Silly / bad advice from BR?

ElectronShepherd
ElectronShepherd Posts: 227
edited January 2017 in Road general
There's a feature on the web site about hydration (http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/artic ... ted-48706/).

Is it just me, or is this at best pointless and at worst dangerous?

The idea that you can state how much someone should drink on a ride without knowing:

1) the ambient temperature (England in winter vs Arizona in summer)
2) their fitness level
3) the work rate involved (gentle amble down a country lane v.s. a hard training ride)

seems really silly. If I follow the article's advice, and get up tomorrow morning at 8am, and go for a three hour ride starting at 9am, I will drink 500ml when I get up, 500ml 30 minutes before the ride, and at a minimum 1500ml on the ride itself. In all, I will consume over half a gallon of water in four hours. That seems way too much, possibly bordering on an unhealthy amount.

Comments

  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 27,345
    Don't forget to take your gels either....
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • imposter2.0
    imposter2.0 Posts: 12,028
    Shameful 'click-bait', with no attempt made to validate the statements being made.
  • webboo
    webboo Posts: 6,087
    Yes people have been known to drown by following the advice on here.
  • Man Of Lard
    Man Of Lard Posts: 903
    Hyponatremia isn't something you want to experience... It's commonsense how much to drink, but sadly commonsense isn't too common these days.
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    Jeez. That does sound a lot. I did a three hour ride on sunday on two sips of water and a coffee at the cake stop. It was about zero but we shouldnt really need to be told to drink.

    People do die overhydrating in marathons.
  • DavidJB
    DavidJB Posts: 2,019
    Most of the articles on BR are utter crap.
  • Tashman
    Tashman Posts: 3,496
    To be fair the quantities the OP mentions equals my rough tea consumption each morning
  • fat daddy
    fat daddy Posts: 2,605
    yeah I wouldn't say its dangerous .... 8 pints of beer in 4 hours anyone ?

    I drink close to that most mornings (water .. not beer) ... bu it certainly doesn't take into account a persons size, activity level or ambient temps so its a completely throw away article for accuracy
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    Clickbait is spot on. It's right up there with the rubbish that our company 'healthcare provider' emails us periodically. Trivial, opinion based crap, some of it just plain wrong. Which annoys me immensely since the company is a global R&D based pharmaceutical and agrochemical concern, where everything's tested for efficacy and safety to the nth degree, and scientific scrutiny is paramount.

    And then I read for the umpteenth time about some new miracle berry, a magical detox diet for new year, or that I need to be drinking 5 litres of water a day...

    (And when they start claiming that organic produce tastes better and / or is better for you than conventionally grown stuff I despair. We work for an agrochem company FFS. I like to think I'm in full possession of the facts, and I know what kinds of things organic growers are allowed to use on their crops. We only ever buy organic stuff by mistake, or if it's slashed in price because it's not selling and is now cheaper than the conventionally grown. And still wash it thoroughly...)
  • Moonbiker
    Moonbiker Posts: 1,706
    The quality of the content of alot of the articles is pretty dire so are many other online cycling websites though like road cc or cyling weekly are the same....

    All abit tabloid and superficial.


    What cycling websites have more decently written quality content?
  • term1te
    term1te Posts: 1,462
    keef66 wrote:
    Clickbait is spot on. It's right up there with the rubbish that our company 'healthcare provider' emails us periodically. Trivial, opinion based crap, some of it just plain wrong. Which annoys me immensely since the company is a global R&D based pharmaceutical and agrochemical concern, where everything's tested for efficacy and safety to the nth degree, and scientific scrutiny is paramount.

    And then I read for the umpteenth time about some new miracle berry, a magical detox diet for new year, or that I need to be drinking 5 litres of water a day...

    (And when they start claiming that organic produce tastes better and / or is better for you than conventionally grown stuff I despair. We work for an agrochem company FFS. I like to think I'm in full possession of the facts, and I know what kinds of things organic growers are allowed to use on their crops. We only ever buy organic stuff by mistake, or if it's slashed in price because it's not selling and is now cheaper than the conventionally grown. And still wash it thoroughly...)

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  • milemuncher1
    milemuncher1 Posts: 1,472
    If you drink too much water, and don't keep the body's electrolytes concentration stable, you can get into serious medical difficulties.
  • fat daddy
    fat daddy Posts: 2,605
    yes you can .. but the average adults kidneys can process something like 15l a day ... and this 2.5l is spread over 4 hours ... it is playing up underdrinking as much as being concerned about over drinking.

    Now if you were to down the 2.5 litres all in one go, you might have issues, but you don't have to worry about trying to drink 2.5l in 4 hours

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