It looks like the heatwave is about to come to a end, with cooler and fresher showery weather pushing in from the Atlantic across the whole country by the weekend, but here in Kent we’re set for at least one more “phew, wotta scorcher” day with temperatures up into the 30s!
(Tip: make sure you hydrate properly in any warm weather! Getting dehydrated takes no time at all on a bike, where you’re relying on the wind evaporating sweat to stay cool. By the time you start feeling thirsty, it’s too late – you are already dehydrated! Dehydration affects your concentration levels and your ability to make decisions; don’t underestimate the risk! It was interesting to hear Martin Hopp make this very point in his pre-ride briefing at the training at Castle Combe back in May!)
The spell of very warm weather happened to coincide with my busiest spell of the year, and as various trainees melted in front of me from the heat I wondered again why so few people take up my option of evening training.
With the long evenings, there’s a window of 8-10 weeks where it’s perfectly light enough to train to around 8:30 or so before finishing up with a debrief, and as we skip the lunchbreak a normal one day course can be done in two nights!
If the weather gets spectacularly hot during the day, as has been for the last seven days, the 6:30 start means we miss the heat of the day, and often if there have been storms they also have tended to fizzle out in the evening.
Yes, there’s a problem with low sun late on, but the same is true of training any time from November to February, and careful attention to routes can usually minimise the amount of time we spend peering into the glare. We just have to remember that if we have the sun lighting the road ahead of us, it’s the guy coming the other way who is peering into the sun!
And of course, you don’t have to take a day off work either!!
Karen has been this summer exception to the rule, and has booked me up for the “Bends” and “Double Bends” courses so we’re doing two nights this week, and two nights next. We were out last night, and had a terrific run on nearly empty roads, in glorious evening sun, and had our final chat of the evening over a cold drink sitting at a table in the garden of my local – very nice.
I’ve still got a few evening dates in the diary for anyone who wishes to book a course and take advantage of the long evenings ahead.
