drinking when riding and hydration

31-07.-2003, 07:58 PM	#1
visual_infinity Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 25	drinking when riding and hydration What about the issue of being dehydrated when cycling, are there ways to know besides our urine colour if we are dehydated??? I dont drink as much as I should, I dont fancy standing up against a bush every 30 minutes (what do the ladies do? lol). Jonathan

31-07.-2003, 08:47 PM

2LAP

Moderator

Join Date: Feb 2002

Location: UK

Posts: 1,265

Re: drinking when riding and hydration

Quote:

Originally posted by visual_infinity
What about the issue of being dehydrated when cycling, are there ways to know besides our urine colour if we are dehydated??? I dont drink as much as I should, I dont fancy standing up against a bush every 30 minutes (what do the ladies do? lol).

Jonathan

You get very thirsty!!! This normaly comes when you are already dehydrated.

02-08.-2003, 12:35 AM

redstorm

Registered User

Join Date: Jun 2003

Posts: 30

Re: drinking when riding and hydration

Quote:

When you get to the point where you have to stop and lie down with a big headache I guess that will be a good sign you haven't hydrated enough :-)

I try to drink a little bit all the time. when training I use a camelbak that holds 2 liters of liquid. I noticed that depending on heat and effort I put in, I'll drink about 750ml to 1 liter every hour. At that pace of drinking I have never had to stop for a bush to pee during a ride. I also try to drink something (Water/Gatorade/Powerade) 1 hour before going. That way I almost always manage to go pee before I leave for my ride, which probably helps me not having to go during the ride. I mostly use gatorade for my rides, it has always served me well. And judging from the salt crystals on my forehead after the ride. I think Gatorade is a good choice since it contains more sodium then Powerade does. I can't say if there is anything better though? I have never tried anything else?

I have gotten so used to drinking on the bike a little at a time that I feel weird not having something to drink with me while I ride.

Eating on the bike is another matter, I still need to practice eating wilhe riding. I have been having a tough time managing my breathing with eating at the same time :-)

02-08.-2003, 05:46 AM	#4
visual_infinity Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 25	Re: Re: drinking when riding and hydration All thisbusiness of eating whilst riding is silly in my opinion, what is wrong with stopping for a minute? It will replenish you with oxygen ad take away the pain of lactic acid.

02-08.-2003, 01:26 PM	#5
M2cycler Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 98	visual_infinty, if you are riding in a group, stopping for a minute will leave you a minute behind. If you had too much lactic acid before you stopped, forget about catching back up. If you are riding solo i suppose you could stop. this would disrupt your continuity though.

03-08.-2003, 10:37 AM	#6
redstorm Registered User Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 30	Hey visual_infinity, I practice eating on the bike when I train so that when I need to do it when it counts I'll have a little more experience and won't struggle unpackaging the food :-) I do this maybe once every week while my long endurance rides just to get into the race mindset ! alp!

04-08.-2003, 01:39 AM

visual_infinity

Junior Member

Join Date: Jul 2003

Posts: 25

Quote:

Originally posted by M2cycler
visual_infinty,

if you are riding in a group, stopping for a minute will leave you a minute behind. If you had too much lactic acid before you stopped, forget about catching back up.

Good advice, I completely forgot this would happen.

If you are riding solo i suppose you could stop. this would disrupt your continuity though.

07-08.-2003, 08:47 PM	#8
austex Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 6	Re: drinking when riding and hydration A typical sign if using a HR monitor is your hr will start to drift up. For example, you will see 5 beats higher for the same perceived effort. Typically on rides if you're dehydrated you won't be able "to go" to check the color. The only way I've found is to just know your body. When doing rides weigh yourself before and after. Pay attention to how much you drink. The biggest thing I overlooked was how important it is to start hydrating before the ride. On two successive long rides I understood this. The first of the two I did my typical morning routine, drinking a couple cups of coffee and an oj then hit the road. The following weekend I still did the same thing but added several glasses of water the few hours leading up to the ride and I felt much better during the ride.

08-08.-2003, 03:59 PM

MidBunchLurker

Registered User

Join Date: May 2003

Location: Cape Town

Posts: 457

Quote:

A typical sign if using a HR monitor is your hr will start to drift up. For example, you will see 5 beats higher for the same perceived effort.

This is just a sign of a normal endurance ride, and has nothing to do with dehydration.

BTW, it has to be real hot or you must be drinking really little in order to dehydrate. As a general rule of thumb (some of the resident coaches could correct me here if I've got the quantities wrong) 500-700ml of fluid per hour is sufficient.

The important thing however is your carbohydrate intake while you are riding. That fluid is not going to help you much unless there's some carbs in there - about 20g per 30 minutes riding is what you should be aiming for.

__________________
nick.

www.nickcoyne.com

08-08.-2003, 05:44 PM	#10
Martystan Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Bangkok, Thailand Posts: 23	In hot & humid countries, eating and drinking on the fly is essential and more so when racing. I often race XC mtb in 35+ degree Celcius here in Thailand and can easily get through 1 litre of water, electrolyte mix in an hour, and still feel thirsty. Dehydration creeps up on you when you least expect and it's not a very enjoyable experience. I agree with midbunchlurker to drinking at least 750ml fluids/hour on the fly in cold/warm/hot weather and maybe 1-2 powergels /hour as well if racing in the tropics. __________________ Marty

15-08.-2003, 06:53 AM

#11

austex

Junior Member

Join Date: Aug 2003

Posts: 6

Quote:

Originally posted by MidBunchLurker
This is just a sign of a normal endurance ride, and has nothing to do with dehydration.

