So, we have been in the middle of some ridiculous heat wave for the last few weeks. We've broken some 100+ year record. Riding in a blast furnace doesn't even begin to compare to the torture we've been dealing with here. Today of course was no exception.I had an "easy" workout - a short ride and run, pretty much all Z2. No problem. I even slept in since I figured that I'd be out for such a short time that it really didn't matter when I went. The heat shouldn't be an issue since I'd only be out for 2 hours max. I should have known better, especially after getting into the car and hearing this on the radio: "Do not go outside today unless you have to. If you must be outdoors or are doing any physical activity, make sure you drink plenty of water and stay hydrated". I thought it was a little odd that they were giving us this advice now after 3 weeks of experiencing such temperatures. Did they think perhaps we had somehow managed to escape being outside this whole time? So there I was, taking the whole heat advisory as a joke. Serves me right.
I headed out maybe 10:30 or 10:45. It was hot. I started riding north on 36. It was very hot. There was just hot air everywhere, blasts of it, and there was no where for it to go, so it just sat there on top of you. I totally threw away my nutrition/hydration plan and drank whenever I needed it, which was very often. I had to skip my Z4 intervals (which were only 2 minutes or something) because I was already in Z4, and barely crawling along. It was so very hot. There was no relief. I was daydreaming about the ice vests and ice socks that Slipsteam had at the Tour. When I first saw pictures of these, they looked painful and I shivered just watching the video. Now they seemed like heaven. I ended up doing the rollers on 63rd just because it seemed so much farther to go to 75th and it would mean that I'd be outside longer. About 50-55 minutes into the ride, I got a little bit of a break from cloud cover. The clouds were just slowly starting to roll in. It wasn't much of a difference, but I took it anyway. At this point, all I could now think about was rain. How great would that be? I of course, completely forgot about that last ride that was insanely hot and had ended in a downpour and how cold I immediately became. How could I even conceive of being cold in this heat? I stopped at Tom Watson Park to get more water - who would have guessed that 2 water bottles would not suffice for a 23 mile ride? I think I was delirious - I totally missed Amy riding by waving at me. But can you blame me? She later acknowledged how hot she was, but you just can't miss my bike.
I got home and did the world's slowest transition ever. I don't think I could have procrastinated any more. I headed out at a snail's pace. The winds were starting to pick up and the clouds were getting darker. I prayed for rain. It was no longer even that hot, but the heat was in my head and rain just sounded so good. I could see it coming down to the south and wished for the winds to shift directions to blow it northwards. Of course it didn't happen. After what seemed like hours, I eventually made it home. Matt called shortly after I walked in the door. He asked if I got caught in the rain and I nearly cried "You had rain?". It was so unfair. We live 3.5 miles apart, but in completely different weather zones. There is some strange diving line between north and south Boulder and I swear that we regularly have major weather differences. This was one of them.
After being home for about 10 minutes, I was suddenly cold. Really cold. I had to go take a hot shower. It made me wonder why it seems to only take seconds to cool off when you're really hot, but it takes forever to warm up when you're cold. Why is this? And more importantly, how could I have so quickly and easily forgotten about the heat hell I had just been through? Suddenly I was again miserable, but at the opposite end of the spectrum.
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