Today I went for a ride with my sons, temps were in the mid 80's which is just stinking hot for us pacific northwesterners, and was absolutely cooking in my riding gear.

This was a fairly short ride, 10 miles on pavement, then about maybe 25 miles of twisty, rutted gravel FS roads, then 10 miles on pavement again back to my son's house. I was drenched with sweat by the end.

So what do you guys who live in warmer climates wear to ride?

 

I have a pair of thor over the boot pants and normally wear a FOX pressure suit and a MX jersey + gloves, boots, bag etc

Found that jackets were way to hot but the MX jerseys flow enough air.

In summer here we get about 35 Celsius... I think this is about 95 Fahrenheit and about 80 percent humidity.

If your getting to hot just ride faster… also found that stopping doesn’t help but since we started using bluetooth communicators a while back and can talk while we ride, we very rarely stop (except for beer and smoke breaks).

 

Many of us continue to ride in the desert, even with temps above 110 degrees F. I have a cooling vest that I wear over a microfiber shirt and under long sleeved shirt which is under a mesh armored outer garmet. The key is to trap as much moisture as we can, as it evaporates so fast in single-digit humidity. You'd probably need to modify this to allow for faster evaporation. Full boots and padded riding pants, knee/shin guards, full faced helmet....don't make the mistake of decreasing safety gear for more cooling effects. It's not very cool to get hurt, when it can be prevented so easily.

 

Ditto on the mesh. I ride in Klim baja pants that have several mesh areas, and an AXO air cage pressure suit. The cooling vest Blackheart mentioned looks interesting. I may stop at a stream crossing and soak the pressure suit for some additional evaporative cooling, which works great here with our low humidity.

 

Thanks for the tips, lots to look into!

 

I wear my Fieldsheer full armour jacket everytime I ride, well except for the last few days, and I usually dont wear gloves.......It was nice this last week, I got all 8 acres mowed at work!!!!

 

If you carry cold water with you keep a bandana pretty wet and wrap it around your neck. I did this on Sat when I went for a ride in the 100 degree weather. Works great as long as you keep it wet.

 

I wear a cheap mesh jacket and pants the I picked up at cycle gear. Usually just bike shorts and jersey under it for the wicking qualities. Rode for 4 hours of rough single and double track. It started out at 85 and went to 105, just drank a lot of water and was fine, except for having to wrestle my riding partners bike when a hill climb went bad.

 

Atomic Moto has the gear I mentioned for what looks like a fairly decent price.
http://www.atomic-moto.com/servlet/the-This-Month%27s-BOMBS!!/Categories

+1 on the wet bandana.

 

Thanks for that link, some great looking gear there. Usually I'm fine in my jacket (with built in CE armor for the elbows, shoulder and back) with the couple of vents that it has open, and my pants have a 2" wide panel that zips out with mesh underneath. But this past weekend it was just too hot, and I need to get something with better ventilation.

Does the pressure suit need to be worn under something?