Hydration question



On Jun 18, 3:38 pm, "Tom Kunich" <cyclintom@yahoo. com> wrote:
> "D'ohBoy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>
> news:a4ffc965-92c3-46fa-bbed-a48c06a731a8@c65g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...
>
>
>
> > Started doing this (and changed over to straight water) after a
> > suspicious gunky ring appeared near the top of my bottle. Get fuel/
> > nutrients from gu's, food and tabs now. No more sticky gunk on my
> > bike, less issues with gunky bots.

>
> I do the same thing - Gu or some other jel for food while riding and
> straight water. When you do this you rarely get nauseous.


Gu tastes like **** and it is expensive. I get fruit slices at target.
A bag costs a dollar and has a ton of slices. Three slices have about
33 grams of carbohydrate. They go down easier than gu, Gatorade is
also good. Not too sweet and it keeps your bottles from growing fungi.
 
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:d119198a-d40f-4ade-993b-40549221b7f0@f36g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...
>
> Gu tastes like **** and it is expensive. I get fruit slices at target.
> A bag costs a dollar and has a ton of slices. Three slices have about
> 33 grams of carbohydrate. They go down easier than gu, Gatorade is
> also good. Not too sweet and it keeps your bottles from growing fungi.


1) Carrying "fruit slices" in your back pocket is nasty business squashing
it all into a Gu-like consistency. All I have to do is tear a top off of the
packet and suck the Gu up. Much easier, cleaner and effective.

2) Gatorade has ALWAYS made me sick. None of those "athletic drinks" works
at all for me but Gatorade Frost which seems to be made different from the
rest of these energy drinks. Nevertheless water works well so I don't need
to pay someone to make something palatable.

3) Gatorade in the water bottle guarantees fungus growing there unless you
wash them out with hot water and soap directly after the ride. And then that
washes all of the lubricant off of the cap and then they seize the next time
you use them.
 
On Jun 18, 4:36 pm, "Tom Kunich" <cyclintom@yahoo. com> wrote:
> <[email protected]> wrote in message
>
> news:d119198a-d40f-4ade-993b-40549221b7f0@f36g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...
>
>
>
> > Gu tastes like **** and it is expensive. I get fruit slices at target.
> > A bag costs a dollar and has a ton of slices. Three slices have about
> > 33 grams of carbohydrate. They go down easier than gu, Gatorade is
> > also good. Not too sweet and it keeps your bottles from growing fungi.

>
> 1) Carrying "fruit slices" in your back pocket is nasty business squashing
> it all into a Gu-like consistency. All I have to do is tear a top off of the
> packet and suck the Gu up. Much easier, cleaner and effective.
>
> 2) Gatorade has ALWAYS made me sick. None of those "athletic drinks" works
> at all for me but Gatorade Frost which seems to be made different from the
> rest of these energy drinks. Nevertheless water works well so I don't need
> to pay someone to make something palatable.
>
> 3) Gatorade in the water bottle guarantees fungus growing there unless you
> wash them out with hot water and soap directly after the ride. And then that
> washes all of the lubricant off of the cap and then they seize the next time
> you use them.


I've been using a bento box for a few years now. It is the most anti-
roadie transgression that one can commit. However, I can put a lot of
**** in there instead of my pockets. Everyone makes fun of me, but I
end up saving the bonkers with granola bars and candy at the end of
long rides.

Regarding Gatorade, I have been drinking gatorade for about 10 years
now. When the ride is over I stick the bottles in the refrigerator and
leave them there until my next ride. If there is no more gatorade, I
will rinse and refill. If there is gatorade, I will add more water and
more powder and that is it. I have left bottles for years and they get
virtually no fungus. I am guessing that it is the citric acid. Many
years ago, I used to use Cytomax. It worked pretty well, but it used
to get mold within a couple of days if you didn't thoroughly wash your
bottles every day. I'm too lazy for that. Once I left a camelback
blader full of gatorade in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator for
over a year and forgot about it. My wife asked me why there was an
enema bag with yellows liquid in the refrigerator. After inspecting
it, there was one tiny spot of mold in the bag.
 
On Wed, 18 Jun 2008 13:19:12 GMT, Peter Cole <[email protected]>
wrote:

>I have no idea about AT & all that -- I've never been measured. I do
>know that I was able to ride a 42 mi rolling course (pace line) in under
>2 hr on a sultry summer evening without fluids. I also know that I was
>able to finish a 300k (200 mi) hilly brevet at a modest pace (~15) hr
>without eating. Whether that "contributes anything", I don't know.


