Dehydration tips

Well worth a read (though
Well worth a read (though heavy going at times) – thought provoking and has changed how I think and approach hydration : http://www.humankinetics.com/products/all-products/waterlogged

Bottom line – plain water, drink when you want, and be very wary of those funded by or selling you water with colouring, sugar & salt.

More here (e.g. dehydration *not* reducing performance – in fact, event winners seem to be most dehydrated) :
https://www.bcsm.org/a-review-of-waterlogged-author-tim-noakes/
http://m.runnersworld.com/drinks-hydration/thirst-v-dehydration-the-continuing-saga
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24055782

It’s all fascinating stuff, especially the serious and potentially lethal issues with overhydration.

There is a bit of over think
There is a bit of over think in hydration. There’s a story on cycling weekly about a nutritionist who suffered hyponutremia when she drank 3.5 litres during a marathon in order to ensure she continued to be hydrated….the article basically goes on to explain that a little dehydration is fine.

But if you are doing 3+ you need to make sure you’re drinking fairly constantly throughout. Depending on how hard you have worked and the conditions post ride drink as many bidons of water as you need until you pee. Don’t gulp the water down, but just consistently sip. Pee and continue to drink until you pee again. Post-ride (we’re talking 3+ hours still ) your body is undertaking loads of metabolic activity. Reallocating resources and this uses a lot of water and a lot of carbs. 4:1 is a good drink to have, but the point is that you need to keep your vascular system topped up and flushing through the waste products from the ride. The more you flush this metabolites through the better you will sleep and feel better next day.

Don’t gulp fluids down as you will not process them properly. There’s a limit to effective fluid absorption so throwing it down like you were competing with the university rugby team won’t help (and you’ll suffer hyponutremia or cramping). Sip and sip constantly. You don’t want to feel bloated.

Some problems come from taking excessive electrolytes like stomach cramping so they are not all they are cracked up to be. We cyclists/athletes are easily sold to, not to say they don’t have their place. Use gels sparingly – they are a get out of jail free product. But they can cause more problems than they solve – diarrhoea and sugar crashes are not ideal. People use them as a crutch to prevent bonking, but much better analysis of your work rate and eating will mean that you don’t come near using these. I put one in my pocket, but it’s like the fire hydrant at work – I hope I never have to use it).

Everyone is different, I tend
Everyone is different, I tend to make do with the two 750ml bottles I take out with me, whether it’s for 2 hours or 5. There’s been a few times where I’ve run out at the end of a really long ride – but I generally just try and pace my liquid intake to how far I have to go.

Food wise, I tend to stick to Malt Loaf. Nothing for rides under 2 hours, for longer rides a couple of pieces of Malt Loaf every 1.5 hours or so.

I do make sure I have a decent porridge breakfast before every ride though.

I think Chris and Crikey have
I think Chris and Crikey have made some very good points. Another thing probably worth bearing in mind (although I’m no expert), is that hydration isn’t confined to the time on the bike, as isn’t an immediate process. If you go out leave the house already dehydrated, you’re fighting an uphill battle from the start.

Urine colour is generally taken to be a half-decent ‘litmus-test’ for dehydration. The deeper the colour, the less hydrated you’re supposed to be. So if your urine is often deep yellow, you could think about sipping more water off the bike.

But it’s probably not worth getting too freaked out about. As the page above has stated, our bodies get certainly get by without a constant supply of Sugarade and Electrogels, otherwise hunting would have been a bit awkward. The fact that many companies stand a lot to gain by fostering a dependence on such products goes some way to explain how people come to think only in terms of them.

Not that there’s anything necessarily evil or faulty about them, but they’re not really necessary for every single ride. It might be worth seeing what you can comfortably do on just water alone

I drink 750 ml per hour of
I drink 750 ml per hour of electrolyte drink. Eat nothing for 1-1.5 hr rides. 2hr rides same fluid and 1 banana. 3 -4 hr rides I take same fluid and eat 35 g of carbs per hour whether flapjacks or bananas.