Riding through an Ocean

Riding a bicycle on a warm, humid day is like pedaling through a warm ocean. The breeze, which should cool you, slows you down and it becomes difficult to breath as the water droplets, suspended invisibly in the air, threaten to asphyxiate you. Sweat beads upon your skin like warm glue and attaches your clothing, especially those clothes closest to you, to yourself in uncomfortable and awkward positions. In addition, you begin to smell like something someone left out for a long time and your presence becomes intolerable. Worse yet, adding water to your forehead and 'keeping yourself hydrated' are of little avail as lack of water isn't the problem. It's the opposite.

It's not merely the heat that's the problem. If it were merely hot, then sweat would evaporate and cool you off, as would the breeze, and drinking water would be far more beneficial. However, sweat works by evaporation. The heat on your arms and forehead are absorbed into the drops of sweat which then expand into water vapor and life into the air around you, taking the heat with it, leaving you cool, dry, and devoid of stickiness and stench. But, with the humidity, and water already floating through the air, the sweat can't evaporate and merely beads on the skin, useless, sticky and smelly. With humidity, even a little warmth can seem like heat wave as you're body's natural cooling ceases to function.

When I lived in Albuquerque the weather was nice. It was dry and sunny almost every day. It was hot, very hot, but you didn't feel it because there was no humidity. So long as you drank lots of water, you would be fine the whole day long. When it did get humid it was more like a nice change: it was cooler than usual (typically due to clouds) and your hair was a little nicer than normal.

Now I live in Virginia and it seems like we pick of a warm breeze from the sea on semi-weekly basis. Most of the day's are okay, but enough of them are just miserable. I ride an hour to work and an hour back again and I'm soaking wet within the first ten minutes of either. The change of clothes at work isn't even enough to keep me from smelling bad the whole day through. It's a nasty experience and I honestly hate it.

Could be worse though. I could live in Florida. That is a miserable state.

God Bless.