July 19, 2010, Monday

It was a hot day but I had a little spare time as the evening unfolded, so I decided to go out for a quick ride: back roads to Kutztown, then up Rt 737 to Stoney Run, across Stoney Run Rd to Albany, and up over the mountain on Hawk Mt. Rd. I came home through Schuylkill Gap and Port Clinton, past Hermy’s, on Rt 61, then down Rt 662 to home.

Gypsy Stats: 16:50 hrs to 19:00 hrs for 2 hrs 10 min elapsed time

6.5 min drink stop at Lyons

12.5 min drink stop at Moselem Springs

1 hr 52 min riding time

81.5 miles total distance

43.8 mph average

Beemer Stats: 85.5 miles total distance

45 mph average

48 mpg average

I was trying out the new LD Comfort short sleeve riding shirt, wearing the LD Comfort shirt and shorts under the ES Riding suit with no liner and no other layers. LD claims their special dual layer fabric wicks moisture from the skin to the outer layer where it evaporates, keeping the skin dry and providing cooling in a well ventilated suit. The temperature was around 90 F as I set out and stayed between 85 and 90 F for nearly the whole ride, dropping to 82-83 F as I came down the last stretch of Rt 662 into Yellow House. Basically, I was cool enough, but was more comfortable at 83 than at 85 – 90. The human body core temperature is 98.6 F, but I understand the skin temperature runs around 86 F, so if the environment is below 86, you loose heat; if above 86, you gain heat and must use evaporative cooling (sweating). LD claim that for extremely high temperatures you can use their long sleeve shirt soaked with water for cooling. Soak the shirt, open up all the vents on the suit, and the fabric wicks the moisture to the outer layer where it is evaporated and provides cooling. They claim this will get you through desert-crossing heat, up to 120 F. They also claim that at 80 F it may provide too much cooling for comfort. My experience today at 85 – 90 F was that I was basically comfortable in the vented suit, but I had to keep stopping for drinks. This leads me to believe that the LD shirt was working as advertised, keeping me both cool and dry. The down side is that you don’t notice how fast you are losing moisture through excessive sweating. I stopped at Lyons for a 16 oz drink and was feeling dry and mealy-mouthed by the time I was coming through Port Clinton. So, workable system, but beware of dehydration. I will have to give the soaked shirt system a try next as that should obviate the dehydration issue since it uses external rather than internal water (sweat) for cooling. It looks like maybe the best system is to wet the shirt if the temp is above 86 F for optimum comfort, but we will have try it out.