hydration

[young Ed]

so how much should you drink? lets work on pure water straight out the tap with no additives running on a road bike with slick tyres with a few hills here and there but by no means Wales
today i drank 500ml roughly in a 43 minute ride, i feel fine but is this enough or not?

how much water per hour for normal road cycling roughly?
Cheers Ed

 

[Crandoggler]

Depends. I use 500ml over 2 hours.

I understand the importance, I also understand how much I need. It's just s personal preference thing. I used to do hour long runs without water, cycling doesn't feel any different.

Just make sure the water isn't cold.

 

[young Ed]

Depends. I use 500ml over 2 hours.

I understand the importance, I also understand how much I need. It's just s personal preference thing. I used to do hour long runs without water, cycling doesn't feel any different.

Just make sure the water isn't cold.

thanks, now you say it i do remember that the water shouldn't be cold but i forget why. do you know, out of interest? is it something to do with muscle cramps?
Cheers Ed

 

[Katherine]

so how much should you drink? lets work on pure water straight out the tap with no additives running on a road bike with slick tyres with a few hills here and there but by no means Wales
today i drank 500ml roughly in a 43 minute ride, i feel fine but is this enough or not?

how much water per hour for normal road cycling roughly?
Cheers Ed

I think if you were going out for more than an hour, you'd need a second bottle or a refill. If you are building up the miles and time out, you could get a bottle with more capacity.

 

[Crandoggler]

thanks, now you say it i do remember that the water shouldn't be cold but i forget why. do you know, out of interest? is it something to do with muscle cramps?
Cheers Ed

I think it was disproved that it decreased performance. But yeah, cramps and the apparently disproven fact that it can cause a decrease in performance. My water is usually warm by the time I drink it to be fair.

 

[ColinJ]

I think you want to aim to come back from your ride not having lost much weight, but not having gained much either. That way you are replacing what you sweat/pee out but are not overdoing it.

It's not really a big deal on short rides but once you are doing 6, 8, 10 ... hours on a hot day then you don't really want to get it significantly wrong.

 

[young Ed]

[QUOTE 3851039, member: 9609"]
anyway - what are you doing out on your bike in the middle of harvest ? all systems go here...[/QUOTE]
it's been raining heavy this morning and due more in the rest of the week so hay has been put on hold for the minute and i thought i'd have a 'rest day'! haha
Cheers Ed

 

[MichaelW2]

For total hydration you need Brawndo because Brawndo has electrolytes

 

[midlife]

BITD we had a mantra that "driest is fastest" and we never usually took on fluids for less than 25 miles.

Insensible fluid loss is about 3 litres a day which is essentially mandatory.

Shaun

 

[windyrider]

Drink to thirst, water on its own is best. Simples

 

[nickyboy]

It's impossible to say without factoring in two elements:

1) How hard are you cycling
2) What is the ambient temperature

For example, a few months ago I rode for 7 hours extremely slowly in cool conditions and I drank about a litre. But riding yesterday doing a very hard, hilly ride at maximum effort in 20+ degrees I drank 4.5 litres in 5 hours and needed every drop

Making sure you're well hydrated before you set off (ie your pee is very pale coloured) is probably the most important thing of all

 

[ColinJ]

Making sure you're well hydrated before you set off (ie your pee is very pale coloured) is probably the most important thing of all

Ah, good point ... My suggestion that you should not drink enough to gain weight (over-hydrate) would not hold water if starting off dehydrated!

IGMC

 

[ayceejay]

I don't think it is necessary to carry a bottle of designer water around with you although you see less of it now than a few years ago as our day to day needs are met by eating and drinking normally. If you add exercise and high temperatures to this 'day to day' your needs change and over hydration is probably as dangerous as dehydration.
The water in your body is lost through peeing and sweating, how much of this did you do in your 43 minutes Ed? Drinking while out on your bike is an attempt to maintain body weight as Colin points out or at least this is how you could measure your losses
Remember also that sweat is not just water and thirst is a poor indicator of the need to rehydrate.

 

[PeteXXX]

At the present time, just ride along with your mouth open... You'll get all the hydration you need!

 

[ufkacbln]

If you are a very sad person..... Or a pervert

The idea is to have an idea of how much time you spend passing urine in a normal day

If you are spending less time then drink more

Secondly is to look at your underwear as dark stains mean dehydration