My thoughts exactly. It seems backwards to cover up with full textile gear over 93 degrees but the science behind it is solid and so is my experience. The under mirror wings on my GW funnel air right up the sleeves of my 1 pc Aerostich and out the center back vent. The rub is that if I’m bumbling along and in stop and go conditions there is not enough cooling air so sometimes I still pick out and wear a mesh 2 pc outfit for riding that day. On my fully faired bikes there isn't much air flow and almost no direct air flow to continously support the hyper dehydrating evaporative cooling of direct air flow across bare skin.The mesh material provides a shade of sorts and keeps direct sun and wind off. I still wear long sleeve wicking shirt and pants and underwear. It works for me.

 

It sounds like you've found a good balance between safety and comfort in hot weather riding by using a combination of gear, including mesh outfits, to provide airflow and protect yourself from the elements. Staying cool and protected is essential for enjoyable and safe rides in high temperatures.

 

Doctors have said any blowing air over 92* just adds heat to the body if your sweat is evaporating very quickly, no cooling effect on your body. Arabs have been wrapped head to toe for thousands of years to keep heat out and to control evaporation. Proof it must work when you keep heat out.

 

@Glockjock I have read that article several years back, and applied it to my rides here in Florida when it necessitates. When it really get Hot I will add my Veskimo vest and I'm a happy camper. Great info you shared!

 

I lived in the Central Valley of CA, Fresno for over 50 yrs where summer temps would be over 100+* for 20-25 days in a row and you would see all the farm workers out in the fields all day long picking crops or tree fruit or grapes, etc and they were always covered from head to toe. I definitely learned something from them on how to dress in the summer heat.

 

Yeppers 👍

Grampwinger (RIP) shared info on LDComfort with me a long time ago, and so did bubba1. I get some strange looks riding around dressed up with a long sleeve shirt on, but it makes a difference regarding comfort levels.

 

Preach, Reverend Glen. Well said. Spread the good word. It is super important.

I'm constantly amazed at how many people are out there inflicting excess heat loads on themselves. The conventional wisdom of un-dressing for the heat is all wrong.

Cover up, hydrate, and evaporate.

Full coverage rules. However, I draw the line at wearing a Lawrence of Arabia man dress.

 

ATGATT I wish I did this but I don't. Longer all day rides I wear a jacket. But shorter rides

I don't I have found out that loose lighter LONG SLEEVED t shirts keep the sun off your arms and help to cool you down

 

Ok most of you guys know i do wear shorts in the summer for my long hauls, in fact i am leaving in the morning at 0500 hours to McAllen Tx to attend the funeral of the 2 officers that were murdered last week. I know your suppose to have gear on all the time but i just can't do it. I do wear wear Jock Glocks under wear LOL. I have cold wraps around my neck and keep my beer cold on the back seat. Im off on a 5 hour ride down to the valley. Flame suit on.

 

No flame suits Marvin. My intent was to give information to those who are actually looking for ways to keep cooler. You know what works for you already, and besides I know how hard-headed you are! Thanks for going to McAllen to honor the two Officers. (I had to erase the sentence I wrote next because just in time I remembered that I would have had to send myself a nasty-gram as a Moderator). Anyway, good on you and all our Boys in Blue!

(BTW, now I know what happened to my other pair of LD Comfort underwear)

Glen

 

Turns out thermal longjohns are very similar ie synthetic wicking material (for any skiers).

A few years back I rented a Harley Ultraglide in AustinTX and made it almost to Ozonal on a low volume highway (US 190) before dash lights started flashing. I pulled over and stupidly shutoff the engine to see what was wrong only to find the bike would not start. Somehow, got a cell signal and called the rental office who sent out a mechanic who told me about 5 hours for him to come. About 96 degrees and not a shade tree in sight. My thermal longjohns pack small and I heard Big Bend park can be cold at night so had them. Vultures started circling. Side of the road stripped off my riding clothes and put on the thermals and sat 5 hours: Helmet on, gloves on thermals on and thats it. Fortunately the thermals are dark grey. Mechanic has to split the casings to replace stator so another few hours.

Moral of the story: My thermals wick away the sweat so good for skiing but also keep you somewhat cool. I was perfectly OK except the one portion not protected was my chin (I had a SPF60 sunblock that I applied every hour but ....). Went to the hospital in Fort Stockton and they covered my chin. The rest of the trip was better except the gear shift fell off in the Alamo parking lot. Austin Harley refunded half my rental.

 

Turns out thermal longjohns are very similar ie synthetic wicking material (for any skiers).

