hydration, electrolytes and nutrition on long rides

[MattHB]

Now my rides are starting to extend upto and past the 3 hour mark, Im trying to get my head around the seemingly black art of hydration and nutrition.

various articles online seem to suggest around 450-700ml of fluid intake per hour depending on your sweat rates.

Normally, I take with me about 500ml of water with 33grams of powerbar ISO active powder in it. (116cal, 420mg sodium, 109mg pot, 356mg chloride, 59mg calc, 22mg mag)

Ive realised that for 1 the calorie content isnt high enough to rely on that alone, so Im going to try some gel packs.

yesterday I did a 55mile ride in 3.5 hours, and drank 1.5ltrs over the whole time (little and often and it was quite cold in places). Weighing in before and after seems to confirm that as I lost about 2lb's during the ride that I didnt drink enough. The problem is is that I had to stop 4 times for a pee!

My question really is is this normal or is my electrolyte balance wrong which is causing me to dump the fluid too fast? Or am I just drinking too much?

cheers in advance

 

[Scilly Suffolk]

The colour of your urine is a good guide: a pale straw colour is ideal; darker than that means you aren't drinking enough; and paler (colourless) indicates too much.

1.5 litres over 3.5 hours sounds ample on a cool day, but being 1.0 kilo lighter seems a lot if that was all down to fluid loss: that would equate to 1.0 litre and you would be noticeably thirsty and probably have a stinging headache.

Your bladder holds roughly 0.5 litre, so assuming you were well hydrated before your ride, four pit stops doesn't sound desperately excessive as you wouldn't have been sweating much.

Provided you are experiencing no ill-effects, I wouldn't rely on the data from just one ride: keep a log and look at the trend over a period of weeks and months. You'll then be able to spot any anomalies and your doctor will have some useful information on which to base their opinion.

Personally I like to keep hydration and nutrition separate as I find it easier to keep track of, than if I'm getting significant calories from what I'm drinking.

 

[MattHB]

I think as Ive been relying on sports drink powders for my calories, I might have ended up loosing track of my needed hydration as fluid was the only medium that I was able to stock up on. Ive got some gells coming and Ill take some cereal bars with me and see how it goes.

Ive got a 56 mile sportive next weekend which has pit stops to stock up, but Id like to stop as little as possible hense me looking into it now.

cheers for the advice. Ill keep a log and see whats what. wooo spreadsheets!

 

[User269]

I think we often overdo the hyrdration thing, especially when we consume 'scientific' preparations which include elocrolytes which I'm sure we mostly don't need.Personally I would expect to ride around 50 miles in 3-4 hours with only one pee stop, and even then only if the opportunity arises. I drink PSP 22 which tops up my calories and fluids to a reasonable degree. In theory it looks like this;

 

[MattHB]

Cool. By that chart I was about right then. Being 15st. Wee colour suggests I drank too much, so I'll try to fine tune my intake.

 

[amaferanga]

If you're just riding as opposed to racing then you don't need gels and all that stuff. Some electrolyte powder in your drinks on a warm day is a good idea (you can buy packets of electrolyte powder from e.g. Myprotein.co.uk for a couple for quid that'll last months). Then just eat normal, convenient food - bananas, soreen malt loaf, muesli bars, etc. and you'll be fine. Don't get sucked in my all the marketing crap telling you that you need gels and expensive carbohydrate powders just to ride a bike a few miles. Gels and crab drinks are necessary in racing (when you likely won't have an opportunity to eat normal food and if you tried chances are you'd get dropped), but for normal riding you just don't need to spend several pounds per ride on gels.

As for how much you need to drink - go with what feels right for you, not what some website recommends for Mr. Average.

 

[StuAff]

Amaferanga makes some good points. I prefer a mix-and-match approach between product and 'real' food depending on distance & type of ride. Shorter (30-40 miles, say) ride on a hot day- I'd take something like a High 5 Zero tab in a bottle, when I'll be sweating but not needing carbs. For longer and faster rides, either drinks from powders or DIY (diluted orange juice with a pinch of salt). The powders are also handy for backup. For solid food, a sliced malt loaf's always in the bag for a long outing, usually a couple of bananas, and perhaps a couple of cereal bars. Gels are handy to stick in the pocket too for just-in-case.

The thing with the branded energy stuff, for those who want it, is not to pay full price, ever- shop around, go for extra discounts, end-of-line stuff etc (assuming of course, that you know you'll be OK with whatever it is) and it's not that expensive, particularly compared with the often gouging price for 'real food' in garages/convenience stores/Tesco Express. Last batch of gels I bought was BOGOF at Wiggle, worked out about 50p each. I like Zipvit's chocolate orange recovery bars- last lot of those was again BOGOF and were about 82p each. Still a bit more expensive than your average chocolate bar, but I'm not exactly bothered.

On fluid intake- I agree, don't go by a chart but what feels right for you. I'd be more bothered by not needing to find a bush two or three times on a long ride!

 

[MattHB]

I know for certain that I run out of carbs at about 2 hours, even when not pushing it. I weigh 210lbs and I have 6ft 6 of air resistance, so that might have something to do with it. I think I need to tone down the fluid intake a bit so I'll monitor and see how it goes.

Cheers all

 

[MrJamie]

I dont really bother with electrolytes for cycling, although i might grab an isotonic drink alongside my regular water bottle in the hotter summer days. Compared to running where i can literally saturate everything im wearing with sweat if its warm, the breeze and the option to go a couple of mph slower at about half the effort make cycling a lot less sweaty and i dont seem to get signs of dehydration like cramps/lightheadedness/sickness.

I found that vitamin and mineral drinks in particular seemed to make me need a pitstop, especially if i was trying too hard to hydrate and was better to tolerate a little fluid loss rather than having to stop to jump behind a hedge.

 

[potsy]

I always take electrolyte drinks on long/forum rides, but wouldn't bother for anything less than 40 miles tbh.
For carbs I have now switched from the 'energy' drinks to normal food like malt loaf,bananas etc.