How many of you go on a ride with just water?

iPete

Seriously, if I'd stumbled across Road Beginners 2-3 years ago, I'd have stuck with mountain biking

Take some water, take some food, whatever floats your boat. It's always useful to have an emergency gel in the back pocket in-case you star to bonk.

AchillesLeftKnee

Up to two hours, it's just water and zero calorie wotsit tabs (otherwise it's guaranteed cramp after a while). Beyond that, I need to keep the fuel supply going or it can all get rather nasty. On road, I don't tend to carry food "just in case" because durations and exertions are pretty predictable in advance. On the MTB, there's always a bit of food in the backpack because things are a lot more variable and it doesn't take a lot in terms of unexpectedly crap conditions to ramp up the exertion and duration considerably.

ddraver

I tend to buy one of the big SIS electrolyte thingums cheap from CRC at the start of the summer and it lasts me all summer and most of the winter.

The only reason being is that it tastes nice...oh and I swear it helps with hangovers too

thegreatdivide

ddraver wrote:

oh and I swear it helps with hangovers too

Yip. If I stumble in after a few red wines I’ll fill a 750ml bottle with water, add a Zero tab, neck 2 x paras and 1 x ibuprofen then fall asleep. Seems to do the trick! :-)

simon_masterson

amaferanga wrote:

I seem to post the same thing whenever these threads come up....

If you ride for 2 or 3 or 4 hours then you'll burn anywhere between ~1000-3500kCal. At some point you need to replace some of those calories and I'm not aware of any good reason why you wouldn't start that on the bike, particularly for rides of 2 hours plus.

Doing a long ride on just water doesn't make you a hero.

Bingo. That's all there is to it from where I'm standing.

saprkzz

For me, staying hydrated is very important, On a 3-4 hour ride i will drink two 750ml bottles of water with a zero tablet disovled. On an hour ride i will have done approx 500-600 ml. Since mkaing sure I hydrate properly I dont get headaches, cramps or too much power loss like I used to. I also makes sure I drink during the time off the bikes as well.

If your wee wee isnt clear then you havent drunk enough.

Staying hydrated gets overlooked, but it's crucial. Training and adaptation to it are compromised if you don't stay hydrated. Dehydration can cause your performance to drop; your gut may stop functioning properly, thus preventing you from absorbing vital nutrients, and the cells all around your body will be further stressed.

Trev The Rev

saprkzz wrote:

For me, staying hydrated is very important, On a 3-4 hour ride i will drink two 750ml bottles of water with a zero tablet disovled. On an hour ride i will have done approx 500-600 ml. Since mkaing sure I hydrate properly I dont get headaches, cramps or too much power loss like I used to. I also makes sure I drink during the time off the bikes as well.

If your wee wee isnt clear then you havent drunk enough.

Staying hydrated gets overlooked, but it's crucial. Training and adaptation to it are compromised if you don't stay hydrated. Dehydration can cause your performance to drop; your gut may stop functioning properly, thus preventing you from absorbing vital nutrients, and the cells all around your body will be further stressed.

Sounds to me as if you are employed by a sports drink company or have been taken in by the marketing blurb.
You need to read Waterlogged by Tim Noakes.

simon_masterson

'You're obviously biased, therefore I need not give credence to anything you state' may be fit for the uneducated and gullible, but it does not wash with the rest of us.

The honourable gent even stated that he's experienced benefits from his regime; who are you to tell him that it doesn't work based only on your enthusiasm for minority opinion and equal inability to comprehend and apply what you are reading; let alone the fact that the two of you have never met? But I'm guessing that Dave Brailsford is wrong as well; his training plans clearly aren't working.

Out of interest, do you also believe in conspiracy theories?

saprkzz

Trev The Rev wrote:

saprkzz wrote:

For me, staying hydrated is very important, On a 3-4 hour ride i will drink two 750ml bottles of water with a zero tablet disovled. On an hour ride i will have done approx 500-600 ml. Since mkaing sure I hydrate properly I dont get headaches, cramps or too much power loss like I used to. I also makes sure I drink during the time off the bikes as well.

If your wee wee isnt clear then you havent drunk enough.

Staying hydrated gets overlooked, but it's crucial. Training and adaptation to it are compromised if you don't stay hydrated. Dehydration can cause your performance to drop; your gut may stop functioning properly, thus preventing you from absorbing vital nutrients, and the cells all around your body will be further stressed.

Sounds to me as if you are employed by a sports drink company or have been taken in by the marketing blurb.
You need to read Waterlogged by Tim Noakes.

No, I am not employed by a sports drink company and I only add a zero tablet to change the taste of water.
I am quite happy to ride with just water, I do hydrate properly so drink quite a bit during the day as well. Not just for cycling.. oh and no before you say Trev, I am not employed by the water board tyring to sell you water 8)

simon_masterson

saprkzz wrote:

oh and no before you say Trev, I am not employed by the water board tyring to sell you water 8)

Until a couple of weeks ago I was. Believe me, it's all a huge conspiracy.

amaferanga

For rides that are only around an hour then you really shouldn't need to drink much if at all provided you were properly hydrated before you set off.

Trev The Rev

amaferanga wrote:

For rides that are only around an hour then you really shouldn't need to drink much if at all provided you were properly hydrated before you set off.

No one ever set an hour record by drinking during the ride.

saprkzz

Simon Masterson wrote:

saprkzz wrote:

oh and no before you say Trev, I am not employed by the water board tyring to sell you water 8)

Until a couple of weeks ago I was. Believe me, it's all a huge conspiracy.

haha

amaferanga

Trev The Rev wrote:

amaferanga wrote:

For rides that are only around an hour then you really shouldn't need to drink much if at all provided you were properly hydrated before you set off.

