It is forecast to be 41°C in Adelaide, South Australia this weekend, just 33 degrees more than it will be for me in southern England. It might sound nice, even appealing to us in the northern hemisphere, but 41 is too hot. It’s a staying inside day, a day when you feel like the melting clocks in Dali’s The Persistence of Memory. It’s hot enough for people to be unwell, a temperature a thousand Calippos could not combat.
You might think it odd to open this with a discussion of the weather on the other side of the planet, but it matters because the WorldTour season has just begun in South Australia. When I was in Australia for the Tour Down Under two years ago, I remember how hot it was, and how difficult I found exercising in the sun. I might not be an elite athlete, but neither did I have to ride hundreds of kilometres.
