What started out as a cross cities ride to Redlands then back on the inland SART as 2 x 3 min @ 175 - 185 W plus 2 1/2 -3 hr Zone becomes a cyclist version of The Twilight Zone! All went beautifully across Riverside, Grand Terrace, Colton, Loma Linda and Redlands. Once I got onto SART west bound I started and completed a 3 minute interval amd had backed off to cool down a bit before starting into thr next one after coming out of an almost 180 downslope with tall chainlink fencing leading up to a rust colored new bike bridge when things went completely off the rails! I dove into the 180 degree right turn dive at about 20mph as lucid as I optimally am and suddenly my rear wheel is sliding sideways and my days of another lifetime ago when I lived in the Midwest and rode out onto glear ice and frozen lakes just to put thr bike into a sideways skid to see if i could regain control kicked in. Instinct told me to let go of my inner curve lean and go upright while grabbing enough front brake to cut speed untim the rear stopped sliding sideways. And BOOM! I came to a perfect stop facing exactly the opposite direction a split second ago i was coming from at 20 mph. The million dollar question immediately came to mind: what could have caused this? As I looked at the trail surface seeing nothing irregular abouy it i looked at my rear tire. It was almost flat! I’d sense nothing out of order before apparently it folded sideways yet stayed on the rim and I found myself skidding on the sidewall! It was well over 100 degrees but i was managing it really well up to that moment. Then I felt my core temperature going up rapidly and sweat raining from the combination of the jusy finished interval and the well above 100 atmospheric temperatures. There was zero shade anywhere. I thought maybe I could use my manula mini hand pump to top the tube off enough to get to the County of Riverside parking lot I could see off about a mile away after I walked the bike about 50 ft to that rusted metal bridge just beyond the 180 curve where this weirdness began. The tube leaked down too fast to ride it any further. So despite the accumulating inner heat, I set about changing the tube out. Found a goat head thorn… Didnt bother to try to patch the tube as i had a spair. Got up and clipped in and as soon as I started to apply force to the pedals I felt that my “Super Powers” were gone! Bluetooth headset shut down due to extreme heat exposure. Screen on my iPhone 16 Pro went black with a red “Heat Danger” warning message and only one option: Call 911! I’ll pass the 69 lap mile marker August So I slowly rolled up a gear or two at a time to assess my over heating vs thr cooling possibilities of moving air vs what little water and electrolytes and carbs I had left vs how far i had to go. Power came back some but not enough to step on it to minimize time exposed to Redline Conditions - heart rate continued to climb despite power saying pretty low - about 120 or lower. Not a good sign… By the time I approached the back side of Mt Roubidoux I felt chills up the back of my neck and my heart rate spiked to 161 with no change in effort or power output. I knew then I had to abort trying to cover the last 5 miles to home in favor of stopping at the park in front of the mountain where there is water fountains. I needed drastic cooling from the head down. And as I rode towards the park the shivers went down my exposed arms. I knew I was moments away from a life ending situation. The fountains out inbetween the parking lots and the playground and restroom were only flowing a trickle of water out so I rolled onnover to the restroom where there was shade and a working sink with flowing water and proceeded to bith dowse my head and torso with water then drinking a couple of bottles. Gradually I felt the intensity of the situation calming down. Heart rate dropping. Chills turning off. Called my wife to let her know where I was and what had happened. Took surface streets instead of the rest of SART as SART is Palm Springs level hot today and no shade! My Garmin 1050 data says the heat coming off the asphalt on the Inland SART was 118 degrees! Shivers came back on my forearms on the ride up Palm Ave to Central Ave - the steeet I live off of - I managed to get home and bypassed my wifes offer of a cold towel and a cold mason jar of water and headed straight to the shower. A cold shower brought down my core beautifully. I’ve been home and made a Costco fruit restocking run - they had lots of organic produce super cheap today! And despite the scales indicating my weight is down 11 lbs over this mornings weigh in, I feel amazingly peaceful and my body seems to be regulating itself better than it ever had in any prior season of life that I’ve brought it through extreme heat to the edge of heat stroke or extreme cold like -21 degrees Fahrenheit with some foot and hand digits frozen - yet I came out that experience with no long term damage! Crisis averted… Well done Erskien 👁️ I LOVE Being Plant Based - Mostly Raw - The Resilience or Bounce Back is Other Worldly! ❤️‍🔥☀️🦶🏽🦵🏾🫁🫀🧠👀🤔🫡🧬👍🏾🌵✌🏾