Training & Nutrition - Water Intake

While on long trips should you take lots of water every so often, or take frequent sips??

Thanks.

frequent sips and an occasional long draw.

It is recommended that you intake 1 large water bottle per hour. It is also recommended that you drink enough about every 15 minutes to finish off the bottle in an hour.

Fix up a gravity-fed intravenous waterbag, that will leave your mouth free for sucking up insects.

















Sorry! :)

Originally posted by velo
It is recommended that you intake 1 large water bottle per hour.

Depends on the climate. In cool, damp Ireland I was on about 2 large bottles a day on wet days.
The difficult thing is to keep drinking when its cold and dry.
As long as you pee clear, you are drinking enough.

Living in a climate that can be described as "warm" on it's coldest days, I make a deliberate point of drinking too much water, then I drink some more. It's not unusual for me to go through 10 litres in a day.

jeez 10 lts a day !

I can swim in less than that

Thats an incredable amount of fluid going thru your body ChrisL. What kind of temperatures do you generally cycle in ?
If we cycle in more than 30 degrees here in Britain we fall of our bikes!..and call for a Nee Nah Nee Nah ( ambulance)

The trick is you have to drink water before you feel the thirst in order to correctly hydrate your system. (By then its too late!)

Originally posted by earleybird
Thats an incredable amount of fluid going thru your body ChrisL. What kind of temperatures do you generally cycle in ?
If we cycle in more than 30 degrees here in Britain we fall of our bikes!..and call for a Nee Nah Nee Nah ( ambulance)

Temps of 30 degrees C are considered "normal" around here, and that's before I even mention the humidity, which I think is worse still. As I said before, I'd much rather drink too much water than not enough.

yes, adequate hydration is one of the most common problems/mistakes by cyclists.

doing regular activities, the body is pretty good about indicating thirst, but when cycling, especially in warm and/or dry conditions, the body needs more and signals through thirst TOO late that you need to drink.

so yeah, aim to drink a little bit every 15 minutes.

as for an amount per hr of cycling: depends on the conditions. i think i on average i drink about 1 liter for 2 hours or so... i usually go empty on a 3-hr ride if i only take 1 bottle and have a little left if i take 2. for longer rides i either take the larger capacity camel-back or i refill the bottles along the way.

also note: in the heat you usually are more likely to think about drinking b/c you are aware that you are hot and that you are sweating. one really common time for dehydration is when it's cold and dry b/c your body can actually use as much water as when it's hot you just don't notice... so take extra cxare to drink when it's cold and dry!

lastly: for tours and especially races, i start "loading" my water about 2 hours before the ride so that i begin with extra rather than a water deficit. of couse, if you drink too much you'll have to stop for a piss-break...

Water intake depends. I can get by on about 750 ml per hour on a cool day. On a hot day, I can suck down 2 L per hour and still dehydrate.