A few years back I rented a Harley Ultraglide in AustinTX and made it almost to Ozonal on a low volume highway (US 190) before dash lights started flashing. I pulled over and stupidly shutoff the engine to see what was wrong only to find the bike would not start. Somehow, got a cell signal and called the rental office who sent out a mechanic who told me about 5 hours for him to come. About 96 degrees and not a shade tree in sight. My thermal longjohns pack small and I heard Big Bend park can be cold at night so had them. Vulturesw started circling. Side of the road stripped off my riding clothes and put on the thermals and sat 5 hours: Helmet on, gloves on thermals on and thats it. Fortunately the thermals are dark grey. Mechanic has to split the casings to replace stator so another few hours.

Moral of the story: My thermals wick away the sweat so good for skiing but also keep you somewhat cool. I was perfectly OK except the one portion not protected was my chin (I had a SPF60 sunblock that I applied every hour but ....). Went to the hospital in Fort Stockton and they covered my chin. The rest of the trip was better except the gear shift fell off.

I thought the moral of the story was Don't trust Harley's [emoji4][emoji481][emoji481]

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

I'll bet you don't leave home since then without those thermal longjohns or some type of chin protection.
I got stuck in Fort Stockton once in a rain, thunder, lighting storm like I had never seen in my lifetime.

 

Used to work for Utility company in west TX and those lightning storms in Ft Stockton were the craziest I have ever seen

 

Another important benefit of covering up is to avoid dehydration and heat stroke.

 

All great advice. I rode 200,000 miles or more around the country in hot weather in a T-shirt and thought you can't get any better than that, but felt rather "weathered" after a long hot day. 2008 or so I read about John Ryan ride from Deadhorse AK to Key West FL. I believe about 5600 miles in 3 1/2 days. John wore Aerostich Roadcrafter suit. I did likewise and find hot weather no longer a problem. Never was really, but I don't feel "weathered" after a long ride anymore. Last thing you want in hot weather is 110 degree air "cooling" you in a mesh whatever, T-shirt or the like.

 

Email Mario and ask him.

 

^ white is only cooler than black if it's exposed to the sun. Since they're not a top layer, it doesn't matter. I think @tamathumper is onto something there -- not white so the grunge doesn't show. It could have been any dark color, but black is probably the most universal.

 

Bullet Bob made this thread into a "sticky" so perhaps people will refer to it for tips. If so, let's try to put some good information for staying comfortable all here in one easy-to-reference thread.

 

I bet that everyone has seen all of those TV commercials for Mission Cooling Gear....well I can attest that it actually works in 110ish degree Arizona weather. Soak in cold water, ring out and snap it and you're ready for a cool comfortable ride. Because of melanoma concerns, I also picked up sleeves of the same material and they too work great!

Not exactly a fashion statement but it works.
Jim

 

I don't have LD Comfort but for my base layers I wear underwear and shirts from a company called 32° COOL. Same type of wicking fabric, it works very well to keep me cool while covered up on hot days. I even sometimes wet them down a bit too.

 

Just throwing my $0.02 in (if this board hasn't become a cashless board). Got back about a week ago from a 10 day ride up through Kansas and Nebraska (Upper 90's to near 100 and not overheated), South Dakota, Wyoming, down through Colorado and back through Texas. Wore my textile jacket the whole time. Wicking underwear and shirts also. I preached to my co rider the importance of keeping hydrated during all this time. Well, at least she paid attention. I didn't practice what I preached. Got a case of heat exhaustion/dehydration while in Colorado. It sucks. Lost a day of doing anything. As has mentioned earlier, the textile jackets and wicking clothes work great, but you still have to keep your body hydrated!!!

 

Been there done that with the heat exhaustion/dehydration and its no fun. Young & dumb at the time, damn glad I got smarter as I aged.

 

We don't have to worry about excessive heat in Minnesota. 90 is a very hot day!

 

I rode with Klim Aggressor 1.0 Leggings and Long Sleeve Shirt under my Klim Latitude Jacket and Badlands Pant comfortably in hot weather for a number of years. This was their lightest base layer at the time.

Couple years ago Klim came out with their Aggressor Cool -1.0 Leggings and Long Sleeve Shirt and the hot weather performance is even more impressive. I'm here to tell you there can be a big difference in base layer performance depending on the brand. If you are not wearing Leggings under your riding pants you should be. It makes a big difference.

The Klim Aggressor Cool material has great anti-microbial properties and only needs to be rinsed out in a sink every couple of days so no need to pack extra sets.

