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Getting 39.5 on a garmin in the sun doesn't mean that was the air temp. Likely to be a bit of sun radiation inflating that.
I've ridden in 40 degrees plus twice, Greece in 2016 and the nullarbor in 2017, and this year was not nearly as hot as those days were. Above 40 water was horrible to drink after half an hour as it was above body temp, and a real effort to plod on, having to back off effort, etc. I didn't do tcr last year or the year before but, with lucifer, etc, both were much hotter. This year has just been normal seasonal temps. Summer in Bulgaria is always going to be hot!
Also the hot part of the day is about 4 hours from 1-5. The other 20 hours are much more comfortable, even pleasant!
frank9755-
. Above 40 water was horrible to drink after half an hour as it was above body temp, and a real effort to plod on, having to back off effort, etc. I didn't do tcr last year or the year before but, with lucifer, etc, both were much hotter. This year has just been normal seasonal temps. Summer in Bulgaria is always going to be hot!
can confirm northern italy during lucifer was like this. Absolutely brutal.
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Getting 39.5 on a garmin in the sun doesn't mean that was the air temp.
True but air temp is measured in the shade so even if the Garmin was getting radiated heat, so was I. Maybe it wasn't as hot as previous years but the climbing was harder so there was less ventilation compared to the more rolling finish of Greece/Turkey. I cramped pretty hard on the descent of that Bulgarian UFO and had to make an effort to up the salt intake after that.
gillies
hippy
I couldn't imagine even functioning in that sort of heat.
It sounds as if those extreme weather events took their toll on many. The route is hard enough (I could never do so much climbing), but the conditions evidently make it ridiculous.