This is your brain, this is your brain on Heat Exhaustion...

Well, I kind of new I would be riding home on the old steed, and I knew it would be hot. What I see in hindsight is that I shouldn't have swam a mile over lunch. The legs were jello this afternoon and the temps were in the 105+ range which is usually a pretty hot ride. Anyway I had a pretty good tradewind heading east through Chandler. I had ice water, and a tailwind it was nice, if only the legs had more juice! I made it to the freeway in good time but that is where I started to slowly lose steam. Around here things got pretty nasty as I was getting hot and having wierd skin sensations so I knew I had to do something soon. I spotted a bikeway on the side of a canal around gilbert and took it thinking it might cut some distance off. It didn't cut any distance off but it did spit me out at an intersection and where the trail ended there was a water fountain with hot water. Now I know that hot water may not sound too appealing but when the humidity is low, even hot water will quickly chill when a wind is applied to it so I doused my helmet and my jersey and started pedaling into a few miles of evaporative cooling bliss. It wasn't too long before I dried out though but the cooling had boosted my energy so I was able to keep better time for awhile. When I finally got out into the farms the temperature dropped near the fields. I still had to douse myself a few times with the waterbottle I filled at the fountain. The last 3 miles were a real struggle. I found myself struggling to pedal up the street to my house. I did arrive just after 6:30 so I could watch the kids but man what an effort to make it! One hour and forty minutes in the blazing sun. Knowing I wasn't exactly in the best shape at the moment I went in and filled the tub with cold water and sat in it. One the cold water helps get the lactic acid out of the muscles, two, there is no better way to help the body shed extra heat than to submerge it in cold water. After the bath I drank another quart of water, ate a bowl of Ice Cream, two bowls of frosted flakes, and another quart of water. Looking at my Diet diary program on my palm pilot it says after all I have ate today and all my excersize, I can still eat 2000 calories before I go over today's calorie goal! Bring on the cheesecake!