It's Not the Smog; It's the Humidity

Interesting article in today's NY Times describing the first long endurance event at the Beijing Olympics, the Men's cycling road race.

Humidity Is the Problem in a Race of Attrition

In reporting on the race, and on the conditions that American George Hincapie described as the worst of his career, Times writer Greg Bishop reported:

The American Jason McCartney came into the race with the same concern as the journalists who flocked here to gauge the effect pollution would have on endurance riders. McCartney acknowledged thinking during the first few days in Beijing, “We’re in trouble.” It turned out that they were, but for different reasons. In trouble from the heat, but mostly in trouble from the humidity that soaked shirts and dotted brows with sweat.

Only three of the five American riders finished, including Hincapie, Levi Leipheimer, and Christian Vane der Velde. Hincapie said the air quality was not that big a deal, but the humidity was.

In very humid conditions, sweat doesn't evaporate efficiently from the skin, it just drips. Without the natural radiator of sweat evaporation, the body compensates by having the heart pump more and more blood to the surface from the body's core, with a huge negative impact on performance.

Anyone want to predict the winning times in the women's and men's marathons?

Vande Velde, who finished the race in 17th, had nice words for the course itself, calling it one of the most epic he has ever ridden (and that includes the 22 stages of the Tour de France). Bishop writes:

Almost lost in the air quality and the humidity was the beauty of the course itself. The collage of colors at the finish, the lush green mountains in the background, the Great Wall looming above, covered in the smog.