Sort of a ride report and a request

[old2soon]

      Request first! Do anyone here know about a good evaporative/cooling vest or shirt or something that lasts for more than 15 or 20 miles in the Heat?
       Memorial day-Monday-I had every intention of riding the approx 95 or so miles to The Veterans Cemetery in Waynesville Missouri. Wasn't all that hot when I rolled out-bout mid 80s and humid-O2 set at my riding level of 3 liters on a conserver regulator light weight cotton short sleeve western shirt and my armored mesh jacket sans liner. Fired her up snicked her into to gear and away we go. Houston Mo. bout 26 miles to the wally wurld for top up of loud water. My gallon of frozen H2O was still frozen so bought water at ww soaked shirt and do rag and headed on up to Waynesville on Mo. 17 N. I wish I could tell ya I made it to Waynesville-I really wish I could tell y'all that.
     What actually happened wuz I kept feeling crappier and crappier as the temps rose and I wuz Fighting Hard to not pass out. Little handi mart at Success Mo appeared and I pulled in and took advantage of the shade outside and the A/C inside. Got cooled out-maybe 45 mins-upped my liters on the O2 to 5 soaked shirt do rag and jacket and headed back S. Got back to Houston-STILL 26 miles to my casa-killed another hour or so cooling out in their shade and A/C-Casey's-ought more water soaked up again and rolled all the way to where US 63 crosses under US 60 at Cabool pulled under the viaduct into the shade drank a lot of my ice water and after removing the helmet and opening my jacket poured about a half liter of water over my head and water ran down my front and back. Can NOT believe how cursed GOOD the water on my back made me feel! The last 12 or 14 miles to my casa were The Best I'd felt all day and it were 93 on my handle bar thermometer. But just before I made the turn off on the N end of Willow Springs I was all dried again-clothing wise. 
     So if anyone here has a solution that keeps me damp for evaporative cooling I am all ears and eagerly await the wisdom from our collective. Cain't be stopping every 15 20 miles to pour water over my gourd to keep me cool but I NEED to stay cool!  As always-T I A for Any and All help. RIDE SAFE.

   

[Oss]

Dennis, good to see you planning a long ride in the heat

I think the hypercool is what I have, at least it looks like it  When I get home tonite I will look for it


https://www.google.com/search?q=evaporative+cooling+vest&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1


What I do on hot rides is keep gallon zip lock bags with ice in the trunk in a collapsible cooler along with some water bottles.  At rest stop I soak the vest and my doo rag and either wear it under my mesh jacket or sometimes I just take off the jacket entirely and just wear the vest.  That is what I did on the way back from LaCrosse

I didnt get heat stroke but Gman came real close that trip as he didnt even have a jacket on just his short sleeve shirt  Lesson learned for my friend the hard way

Also While gassing up I put the bag of ice water in the upside down helmet  That cools it off right quickly for a good while

[The emperor has no clothes]

I use the "poor mans" evaporative vest. A soaked sweatshirt under a mesh jacket. It works for about an hour here in the desert.

[MarkT]

I do the same as Meat when it's brutally hot.

I actually prototyped an irrigating shirt with pump and hoses and reservoir and was working on bringing it to market when I did some digging into patents and found it was already on the market. DOH!  I've lost the link, that was years ago.

I've found more recently I don't want to ride long distances anymore w/o towing a small trailer with a large Coleman cooler on the towbar.  Man is that convenient, having 30# of ice and a case of water plus whatever refrigerated niceties I want, right with me!  Not to mention, other supplies like a suitcase of wardrobe, riding gear for any weather condition and my Navage nose irrigator, Water Pik. With a laptop along, I don't need to shut the business down; can do all the comms from the road; schedule jobs; use the internet as needed with more capability than the phone, etc. And bring plenty of tools - even power tools like a drill, impact driver, in case there's Harleys on the ride, gotta be able to get them fixed so they don't ruin the ride!  

[solo1]

I had tried an expensive so called cooling vest. Soaked it and it seemed to have absorbed  gazillion quarts of water. I wore it under my mesh vest.  It didn't work, The water ran out of the vest and down. my jeans. The advertising was super but the results were lousy. Maybe the high humidity didn't help  but it wasn't the answer although the MFR said that it was.

[Jess from VA]

Dennis, I used the Fieldshear brand Iceberg POLYMER vest, and it was damn heavy, heated up and lost all water in no time.  So I gave it away.

Later, I discovered a different type of vest, mostly sold to be used by road workers and such, that uses a crystal water retaining technology, and these vests, once fully charged with water (can take a few hours or overnight), will stay wet for days (not hours).

