Heat Rash = Missouri Misery
So it is still hot on the road but we are getting used to it. A local said that this hot spell if very unusual to be happening so early in the summer. A few passers-by have asked us how we are staying cool. The answer: we aren’t. That’s not to say we don’t have a strategy though. Water and hydration is the best way to withstand the heat. Today we both drank about 150 ounces of water and Gatorade. We’ll stop at a gas stations to refill our bottles with ice and water and grab a Gatorade to gulp down right then. Also just moving on the bike is cooling. There are small breezes here and there but on the bike you are your own fan.
Just heat isn’t all we’re dealing with when it comes to the sun. We had stopped at a library yesterday to chill before setting up our camp. The librarian asked me about our trip and said I looked pale and if I got any blisters from the sun. This was a super sweet woman but I was secretly thinking “This is the tannest I have ever been and I’m still pale?!” But instead I said that I lather my British complexion in sunscreen each morning. On the whole we’ve actually been doing pretty good about being on top of the sun block. The main way the sun is agitating our skin is by way of heat rash. Heat rash is like a sun burn, they have a lot of the same symptoms, they just look and heal a little different. The heat rash got to me the first day back from Abbie’s wedding and has in total covered about 50% of my legs. Today Josh had sightings of it at the edges of his clothes (which is much more normal). The best thing we’ve found so far to treat it is hydrocortisone. We bought the Gold Bond brand which also has menthol in it. The icy burn of menthol feels so great on these hot days.
As the title implies we are in Missouri. We crossed the boarder yesterday but it wasn’t till today that we got to the hills. Missouri has a reputation for being the worst terrain on the route, “the self propelled rollercoaster.” In comparison to the mountains these hills have a worse grade and are in such rapidity that there is little recovery between each uphill. The mountains had a grade of 5-7% but here we’ve had up 10%. We’ve also determined that Missouri has the worst visibility because of the hills and nearly shoulders to assist, but so far the drivers are of the most courteous. They will slow down behind us and wait for other cars to pass and give us plenty of space. In other states drivers would only hug the yellow line if they couldn’t see far ahead. Today there was one van that came up behind us and followed us with his blinkers on as we crossed the crest of a hill. Thank you van-guy for watching out for us!
We are going to crawl into our tent now at the city park of Marshfield, MO for our coolest night this week (78 degrees right now! yesterday we went to sleep sweating ugh).
Jake Report:
Miles: 85.4 (biggest day so far!), time on bike: 7h 45m, average: 11.0, total: 2,813, terrain: rollercoaster, weather: hot and humid but thank the Lords there were clouds
So it is still hot on the road but we are getting used to it. A local said that this hot spell if very unusual to be happening so early in the summer. A few passers-by have asked us how we are staying cool. The answer: we aren’t. That’s not to say we don’t have a strategy though. Water and hydration is the best way to withstand the heat. Today we both drank about 150 ounces of water and Gatorade. We’ll stop at a gas stations to refill our bottles with ice and water and grab a Gatorade to gulp down right then. Also just moving on the bike is cooling. There are small breezes here and there but on the bike you are your own fan.
Just heat isn’t all we’re dealing with when it comes to the sun. We had stopped at a library yesterday to chill before setting up our camp. The librarian asked me about our trip and said I looked pale and if I got any blisters from the sun. This was a super sweet woman but I was secretly thinking “This is the tannest I have ever been and I’m still pale?!” But instead I said that I lather my British complexion in sunscreen each morning. On the whole we’ve actually been doing pretty good about being on top of the sun block. The main way the sun is agitating our skin is by way of heat rash. Heat rash is like a sun burn, they have a lot of the same symptoms, they just look and heal a little different. The heat rash got to me the first day back from Abbie’s wedding and has in total covered about 50% of my legs. Today Josh had sightings of it at the edges of his clothes (which is much more normal). The best thing we’ve found so far to treat it is hydrocortisone. We bought the Gold Bond brand which also has menthol in it. The icy burn of menthol feels so great on these hot days.
As the title implies we are in Missouri. We crossed the boarder yesterday but it wasn’t till today that we got to the hills. Missouri has a reputation for being the worst terrain on the route, “the self propelled rollercoaster.” In comparison to the mountains these hills have a worse grade and are in such rapidity that there is little recovery between each uphill. The mountains had a grade of 5-7% but here we’ve had up 10%. We’ve also determined that Missouri has the worst visibility because of the hills and nearly shoulders to assist, but so far the drivers are of the most courteous. They will slow down behind us and wait for other cars to pass and give us plenty of space. In other states drivers would only hug the yellow line if they couldn’t see far ahead. Today there was one van that came up behind us and followed us with his blinkers on as we crossed the crest of a hill. Thank you van-guy for watching out for us!
We are going to crawl into our tent now at the city park of Marshfield, MO for our coolest night this week (78 degrees right now! yesterday we went to sleep sweating ugh).
Jake Report:
Miles: 85.4 (biggest day so far!), time on bike: 7h 45m, average: 11.0, total: 2,813, terrain: rollercoaster, weather: hot and humid but thank the Lords there were clouds