Day off in Playa Ostional - Recovering from heatstroke!
It was a tough day's cycling the previous day, and I suffered a little from heatstroke. A day off to recover was needed, and this looked as good a place as any!
Recovering from heatstroke in Playa Ostional
Blog post written: April 7th, 2010
Well, last night I staggered into the tent at 16.00, and collapsed without eating dinner, neither of which are good signs, so I took the day off to recover.
I suppose I could have carried on today if I had really needed to, but travelling alone, I need to be more careful about my health. If I get sick, there's no one to look after me !
A day in the shade re-hydrating
So, I spent the day in the shade, reading a book, eating, re-hydrating and watching the iguanas.
I tried to analyse if I had made a mistake yesterday at some point, but I hadn't altered my routines drastically.
Of course, the road was tough which combined with the ever present heat is going to cause problems for most people.
There are two things not working in my favour I concluded. The first may not seem important but it is, whilst the second one is obvious.
A couple of problems
Firstly, the hat I am wearing is too thick. I need it to keep the sun off my excellent bald head, but the thickness is causing me to overheat.
Secondly, the sheer weight of the gear I am carrying combined with the bicycle trailer is causing me to work a lot harder than if I had less stuff.
There's not really a way around this last issue though, as I use most of my stuff daily, whilst the spares I will need at some point down the line. I figure I am carrying at least 10 kgs more stuff than on my Africa cycling trip
Read more about cycling from Alaska to Argentina
Dave is a UK travel writer living in Athens since 2015. With 20 years of firsthand travel experience and over 80,000 km of bicycle touring across six continents, he's been blogging at Dave's Travel Pages since 2005. Every guide is based on places he's actually been.
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