nice bloke) rides a new Daytona and wears one piece leathers. I reckon he'd be the only one in leathers in the tropics.
Mad dogs and Englishman....he's a pom.

If we're talking Hot Damn Hot!! then that's over 35

30-35 is just hot.

25 - 30 is warm

20 - 25 is perfect working weather

Below 20 is winter

My summer jacket, an Dririder Air Ride 2 with the lining out can be quite cold on 30+ days. Until you stop.

NTBill wrote:
A lot of riders up here ride in shorts thongs and t-shirts. I figure they've yet to taste hot bitumen.

Yeah I see loads of people riding around in shorts and tee shirts in sunny canberra once it hits 30.... like today....

I was lucky enough to be on the back of some idiot's motorbike years ago when he dropped it very low speed.... nurse spent quite some time picking the gravel out of my arm... Never again

stu wrote:

NTBill wrote:
A lot of riders up here ride in shorts thongs and t-shirts. I figure they've yet to taste hot bitumen.

Yeah I see loads of people riding around in shorts and tee shirts in sunny canberra once it hits 30.... like today....

I was lucky enough to be on the back of some idiot's motorbike years ago when he dropped it very low speed.... nurse spent quite some time picking the gravel out of my arm... Never again

Mate when I was in the navy a nurse and I spent the afternoon picking bitumen and denim out of a guys legs. Not a pleasant experience from the other side either.

madmax wrote:

stu wrote:

NTBill wrote:
A lot of riders up here ride in shorts thongs and t-shirts. I figure they've yet to taste hot bitumen.

Yeah I see loads of people riding around in shorts and tee shirts in sunny canberra once it hits 30.... like today....

I was lucky enough to be on the back of some idiot's motorbike years ago when he dropped it very low speed.... nurse spent quite some time picking the gravel out of my arm... Never again

Mate when I was in the navy a nurse and I spent the afternoon picking bitumen and denim out of a guys legs. Not a pleasant experience from the other side either.

Yeah I bet. It was more than 20 years ago, but I recall quite clearly that she wasn't impressed....

No hospital in that tiny 1 pub town, just a nurses station.

Many years ago (before I had ever tasted the kiss of bitumen) I was riding a KLR650 up to the shops. Was only going a couple of clicks to the shops so just wore a shirt and jeans and boots. Cranked it around the corner like I had a bazillion times before but this time, found myself sliding along the road beside the bike watching the sparks flying from the frame thinking 'this isn't what's sposed to happen!!". Turned out I'd hit some diesel.

Luckily my daughter (then aged 11) and her friend who was staying with us had been attending St Johns Cadets, so I dusted myself off, took my bleeding hands and raw arms the 1km back home (bike scuffed but rideable) and walked in looking not so good and said to these budding paramedics, here's your chance! They screamed in horror and told me they'd learned no first aid yet - only marching. "Dad we can march around you if you like....?"

I self administered the scrubbing brush through gritted teeth and I'll never ride without the gear again. I think St. Johns need to revise their cadet program....

ATGATT no matter what.

NTBill wrote:Many years ago (before I had ever tasted the kiss of bitumen) I was riding a KLR650 up to the shops. Was only going a couple of clicks to the shops so just wore a shirt and jeans and boots. Cranked it around the corner like I had a bazillion times before but this time, found myself sliding along the road beside the bike watching the sparks flying from the frame thinking 'this isn't what's sposed to happen!!". Turned out I'd hit some diesel.

Luckily my daughter (then aged 11) and her friend who was staying with us had been attending St Johns Cadets, so I dusted myself off, took my bleeding hands and raw arms the 1km back home (bike scuffed but rideable) and walked in looking not so good and said to these budding paramedics, here's your chance!  They screamed in horror and told me they'd learned no first aid yet - only marching. "Dad we can march around you if you like....?"

I self administered the scrubbing brush through gritted teeth and I'll never ride without the gear again. I think St. Johns need to revise their cadet program....

ATGATT no matter what.

Nasty stuff but still funny
In the 80's I was following a mate on an old PE250 riding in shorts and tee shirt on a shitty back street, he tried to take a left into a side street but a combination of being pissed and having little skill saw him lowside and slide on his arse and side right across the intersection and up onto the footpath.
Made quite a mess of him but amazingly wasn't in much pain.
After seeing the gravel rash (understatement) I always ride in full gear even in very hot conditions.
Always have plenty of water with me.

If it's hot a camelback is the go. Dehydration is a killer

reddog wrote:If it's hot a camelback is the go. Dehydration is a killer

Couldn't agree more. If going for more than an hour, it's a must.

Hot? a day out of the blue like we just had (near enough to 37) pretty bearable. It's usually only that warm for a few hours. Fine on a bicycle but starting to get pretty warm on a motorbike (porous clothing required).  I don't ride the motorbike when its over 40.  It just cooks you.  

I always had concerns for the air cooled bikes I rode in the past at that temp too. It's pretty hard on machinery, tyres. You know it's hot when your knuckles are uncomfortably hot. On the upside, there aren't many insects about when it is mid 40s, but it's not really open face helmet territory.

So 13 of you think (so far ) that riding in 35 deg  temp it fine . No thanks , id rather it cold , at least I can put more gear ON .

gus wrote:So 13 of you think (so far ) that riding in 35 deg  temp it fine . No thanks .

If we didn't ride in 35 in Adelaide we could go weeks without a ride in Summer. 

35 is fine as long as you are moving (last Friday was 36 when I was riding home, it got a bit warm at the lights but not too bad, a week straight of 40+ in city stop start traffic starts to get a bit much. Our hot days are also a bit drier, 35 dry heat isn't as bad as 35 and humid.

I rode from Albury to Horsham on a 40+ day in the early 90's, I'd nearly melted by the time I got there.

gus wrote:So 13 of you think (so far ) that riding in 35 deg  temp it fine . No thanks , id rather it cold , at least I can put more gear ON .

Easy or a QLD resident to say
Id rather ride hot than cold any day. I hate taking the rest of the day to thaw out

gus wrote:So 13 of you think (so far ) that riding in 35 deg  temp it fine . No thanks , id rather it cold , at least I can put more gear ON .

LOL ..........I'm sure my boss would love a phone call from me  " sorry mate , too hot to ride to work ,see you when ever it cools down "

your servey doesn't go high enough id say over 50

Perhaps its the humidity we get in Qld that's the problem . Everybody's shirt was drenched with sweat at work the other day . Temp to our surprise was only 25deg . .

gus wrote:Perhaps its the humidity we get in Qld that's the problem . Everybody's shirt was drenched with sweat at work the other day . Temp to our surprise was only 25deg . .

Yep as Chook said different type of heat ..............when it's hot here , you can feel like the sun is cooking you with a searing heat . I still prefer that than humidity though , I find that very oppressive .

Heated grips make a huge difference.  I'd actually prefer to face the cold.  You can protect yourself from it, but there is hypothermia, which creeps up on you like dehydration.

Stop every 1 1/2 hours and drink plenty of water and it's amazing how far you still get in a day even in stinking weather

43 deg here today .SOOOO HOT .

gus wrote:43 deg here today .SOOOO HOT .

Yep , that would be up there what was the humidity like ?

Yep, got so warm here in Tassie today I had to take my cardigan off about lunch time, luckily I had a sleeveless vest....

Very dapper Barry