don't guilt-trip yourself if it's a hundred outside

We've had some unseasonably hot days here in Portland this month. Last week we had a four-day stretch of temperatures ranging from 98 to 102F, with a very low humidity rate.
It may be a dry heat, as we like to tell our friends back east who suffer high humidity all summer; but it's still [bleep]-ing HOT.

So hot, in fact, that even with a wet t-shirt, riding around town on bike errands is really a drag, life-sucking, deflating ;I hung in there on the high 90's days, and it was hard. When the thermometer hit 102F, I was done. I stayed home, naked, sitting in front of a large fan with a wet camp towel laid across my body, and drank gallons of water all day. This week, I did the same thing again yesterday and today. By this evening, things have cooled down a little, and if it weren't so late I'd go for a bike ride. But instead, I'm goinmg to bed.

I wanted to ride, really. But I didn't want to kill myself. Since going on Varsity-level drugs for Crohn's, I've had to limit my sun exposure and wear long-sleeved shirts in the sunshine. On a high 70's day that would be alright. When the thermometer rose above 90F, it got stupid. So I stayed home, without a shred of guilt.

Tomorrow's high will be in the mid 80's, and the day after that it will be in the high 70's. Rain is possible by late next week.
Now I suppose I've gotta go find my raingear.

Happy riding.