They all are still supposed to work best over a tshirt, and under a lightweight full (not partial) mesh jacket, and not just exposed to the wind stream.

This is what I am talking about.  (*there may be others out there, just google water retaining crystal vests)  (scroll down for other crystal cooling products)

http://www.tuffsupplies.com/occunomix-902-miracool-pullover-cooling-vest-37174.html

https://www.fullsource.com/occunomix-902-073/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIzKS8l6Ou2wIV1lqGCh1StQyREAQYAyABEgIlvPD_BwE

https://www.thewarmingstore.com/miracool-cooling-vest-900.html

https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=miracool+cooling+bandanas&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=228972139383&hvpos=1t2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17091445895816617683&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9008188&hvtargid=kwd-377913625196&ref=pd_sl_8vo8czmbkm_e_p38

What I did was charge the vest overnight in a big container of water, then I folded it up in a big oversized zip lock plastic bag and stick it in my fridge.  On a hot day ride, I put it in my saddlebag (still in the zip lock bag) (it would be too cold to wear right out of the fridge... shivver).  But later, as the day heated up, I'd pull it out and stick it over a tshirt (recommended), and under my all mesh jacket.  It will hold water for days, though once your body heats it fully up to 98.6 degrees, it gets feeling pretty muggy, even with the evaporation working.  My vest also was a bit long for my body (while sitting on the bike seat), so I cut the bottom front row of crystals off it, because I was getting wet nuts/ass which was not helping with the cooling process.

The polymer cooling vests suck.

The brand name for this crystal stuff is MiraCool, and they also make some crystal holding doo rags, and neckerchiefs which also help out with hot weather.  I especially liked the doorag, which only had a row of crystals for water right in front.  My half helmet was too tight to go over the water crystal row, but I was able to shift it forward to just below the front crown of the helmet.  Adding evaporation to forehead and neck was a big help (often without the vest), and this stuff is pretty cheap, and ordered 4-5 different items for try out.  (I left some charged with water in the fridge all summer long one year, and the cotton fabric sort of prematurely wore out, so don't do that)

[sandy]

Rather than soaking the outside, keep the water flowing inside. I carry a 100 oz Camelback and drink liberal gulps every 10-15 miles. Once you feel light headed, it's too late. You're dehydrated. The only cure is hours inside consuming water. On a trip from Mesa, AZ to Wichita, KS, I consumed 2 bladders a day for two days. High temps were 107. I don't use a cooling vest as it doesn't last very long and restricts air flow through the mesh. In the summer of '16, we came across CA from the coast to Needles, CA. It was 111 in Needles and no dehydration, but it was HOTTT!!!.

[old2soon]

Rather than soaking the outside, keep the water flowing inside. I carry a 100 oz Camelback and drink liberal gulps every 10-15 miles. Once you feel light headed, it's too late. You're dehydrated. The only cure is hours inside consuming water. On a trip from Mesa, AZ to Wichita, KS, I consumed 2 bladders a day for two days. High temps were 107. I don't use a cooling vest as it doesn't last very long and restricts air flow through the mesh. In the summer of '16, we came across CA from the coast to Needles, CA. It was 111 in Needles and no dehydration, but it was HOTTT!!!.

Plz rekemember I am also on Oxygen. Don't gotta be hot fer me to feel light headed!  BUT I duz preciate the response. Will be weighing the responses and I am also calling riders I know in my area with similar issues. I WILL be tryin the less expensive solutions Prior to spendin my hard earnt shekels. RIDE SAFE.

[The emperor has no clothes]

Rather than soaking the outside, keep the water flowing inside. I carry a 100 oz Camelback and drink liberal gulps every 10-15 miles. Once you feel light headed, it's too late. You're dehydrated. The only cure is hours inside consuming water. On a trip from Mesa, AZ to Wichita, KS, I consumed 2 bladders a day for two days. High temps were 107. I don't use a cooling vest as it doesn't last very long and restricts air flow through the mesh. In the summer of '16, we came across CA from the coast to Needles, CA. It was 111 in Needles and no dehydration, but it was HOTTT!!!.

Plz rekemember I am also on Oxygen. Don't gotta be hot fer me to feel light headed!  BUT I duz preciate the response. Will be weighing the responses and I am also calling riders I know in my area with similar issues. I WILL be tryin the less expensive solutions Prior to spendin my hard earnt shekels. RIDE SAFE.

Just remember the key to the soaked sweatshirt method is the free flowing mesh jacket.