No one ever set an hour record by drinking during the ride.

No-one said they did.

simon_masterson

Trev The Rev wrote:

amaferanga wrote:

For rides that are only around an hour then you really shouldn't need to drink much if at all provided you were properly hydrated before you set off.

No one ever set an hour record by drinking during the ride.

And of course the hour record is representative of all cycling...

drlodge

I use High5 Isotonic on all rides, and take flapjack on longer rides (> 2 hours). During the summer I was getting through alot of fluid, but in these colder months I drink alot less (cos I'm sweating less) so could probably get away with water, but the Isotonic isn't expensive in my view.

Trev The Rev

Simon Masterson wrote:

saprkzz wrote:

oh and no before you say Trev, I am not employed by the water board tyring to sell you water 8)

Until a couple of weeks ago I was. Believe me, it's all a huge conspiracy.

Selling bottled water is a huge conspiracy.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... dcup.html#

danowat

I buy a 2 litre bottle of bottled water, empty out the water, and re-fill it with Gatorade, works for me on my 5 minute training rides.

AchillesLeftKnee

Trev The Rev wrote:

Selling bottled water is a huge conspiracy.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... dcup.html#

Any more gems like that? That's even better than the clipless pedals one, and that's saying something!

Trev The Rev

AchillesLeftKnee wrote:

Trev The Rev wrote:

Selling bottled water is a huge conspiracy.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... dcup.html#

Any more gems like that? That's even better than the clipless pedals one, and that's saying something!

The Pikeys employed at the Sidcup plant managed to contaminate Dasani.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2004/ju ... etingandpr

http://www.naturalnews.com/001028_soft_ ... -Cola.html

junglist_matty

Cold months: Anything under 20miles (1hour) and I don't bother taking a drink... Hot months I take a bottle of water

Anything over 40miles and I'll take these:
High5 Zero X'Treme Berry Electrolyte & Stimulant Sports Drink 80g

Depending on weather and ride length I'll stop en-route and buy a bottle of water to refill, but never lucozade or the high sugar drinks.

jouxplan

I'm really surprised at how many people on here are saying they only use water and no energy drinks or gels or even food, on relatively long rides. I guess it just goes to show how different we are all - but I have to say I am astounded that many of you don't get hunger knock. I've tried energy drinks, gels and bars of all sorts over the years, and a few years ago I settled on water + gels. One gel per hour for any rides in excess of 2 hours (first gel at start of second hour). This is not because I work for a gel company, but because I found it seemed to work well for me. Having said that, I still found that I often ran out of energy! I then changed to a gel which contained a lot more energy, and hey presto, I can keep going for hours :-)

As for energy drinks - I think the main reason to avoid 'em is that you end up with sticky stuff all over your chin, bottles, frame, bars and brake hoods! Energy gels are only slightly better in this respect, depending on your sucking and post-sucking folding of empty sachet technique :P

NewTTer

amaferanga wrote:

Trev The Rev wrote:

I never even take water on a ride lasting less than 2 hours. Back in the late sixties and seventies we could go all day riding bikes and playing football even on the hottest of days without drinking anything.

All that proves is that you were f#cking stupid and ignorant back in the good old days.

He still is now !

gloomyandy

I'm amazed at how few of you seem to have a cafe stop on your rides? Whatever happened to the traditional club run? For me that is 60-70 miles with at least one stop at a cafe along the way, time four to five hours maybe more on some hilly routes. Never bother with anything other than water on these runs, plus the tea and beans on toast or whatever at the stop.

NewTTer

Trev The Rev wrote:

AchillesLeftKnee wrote:

Trev The Rev wrote:

Selling bottled water is a huge conspiracy.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... dcup.html#

Any more gems like that? That's even better than the clipless pedals one, and that's saying something!

The Pikeys employed at the Sidcup plant managed to contaminate Dasani.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2004/ju ... etingandpr

http://www.naturalnews.com/001028_soft_ ... -Cola.html

CCE dont manufacture Dasani at the Sidcup plant, it only gets re distributed through there into the network on the region Sidcup covers! WRONG AGAIN Trev

NewTTer

Trev The Rev wrote:

Simon Masterson wrote:

saprkzz wrote:

oh and no before you say Trev, I am not employed by the water board tyring to sell you water 8)

Until a couple of weeks ago I was. Believe me, it's all a huge conspiracy.

Selling bottled water is a huge conspiracy.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... dcup.html#

You must spend a lot of money on Bacofoil Trev.

Trev The Rev

NewTTer wrote:

Trev The Rev wrote:

AchillesLeftKnee wrote:

Trev The Rev wrote:

Selling bottled water is a huge conspiracy.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... dcup.html#

Any more gems like that? That's even better than the clipless pedals one, and that's saying something!

The Pikeys employed at the Sidcup plant managed to contaminate Dasani.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2004/ju ... etingandpr

http://www.naturalnews.com/001028_soft_ ... -Cola.html

CCE dont manufacture Dasani at the Sidcup plant, it only gets re distributed through there into the network on the region Sidcup covers! WRONG AGAIN Trev

Dasani was withdrawn it is not sold in the UK.

NewTTer

And it was never manufatured at the Sidcup plant, only re distibuted, which particular brand of tin foil do you favour I want to buy some shares

declan1

I've never taken an energy drink on a ride - just water. I take plenty of food though

Mikey41

On my 20-25min commute I might take some water, but now I don't drink any until I get there.

Rides over an hour I'll take a bottle of fresh orange and water and have a mouthful every 20mins or so, I still have a good bit left after 2 hours. Works for me so far

Longer than that (not got there yet, but I will) and it will be 2 bottles and some food (fruit cake, flapjack, something like that) to nibble on. I might have an energy gel with me, but only for emergency.