BTW, it has to be real hot or you must be drinking really little in order to dehydrate. As a general rule of thumb (some of the resident coaches could correct me here if I've got the quantities wrong) 500-700ml of fluid per hour is sufficient.

The important thing however is your carbohydrate intake while you are riding. That fluid is not going to help you much unless there's some carbs in there - about 20g per 30 minutes riding is what you should be aiming for.

I do agree that drifting hr is a typical reaction to long rides but I also know that dehydration will also do the same. In fact if you google the internet you'll find numerous hits that back this. The other aspect is that dehydration is a continuum meaning you can be any "degree" dehydrated. It's not simply a condition that occurs when you cross a certain point. I do 3.5 hour rides on the week end that end at 2pm in approx 100F heat. I drink approximately 5-25 oz bottles along the way and I can still loose 5 pounds from beginning to end.

Here's an interesteing excerpt from one source:

A 1992 study by S.J. Montain and Ed Coyle, Ph.D., found that heart rate increases approximately seven beats per minute for each 1% loss in body weight due to dehydration

15-08.-2003, 12:52 PM	#12
MikeJ Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 12	Actually, you can't rehydrate on the bike. You can only slow down your rate of dehydration. Lance's performance in the individual time trial is a case in point. He ran out of fluid. Generally water is more important than carbs for the first hour. Steady exertion for more than an hour and a half mandates both water and some fuel.

15-08.-2003, 09:29 PM	#13
austex Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 6	Excellent addtional point. Something my coach always reinforces. Even hours after a long ride you're still not back to 100%. That's why training guidelines always say to start hydrating a day or two before a long ride (century).

17-08.-2003, 03:22 AM	#14
bstay Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Dubai, UAE Posts: 35	The heart rate symptom that you are talking about is referred to as cardiac drift. It's an effect of the body warming up. When the body heats up the heart regulates the heat by moving more blood along. Since the body is getting warmer the blood doesn't get cooled down properly on the way, and the heart increases the rate/flow. If you start getting dehydrated the body responds by decreasing sweat rate in order to save water, which in turn increases the need for blood flow to cool down the body. That's the reason you start getting a higher heart rate when you get dehydrated. If you managed to keep enough water in the body, you'd get a full sweat going and the body would not need to rely on blood flow as much for cooling down. The problem is much worse for cyclists than runners because sweat dries off the skin quicker due to airflow. That means that less heat/energy is dissipated from the body through sweat evaporation. You're correct about the inability to rehydrate on the bike. If you try you'll just have to get off and pee more often. During the hot stages of the 2003 TDF the riders would drink about 20 bottles during a 5 hour stage. That's only to stay in the race. They still needed to drink that same amount between arrival and next stage to have a competetive chance. However, one of the biggest problems is not water. It's minerals. It takes quite some time for minerals to be absorbed by the body, and it often requires a mix of various sources of nutrition for specific minerals to be absorbed at all. Therefore it's equally important to maintain a balanced diet for hydration as it is to simply drink. Lastly, don't forget that the body requires training to learn to absorb the large amounts of water needed to train in hot conditions. You must practice for some time by drinking continously during the day. __________________ "I could never be a woman. I would stay home all day and play with my breasts." --Steve Martin, L.A. Story

18-08.-2003, 09:06 AM	#15
vlad Registered User Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: East Texas Posts: 137	East Texas aint fit for man nor beast from 900am to 500pm May through Sept -- unless you happen to love heat and humidity. I add 1/2 teaspoon Morton LiteSalt to my 2 liter backpack canteen. Here is why ........... page 118 Let's Eat Right by Adelle Davis Under normal circumstances, a healthy person runs little risk of deficiencies of sodium and chlorine. In extremely hot weather, however, so much salt can be lost through perspiration that death may occur. Death from salt deficiency occured during the construction of Boulder Dam and similiar projects. During the blistering summer of 1933 I corresponded with an engineer who was working on Parker Dam. Each letter contained some such note as, "We had a wonderful cook but he died yesterday of sunstroke." The symptoms of sunstroke are now recognized as caused largely by loss of salt through perspiration. A lack of salt causes symptoms varying in severity from mild lassitude, weariness, or hot-weather fatigue, common during heat waves, to heat cramp, heat exhaustion, and heatstroke, familiar to those who work in iron foundries, furnace or boiler rooms, and industrial plants such as steel or paper mills. Even persons who play tennis or take similar exercise during hot weather may suffer from heat stroke. Persons working in extremely hot weather are often advised to take a salt tablet with each drink of water. page 187 there are three nutrients - potassium, sodium and chlorine which we need in quite large amounts. Sodium and chlorine are supplied by tablet salt. Potassium is widely occuring in ........ Morton LiteSalt 11 oz about 99c 1 oz = 6 teaspooons 11 oz = 66 teaspoons= 76,560 mg sodium, and 89,760 mg potassium 1/4 teaspoon serving 290 mg sodium 340 mg potassium 40% iodine p273 "Let's eat right" by Adelle Davis "People who salt food lightly should add 3,000 mg sodium to a day's dietary, and those who enjoy well salted food 7,000 mg. Normally, the intake of potassium should be approximately the same as that of sodium, and calcium intake should be 2/3 that of phosphoros." ...................................................................... ....................... I do not use Gatorade. here is the info on a Gatorade label. amount per 8 oz serving total fat ...................0g sodium.................110 mg potassium..............30mg total carb...............14g sugards.................14g protein...................0g

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode