Today I want to talk a little bit about heat. When you’re out there on the bike riding in the heat, the extreme heat doesn’t necessarily even have to be extreme heat. But, because on a motorcycle you’re out in the elements, you are more susceptible to the elements, and heat can sneak up on you. And there are different levels of they consider heat emergencies and things you need to look out for and know, and some things to help with that.
One of the most important things you can do is stay hydrated. Stay hydrated. Make sure you drink plenty of water, and that you are not dehydrated. And that will be very beneficial for you even, if you need to add some electrolytes to help out. Those do help. But water is like the very best thing out there for you when it’s hot out.
Part of the thing to watch out for is a lot of our riding gear is heavy and can, exacerbate the heat you’re feeling and make it worse and make your heat emergencies come on. Even faster than if we were, you know, if you ride in just t-shirts and jeans or t-shirts and, God forbid, shorts. Not a proponent of the shorts. If you’ve watched my videos, you know that.
Look out for sunburn, of course. So you want to wear your sunscreens and all that. But you also have your heat exhaustion and your heat stroke, things like that, that can really affect you in your riding. And make you go dizzy. You’re vision blurs. You feel nauseous. You feel like you’re going to pass out. You do pass out. You lose focus. All those things. It’s very detrimental when you’re on two wheels running down the interstate or down any roadway. So you definitely don’t want to get to that point.
Some of the things to remember is when you’re riding: Wind is blowing over your skin, and when it’s blown over your skin, that’s actually lifting away any moisture. Sweat that you are sweating. And actually, that’s not a great thing. Your body sweats to release the heat to keep it cool. And if the sweats being blown away by the wind blowing across, then it’s not cooling your body. So you need to sweat. And then if you stop sweating, that’s a really bad sign, because that means your body is no longer compensating for that heat, and that’s when you’re going to start shutting down on you. And when you’re starting that, that’s when you’re getting ready to pass out. And that’s when you’re getting ready to go into heatstroke. Your body tries to deal with the heat the best it can. It’s giving you all these warning signs. There should be an article of going with this video that’ll tell you the warning signs and the things to look out for.
One of the best things I’ve found that if I’m riding in extreme heat, is I wear a shirt that is long sleeves. Just keep the sun and the wind off, and that allows me, my body to sweat and the sweat to stay and keep cool your body. But they are airflow. I wear a lot of airflow, but I can also wet them down. And that helps with the cooling.
Even though I were armored, even my armor stuffs airflow to allow air in. To try to keep me cool. And everything can be wetted down. You can find a hose, you can go into the bathroom stall at the gas stations. And wet a long sleeve shirt down and throw a light sleeve. They make UV shirts now that are really lightweight, but they protect you from the the elements of the sun. And those help during heat stroke and things like that as well. So they’re trying to make materials out there that help and look out. But the main thing is you have to be aware of your body and pay attention and pay attention to the people you’re riding with. Are they drinking enough water? Are they acting right? Are they making sense?
Are they started slurring their words and, you know they haven’t had anything to drink? Are they stumbling when they shouldn’t be? Things like that are warning signs, it’s time to pull off. Get in the shade, rest a while. Try to cool off, you know, have a sit down on the meal in a restaurant that’s got air conditioning.
I’ve even had sisters that have gone in and sat in the beer cooler in a in a gas station just to kind of cool off. You know, because he it can be very dangerous. So be careful out there. Pay attention to your body. What it’s telling you. Pay attention to the people you’re riding with. Make sure everybody is taking care of themselves. And watch out for the heat, because it can be a killer out there.