I'm "able" to ride quite a distance too without water. However, I'm
awfully thirsty later. The general rule of thumb is that if you are
thirsty, your body is already telling you that you are dehydrated. So,
it's not particularly good for you to do it that way. You are losing
moisture when you ride, you should put some back in periodically as
you ride.

One thing you can do is to suck down lots of water in the hours before
you ride. That way you will be fully hydrated when you start. I use
this technique when I run since carrying any water is out of the
question (for me).
 
On Jun 19, 8:27 am, still just me <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Wed, 18 Jun 2008 13:19:12 GMT, Peter Cole <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
> >I have no idea about AT & all that -- I've never been measured. I do
> >know that I was able to ride a 42 mi rolling course (pace line) in under
> >2 hr on a sultry summer evening without fluids. I also know that I was
> >able to finish a 300k (200 mi) hilly brevet at a modest pace (~15) hr
> >without eating. Whether that "contributes anything", I don't know.

>
> I'm "able" to ride quite a distance too without water. However, I'm
> awfully thirsty later. The general rule of thumb is that if you are
> thirsty, your body is already telling you that you are dehydrated. So,
> it's not particularly good for you to do it that way. You are losing
> moisture when you ride, you should put some back in periodically as
> you ride.
>
> One thing you can do is to suck down lots of water in the hours before
> you ride. That way you will be fully hydrated when you start. I use
> this technique when I run since carrying any water is out of the
> question (for me).


Doing this is a good idea as long as you don't happen to drink coffee,
tea, alcohol, cranberries or any other diuretic that will wanna make
you pee like a dog. Running on trails is fine since you can stop and
pee anywheres, but running on pavement or road riding can become
uncomfortable when you have to squeeze your sphincter.
 
On Jun 19, 10:27 am, still just me <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Wed, 18 Jun 2008 13:19:12 GMT, Peter Cole <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
> >I have no idea about AT & all that -- I've never been measured. I do
> >know that I was able to ride a 42 mi rolling course (pace line) in under
> >2 hr on a sultry summer evening without fluids. I also know that I was
> >able to finish a 300k (200 mi) hilly brevet at a modest pace (~15) hr
> >without eating. Whether that "contributes anything", I don't know.

>
> I'm "able" to ride quite a distance too without water. However, I'm
> awfully thirsty later. The general rule of thumb is that if you are
> thirsty, your body is already telling you that you are dehydrated. So,
> it's not particularly good for you to do it that way. You are losing
> moisture when you ride, you should put some back in periodically as
> you ride.
>
> One thing you can do is to suck down lots of water in the hours before
> you ride. That way you will be fully hydrated when you start. I use
> this technique when I run since carrying any water is out of the
> question (for me).


1. To judge by the difference in sweat on the skin when rolling at
18-20mph compared to the profusion after coming to a stop, all in
85-90 degree weather, there's much more evaporation and evaporative
cooling when cycling than when putting out that much heat in more
stationary activities. I haven't read a reference to that here, or in
much exercise journalism.

2. Different bodies handle hydration and dehydration differently, so
different people suffer under different training regimes. By the
latter, I'm thinking of such as intense 4 hour sessions still run
today, old-school, with minimal drinking water, training for pain as
it were. Sure, there's a risk to many of heat stroke and to a few of
dying, but coaches ran summer football practices like that for dozens
of years on thousands of practice fields. Most everybody may have been
performing suboptimally during practices; but deaths were minimal and
recovery from heat strokes near universal. Puking was common the first
days, then tapered off with adaptation and attrition of the less fit.
You could be sure that ALL of those athletes could benefit from some
water intake. But, are you sure they ALL could tolerate and benefit
from food, after being adapted to having none during practice
sessions?

3. On fluid balance, some can ride the OP's distance and have empty
bladders throughout. Some of them are dehydrated; others, we can read,
are at risk of hyponaturia because they've misinterpreted the lack of
urinary urgency and dry mouth for thirst.
So, without a blood chemistry on the OP's condition, it is as it has
been--anybody's guess. My experience, riding in DC heat? 24 oz of
water per 10 miles, a quart after the ride, and only then is there
slight urine production. But without a powermeter and blood chemistry
readings, I have no idea that what I'm doing is good even if I've lost
water weight. For sure, though, I'm more than 4% fat, so feeding the
furnace to keep it optimally stoked is hardly a concern during
workouts if the goal is mostly to become more fit before the next hard
ride a couple of days later, after rest.

4. Currently, there seems to be more attention to optimal nutrition
during recovery and repair, after the ride.

Harry Travis