Fluid Intake

MartynVRS
MartynVRS Posts: 12
edited February 2014 in Road beginners
How much is normal? I've had my road bike for the last few years although last year for several reasons was a disaster. One thing I was finding was that 2 750ml bottles sometimes wasn't enough and I was getting thirsty. What's the best way to pace how much I need to drink? A bottle every 20 miles or so?

Comments

  • Hydrate before cycling. Make sure you have a big bottle of water to hand for the couple of days before your ride.
  • diamonddog
    diamonddog Posts: 3,426
    Everybody is different, I use very little on a 20/30 mile ride even in hot weather I have not needed a full 500ml bottle.
    Make sure you are well hydrated before you set out, a good guide is your urine colour - pale straw colour to clear is about right IME.
  • desweller
    desweller Posts: 5,175
    It depends greatly on temperature and humidity. We had a warmer summer last year, with some really hot days; I had a couple of big rides where I got very heatstrokey - my body was dumping as much water to sweat as possible but it still wasn't enough. I easily consumed 6 750ml bottles' worth of fluid on those rides and still needed additional water when I finished. Whereas at this time of year I would fully not be surprised to cover 100 miles and not get through both bottles.
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  • I've never heard anyone recommend more than one 750ml per hour. At this time of year I won't necessarily drink that much, though; did 48 miles before work this morning and only took the one bottle. I finished it before the end and did want more, but I don't think I would have finished another. Drink too much and you'll only end up needing a piss constantly!

    As others have recommended though, hydrating beforehand is key - personally I tend to sink a couple of pints either a good few hours in advance or the evening before.
  • I drink hardly anything if it's cold (less than a 600ml bottle over 50 miles), loads and loads if it's warm (I got through 6 x 800ml on the RLS100 last August, and didn't to pee for a couple of hours after I finished).

    I don't get the 'hydrate loads beforehand' idea - that just makes me pee more.
    Is the gorilla tired yet?
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    I drink hardly anything if it's cold (less than a 600ml bottle over 50 miles), loads and loads if it's warm (I got through 6 x 800ml on the RLS100 last August, and didn't to pee for a couple of hours after I finished).

    I don't get the 'hydrate loads beforehand' idea - that just makes me pee more.

    Wow. Thats nearly 5 litres.

    I had 2 620ml bottles and a large Capri Sun up until stopping at the drink station after Box hill.

    I think the point of hydrating beforehand is that your body needs time to absorb the hydration (a bit like marinading meat the day before you cook it).
    You do not actually need the fluid in your system so you would have passed the waste fluid before the ride.

    If you start fully hydrated you should need to drink less and therefore carry less weight/less time spent getting drink/pee less.

    I don't think the fluids are absorbed in the same way if taken during exercise in the heat.

    In the three days prior to an event I stop drinking alcohol and drink a decent (but don't go mad) regular amount of water.

    Are you planning to do Ride London This year?
  • rafletcher
    rafletcher Posts: 1,235
    Well I'd say 750ml-1l per hour is "normal". We all drink less in the cooler weather - but we still need to as we lose quite a bit of moisture breathing - if it's cold enough you'll see it going out! I try to maintain 500ml/hr. This is course is just pootling around. Years ago I was watching a city centre crit, and the compere (an ex pro) was berating those with bottles on. His view - if it's just an hour drink enough beforehand, and save yourself the weight (ad difficulty of drinking) during the race.
  • kajjal
    kajjal Posts: 3,380
    I just drink a glass of water before setting out and then drink as needed. Only mountain biking in over 30c heat makes me need more than two water bottles.
  • ednino
    ednino Posts: 684
    500ml bottle an hour for me in summer
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    On my evening rides of 1-2 hours I frequently don't take anything. From October through to April I find one 750ml bottle of drink plenty for daytime rides of 50 or 60 miles. In summer I'll go further and take 2 bottles, possibly need a refill at some point depending on the weather and distance.

    I just drink when I feel thirsty. I don't subscribe to the view that you need to be drinking so much an hour; it takes all my brain power to keep me on my planned route without doing mental arithmetic too.
  • I've never heard anyone recommend more than one 750ml per hour. At this time of year I won't necessarily drink that much, though; did 48 miles before work this morning and only took the one bottle. I finished it before the end and did want more, but I don't think I would have finished another. Drink too much and you'll only end up needing a wee-wee constantly!

    OT But 48 miles before work! In the morning! Where can I get some of your motivation/dedication etc? Seriously impressed!
  • johnboy183 wrote:
    I've never heard anyone recommend more than one 750ml per hour. At this time of year I won't necessarily drink that much, though; did 48 miles before work this morning and only took the one bottle. I finished it before the end and did want more, but I don't think I would have finished another. Drink too much and you'll only end up needing a wee-wee constantly!

    OT But 48 miles before work! In the morning! Where can I get some of your motivation/dedication etc? Seriously impressed!

    Thanks. I know there are plenty around here who have done better! To be honest, the getting up at 5:00 is the toughest bit; once that's out of the way then you're in business. :lol:
  • Everyone is different so there can be no rule but starting hydrated is wise and then little (200ml or so) and often will be easier for your body as it helps it stays nearer optimal. Also if you are thirsty before you drink then the sports scientists pretty consistently say its too late - you have already let yourself become dehydrated so are playing catch-up. If your pee is brown (or worse still not there) afterwards you have let yourself dehydrate too much. Urine should be no darker than straw coloured (light yellow).

    http://health.clevelandclinic.org/2013/ ... fographic/
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,238
    Just drink when you are thirsty.

