Monday, Monday....

We have an excessive heat warning in Tulsa today. The outside air temperature is 96F and the heat index when combined with the humidity is 105F. Later this week, it will be hotter, with air temperatures over 100F.

I didn't ride today, but it wasn't due to the heat. No, I woke up at 3AM, wide awake and almost unable to get back to sleep. I dozed fitfully until the alarm went off at 5. I hate mornings when I get up feeling even more tired that when I went to bed.

But I know from experience that riding in the heat is hard on the legs. It's hard on the whole body. My heart works harder just moving blood around trying to cool the muscles. Add high temperatures on top of that and it's easy to exceed the anaerobic threshold without even feeling like I'm working hard.

When it's this hot, I usually drink 2 water bottles on the way home, and pour a third one over my arms and chest. A quick dousing lowers my heart rate by 10 or 15 beats per minute.

Gotta go find that heart rate monitor...