Porsche Bike X heat test ride

A friend of mine drove to Markleeville last Sunday and test-rode both Monitor and Ebbetts Pass in preparation of the upcoming Death Ride. He reported back that he overheated and had to stop riding, laying in the shade until he could start again.

Hearing this I freaked out a little. He was riding in temperatures near 90 degrees - same conditions I'll likely face on July 8 on the Death Ride.

Overcoming my concern I made a game plan and tested it out in today's upper 80 degree temperatures. The 2004 Porsche Bike X has three places for water bottle cages. So I headed out to ride to Donner Lake and back with one water bottle for drinking and the other for pouring a little water through a hole in my bike helmet on my head.

I remembered from my old running days if I cooled off my head, I didn't overheat. Sure I'll need ample amounts of sun tan lotion for the body, but a cool head will prevail in hot conditions.

The Death Ride has nine rest stops, so my strategy will be to refill one bottle with Gatorade, Powerade or whatever they're serving and the other bottle with cold water.

I think this will work well. They'll enough stops to add water and I should have enough to stay cool over each mountain pass.

On my ride today I tested this out. Pouring water through the hole in my helmet the first time, I was leaning my head forward too much and all the water ran down my face and into my eyes. Lesson learned. So the next time I tilted my head back and water ran down my back. This cooled my head and back - perfect!

I'll try this again this Sunday when I ride another 70 miler in the heat.