Extreme heat has engulfed parts of Europe, the US and China. By early last week, at least 86 Chinese cities had issued heat alerts. A so-called heat dome has formed over the Southwest and central US, breaking long-standing temperature records and intensifying what had already been an extremely hot summer.
In Europe, the heat wave has been described as the worst in over 200 years, causing wildfires across Spain, Portugal and France. The situation in France and the UK is expected to be particularly intense until Tuesday, with the first-ever “Red Extreme” heat alert issued by Britain’s Met Office.
The Toyota plant in San Antonio is going to start suspending operations after 2pm in an attempt to conserve power and relieve stress on our electrical grid. How’s that for a macro impact?
Shortening the race is a possibility. They have done it several times. Just a few years ago a violent hail storm flooded one the route so badly that they had to call the race based on everyone’s position and time on the road. Changing the start time would probably be a logistical nightmare. The routes are known months in advance, and all the times the roads are going to be closed is something that people have planned for. I can’t imagine the havoc it would play with people’s lives to make that kind of change. I expect extra water will be virtually forced on the riders. I could see the organizers setting up misting areas on smooth flat stretches of the road and imposing something like a yellow flag in auto racing until everyone in the peloton gets through the wet area safely. It will be interesting to see what they do. I need to go look and see if any fires are burning near the race route.
The very best, and fittest riders will gladly ( well, relatively, lol ) take their chances
with pushing it in the higher heat/humidity. The less genetically gifted will be the ones
who suffer the most, and lose the most time due to heat. The temps will affect every rider, but
the less talented will suffer more. All of the riders in the Tour are gifted, of course, but
the very best are on a different level.
I wonder if this will affect the Tour d’France. They move down to the Pyrenees this week before heading to Paris next Sunday.
I watched yesterday’s stage to Carcassonne in the south of France. They said it got up to 93 degrees. For comparison, Petaluma in Sonoma County (Northern California) has had highs of 93 and 94 in the last couple of weeks. Pasadena, California even more. I think people expect heat when cycling in the summer.
I think people expect heat when cycling in the summer.
True, but continual hot weather changes things.
Example: I will no longer travel to Italy during the summer months (their high season). It was bad enough that the country was packed with tourists, but to add insult to injury, it’s now consistently too hot to enjoy most of the country.