 

Living in north Florida and riding in south Georgia in the Summer I am always looking for ways to stay cool or not hot while riding. About a year ago we bought LD Comfort sleeves and found that they work to some degree, but not completely. I have been looking at the Glacier Tek phase change vest for sometime, but was hesitant to spend that kind of money on something I was not sure of. Glacier Tek recently had a code for a 10% discount which may not sound like much, but when you buy 2 vest it amounted to a savings of nearly $40. I also read that Glacier Tek has a 90 day money back guaranty so if we decided we did not like them we could send them back. We had an opportunity to give them a try last weekend. We rode from Noon until about 5:00 p.m. The temps ranged from high 80's to a high of 93 with high humidity. The vest come with 4 large ice packs and 4 small ones. We decide to use 2 large and 2 small in each vest and keep the other 4 in the cooler so we could change them out when the first ones stopped working. I was pleasantly surprised that the vest kept us comfortable for about 2 hours in the heat of the day. After 2 hours we found a shady place to park and changed the ice packs and rode for another 2 hours and remained comfortable for the remainder of our ride. The second half of our ride we also put on our LD Comfort sleeves which contributed to our comfort. We are very happy with the performance of these vests and don't think we will be using the 90 day money back guaranty.

 

Good post Glock, I do recall when Bubba1 posted here, he was the guru of hot weather riding having done Death Valley and other extreme hot weather rides in the summer. Think he gave up riding for some health issue, I miss his comments.

 

An update: I went for a ride yesterday in temperature rising from 27C to 32C (90F). We rode about 7 hours stopping for half hour McD lunch. I finally got to try my Tournmaster Airglide. As mentioned I have ski longjohns that are the same fabric as the hot weather LD stuff but I also had this for $15 (is LD Comfort really $150?)

https://www.uniqlo.com/us/en/men-airism-crew-neck-long-sleeve-t-shirt-426195.html?dwvar_426195_color=COL00&cgid=men-airism#start=1&cgid=men-airism

so wore them. Previously I wore typical leather and jeans.

My friend (Yamaha 600) stopped several times to strip down: jeans to shorts, leather jacket to nylon jacket to Tshirt. At about 5 hours he was soaking wet and exhausted and was not riding well. We had to stop twice for 1/2 hour for him to recover to continue. I had spare cotton briefsi that he borrowed because he was soaked. Today he is staying home due to heat stroke and sun burn though he used a 60SPF and reapplied at each stop.

I started at 10:30 AM and got home about 7:30 PM. About 6 hours the temp was 32C (90). I rode with helmet visor 7/8 down and windshield fully lowered (non-tour model) but forgot sunblock. To my amazement I never got hot, never sweated except at lunch and was comfortable all day. I was going to ask advice re a posterior problem I have always had (lets call it dampness) but the issue did not manifest. I cannot believe I didn't use this gear earlier in my riding life. What an improvement.

 

My friend (Yamaha 600) stopped several times to strip down: jeans to shorts, leather jacket to nylon jacket to Tshirt. At about 5 hours he was soaking wet and exhausted and was not riding well. We had to stop twice for 1/2 hour for him to recover to continue. I had spare cotton briefsi that he borrowed because he was soaked. Today he is staying home due to heat stroke and sun burn though he used a 60SPF and reapplied at each stop.

I started at 10:30 AM and got home about 7:30 PM. About 6 hours the temp was 32C (90). I rode with helmet visor 7/8 down and windshield fully lowered (non-tour model) but forgot sunblock. To my amazement I never got hot, never sweated except at lunch and was comfortable all day. I was going to ask advice re a posterior problem I have always had (lets call it dampness) but the issue did not manifest. I cannot believe I didn't use this gear earlier in my riding life. What an improvement.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve shown up for a ride wearing full ATTGAT, when my riding friends would be in jeans and t-shirt, or sometimes in shorts and sandals. They’d warn me “You’re going to burn up! It’s way too hot for that!” A few hours later some of them would be dropping like flies, but I would still be fine.

I won’t try to convince anyone that it doesn’t get warm, but it is doable. I’ve ridden a BBG through West Texas with the ambient temperature reading over 110º F for over 5 hours. As long as I can hydrate I’m good. If I do get uncomfortably hot I just wet the LD Comfort, and smile for another couple of hours.

You hit upon the other reason for a good base layer. Cotton shorts, and seams, will make life miserable after a few hours in the saddle. When I see someone post that need a recommendation for a better saddle, my first thought is “What are you wearing, Jake from State Farm?”

Glen

 

I'm guessing your riding buddy was not hydrating properly on your ride, and like you said wearing the proper clothes for those conditions is key. The after affects of heat stroke/exhaustion is no fun as I experienced it in my younger days of riding.