    I can get through one bottle on a cold 120km ride but I've noticed I've got more frugal the more I do waterless half hour commutes.

    I guess it's as much mental as anything else. You'd have to try hard to really dry out and not drink enough to have an effect.
  • MartinGT
    MartinGT Posts: 475
    IMO If you drink when you are thirsty, its too late.

    Drink little and often IMO. Also, a lot of people forget to drink when its cold because there is no thirst there like on a hot day. But thats because it's supressed. Drinking on a cold day is just as important. You're body is working just as hard to keep the core warm and you're still sweating as much, just under your base etc.
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    Just drink when you are thirsty.

    I can get through one bottle on a cold 120km ride but I've noticed I've got more frugal the more I do waterless half hour commutes.

    I guess it's as much mental as anything else. You'd have to try hard to really dry out and not drink enough to have an effect.

    Depends what you're doing .... at this time of year on a 40 minute commute I won't drink anything during the ride - I'm rarely pushing it really hard and I'm not sweating so much - so lose less liquid - plus I can drink before and after.

    On a 3-4hr hard ride I finished my 750ml bottle 10 miles before the end and needed more - despite being well hydrated beforehand.

    I suspect there is an element of training in the required level of consumption too - if your body gets used to droughts then it'll use less liquid - where as if you're practically swimming in it then it will use more.

    *off to get a glass of water*
  • Carbonator wrote:
    I drink hardly anything if it's cold (less than a 600ml bottle over 50 miles), loads and loads if it's warm (I got through 6 x 800ml on the RLS100 last August, and didn't to pee for a couple of hours after I finished).

    I don't get the 'hydrate loads beforehand' idea - that just makes me pee more.

    Wow. Thats nearly 5 litres.

    Yes, I know :( I'm not a particularly sweaty git either, so god knows where it goes.

    During the heatwave a few weeks before, I was on a training ride and I had quite a lot to drink before setting out, and took 2x800 with me... I'd done about 40 miles (Twickenham - Leith - Box) when I ran out and I'd been trying to conserve fluid. Got really thirsty and was starting to get light-headed thru dehydration.

    I stopped at the mobile café in the car park on the left side of Headley Common Road, in a bit of a state... needed two cans of Sprite, and a bottle of water before I felt up to getting going again, with two refilled bottles. I'd finished another 2x800 by the time I got home.

    Are you planning to do Ride London This year?
    Yes :)
    Is the gorilla tired yet?
  • Bo Duke
    Bo Duke Posts: 1,058
    Its linked in to climate and terrain obviously as well as your body and ride characteristics.

    Ok so I am in Singapore so is constantly hot and humid. I do 30km before work: 750ml before I depart, 750ml during, 750 immediately on arrival back home then a further 750ml before leaving the house for work. Yes... 3 litres to offset sweat loss and restabilise. If I do a 70km ride then its 2x 750ml on the bike but the before and after are the same. English winter or spring, I doubt I'd need all in more than a litre at all. I reckon topping up your tanks before you start is the key drink. Happy drinking.
    'Performance analysis and Froome not being clean was a media driven story. I haven’t heard one guy in the peloton say a negative thing about Froome, and I haven’t heard a single person in the peloton suggest Froome isn’t clean.' TSP
  • esdel
    esdel Posts: 28
    Not wishing to upset anyone, I love reading some of this stuff.

    And of course it depends on what you want from your riding.

    If your a regular rider, and your looking to improve, you should be drinking 600-750 ml every hour, the reason for this is to keep your body constantly hydrated, that way you don't have to drink a ton before your next ride.

    On top of this you should be drinking fluid all the time anyway, as someone else has said if your thirsty its to late.

    " quote "
    I don't get the 'hydrate loads beforehand' idea - that just makes me pee more.

    That's because your drinking the wrong stuff, the kidneys can only manage to Filter a certain amount of fluid, if you drink just water it will pass straight through you ( hence making you pee a lot), try a small amount of salt in your water ( you wont taste it), but your kidneys will filter it, and you wont need to pee as often.

    If you get into a habit of drinking little and often, you will never be dehydrated.

    simples
  • Bo Duke
    Bo Duke Posts: 1,058
    To add to the above, 3-5 litres of plain water is not the answer either, you must add tabs or take a gel to replace the lost minerals etc....
    'Performance analysis and Froome not being clean was a media driven story. I haven’t heard one guy in the peloton say a negative thing about Froome, and I haven’t heard a single person in the peloton suggest Froome isn’t clean.' TSP
  • ilm_zero7
    ilm_zero7 Posts: 2,213
    diamonddog wrote:
    Everybody is different, I use very little on a 20/30 mile ride even in hot weather I have not needed a full 500ml bottle.
    Make sure you are well hydrated before you set out, a good guide is your urine colour - pale straw colour to clear is about right IME.
    very true - in sumer when it nudges 35-40 deg C i work on 35km max per 500ml bottle (assuming it is frozen from the start). Now when is only 16-22 deg one bottle can get me twice that distance.... and when I ride in the UK I think I drink way too little
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