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I have enjoyed rock climbing, scuba diving, via ferrata, hiking and other sports. When you do extreme sports you need to be ready to call it without letting your ego distract you. Yesterday when I got to the top of Marchairuz I found I had developed a mild headache. I went to the shade to recover but that didn’t help so I said “I’m calling it”, or more precisely “I’m abandoning”. No emotion, no conflict of ego.
I could sense that I had the beginning of an “insolation”. Everyone else stood in the sun, and after several minutes, without improving I called it. There’s nothing wrong with calling it. my motto is “if in doubt, abort”.
I drank 500ml before the ride began, and then I drank 4-5 750ml water bottles. According to Garmin I lost 6000ml of fluid. According to the scales comparing my pre-ride and post ride weight I lost 1.4kg of weight. That’s huge.
I wasn’t going to write anything, until I saw the news item by France 3 about people being hospitalised or worse during and after a running race.
In the end I had a pizza, some coca cola but didn’t finish it, and then some tea, and then I waited until the hottest part of the day had passed before setting off. My route was uphill, but through several wooded sections, as well as by forested rivers, and with a nice cooling breeze.
The ride home, when the air was cooling again was pleasant and enjoyable. I had two water bottles, and a bendy bus blocked the road, but it revealed a water fountain so I refilled both water bottles, with electrolyte tablets. In the summer months I ride with a tube full of tabs. Every time I stop and refill the bottles I add a tab.
Sometimes I finish a ride and the tube is empty, because I had it for two or three rides. At least once, last year, someone had a cramp so bad, from cycling, that she couldn’t get off the bike. We stopped by a fountain and I offered a spare tab. She was able to recover enough to continue cycling. We were by the end of the ride anyway.
The Vest and Riding Uphill
Yesterday was hard because we rode up several steep gradients for many kilometres in a row. The result is that I drank far less than I should have. The two reasons for this are, first, that my bike has gears that are optimal for London, not Swiss hills and mountains, and second that due to the effort of keeping vertical, I’m too busy to reach down, drink and then continue. That’s why when I got to Marchairuz I felt dehydrated and in desperate need of shade.
The Lack of a Cooling Breeze
The issue, aside from stability and finding it harder to drink during the effort, is that the cooling breeze that you usually have, while cycling wasn’t there. We’re going uphill slowly, so the wind chill effect isn’t helping, especially once we’re parched. The irony is that I didn’t feel thirsty, but by then it was too late.
Know How to Recognise Heat Stroke
The aim of this blog post isn’t to provide any advice, except “make sure you are able to recognise the initial signs of heat stroke before it becomes a critical problem. Luckily I did, so I got home safe and sound, after a massive détour, both for climbing and distance, but I had sat down, rested, and checked to make sure that I was setting off when the air was cooling.
I had the luxury of being able to wait out the heat. If I know I have a long climb, when cycling, I suspect I will have a water bottle in a trail-running bag, to hydrate while climbing, and water bottles with electrolyte for before and after climbs.
We went from winter/Autumn temperatures to summer temperatures within two or three days, so people haven’t had time to adapt to the heat, hence the urgency of issuing a warning. Yesterday I saw heatstroke warning signs so I called it, I aborted my continuation of the group ride.
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