Road Cycling - can one drink too much water ?

I drink about one 28oz bottle of water every one hour of my riding. Is that too much ? Could drinking excess water have a disadvantage ?

7-10 liters at once would kill you!:p

There is such a thing as water intoxication which taken
to its limit can lead to death.
That said if you're drinking that much water and
sweating out a good portion of it (summer temps)
I don't think you need to worry.
I'm waiting to see what CBHungry says on this one.

Marty

Yes, it can. Drinking more water than necessary can speed the depletion of electrolytes and water soluble vitamins and minerals this can have an adverse impact in the latter part of extended rides like centuries, increasing fatigue and perhaps muscle cramps. For rides under 50 miles a little extra water probably wouldn't have time to have an impact though drinking two bottles an hour might make you feel bloated and will probably make you stop to pee often. I believe I read something on this at hammernutrition.com, probably in questions about their Endurolyte product, but it may have been elsewhere in the QA/FAQ area.

Read this article and you will no it takes one huge amount of water. http://www.thechamplainchannel.com/asseenon/2173878/detail.html

i'd ask your doctor.
wasn't excessive hydration the problem eveander hollifield had in the fight when they originally thought he had heart problems? i saw that in an interview he did, i always take those kinds of interviews with a grain of salt, but if it's a concern ask your doc.

It's called Hyponatremia, and it can be serious. You should avoid drinking plain water only because on a long hot day you are susceptable to this condition. When you sweat, you are losing salts and other electrolyes that can come from food, etc. Normally you consume enough salty foods, etc. during the day to replace any that is lost. It's most common to find this condition occuring in triathletes or anyone exercising for long periods of time. heat/sun amplify the problem...

-Mark

I usually also drink up a lot of cytomax during the longer rides, so that should take care of the electrolytes I hope.

Originally posted by Gojohnnygo.
no it takes one huge amount of water.

Unless you're drinking heavy-water. :beer:

I don't understand this whole "drinking too much water is bad" thing. I drink 5-10 litres of water per day, year round, riding or not. I've had days where I've cleared 12 litres. I've never had any adverse health effects from doing this - however on some of those days I think I would have had adverse health effects if I hadn't gone through so much.

Admittedly, I don't drink water exclusively, but I really don't think it's possible to drink too much of it.

There have been cases of teenagers who have taken an ecstaty tab, followed the std advice and drunk lots of water, then died of salt imbalance. The advice is give because ecstacy is usually taken by clubbers who spend up to 10hrs dancing in overheated nightclubs, often with limited water suppy, and dehydration is a serious problem. The death that occured was a teenager who took a tab at home, then drank 10l of water over a couple of hours.

Despite the fact that she was killed by water, she became a figurehead for a campaign on the dangers of ecstacy.

Chris Carmichael just did an article on this for the Tour de France:

http://www.olntv.com/tdf03/carmichael10.html

If you read up, you will find that many pro riders will actually weigh in prior to and after a race just to find out how much water they lose. They moniter it so that in future rides they have a better idea of how much they will need to take in on a similar ride in the future, thus they try to only replace what they actually lose. I agree about drinking more than just water on hard or long rides. You should supliment with something like powerbars & gaterade...

Originally posted by MichaelW
There have been cases of teenagers who have taken an ecstaty tab, followed the std advice and drunk lots of water, then died of salt imbalance. The advice is give because ecstacy is usually taken by clubbers who spend up to 10hrs dancing in overheated nightclubs, often with limited water suppy, and dehydration is a serious problem. The death that occured was a teenager who took a tab at home, then drank 10l of water over a couple of hours.

Despite the fact that she was killed by water, she became a figurehead for a campaign on the dangers of ecstacy.

A high dose or an overdose of Ecstasy poses the risks of acute delirium, acute anxiety reactions, malignant hyperthermia, rhabdomyolysis, acute kidney failure, bilateral sixth nerve palsy,cardio-vascular abnormalities, seizure, cerebral edema, coma, and syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone... it is the latter that makes over hydration so lethal.

Of all the acute complications, hyperthermia is particularly important since it could lead to seizure and coma. Factors that induce hyperthermia include dehydration, alcohol consumption, physical exertion, and heat, all of which are present at rave clubs. Therefore, these individuals with long-term experience taking Ecstasy recommend frequent breaks and adequate hydration. Sounds like the girl did not realize that this advice was only beneficial if she had been dancing, sweating etc. while on ecstacy. Sad. See alot of these cases and it's amazing how available this stuff is.

Originally posted by cat
Chris Carmichael just did an article on this for the Tour de France:

http://www.olntv.com/tdf03/carmichael10.html

Very interesting, thanks! :)

Drinking to much water without having anything else such as Gatorade, or products with salt, can cause serious problems, if you are involved in long endurance event. Especially in hot/humid weather. When I run marathons, I always start with drinking water at the first 3 or so stops, and than I start having a cup of both water, and a sports drink. This way, I am making sure that I try to maintain some kind of electrolyte balance. If you can tolerate eating salted products, pretzels, and etc, and drink water that would also keep some kind of balance. For years, they did stress, drink plenty of water, and now recently, there was a study done, that is in this months Runners World, that discusses how much water they found that you need. It also mentioned that coffee, once thought of as a diuretic, is no more of diuretic than water. I think that what one needs to understand, that once you do get dehydrated, it takes a while for your body to absorb the amount that is lost throught sweating, and etc. You can take in large amounts of fluids after events, but your body will only ingest so much, and the rest you just excrete.

I have a friend who is a very good athlete, but doesn't tolerate the heat very well. He sweats heavily, and there isn't any way he can ingest enough to replace his loss. I would think, if he was in an event that lasted a few hours, that he could get in big trouble if he only drank water. So mix it up, and you should be okay.

Hmmmm...if you drink too much away from a bathroom I suppose that could be a bad thing. Esp on a co-ed ride LOL

castanza? can't stand ya!

seriously, he has it right.

it is a fallacy that we are 80% water. we are 80% saline. if we were fishtanks, and every time we lost saltwater we replaced with tap water, over time we would have a deficit of ....

I recall the Army recommending drink 1 qt. of water every hour to avoid dehydration.

John Hawrylak
Woodstown NJ

Drinking plain water isn't bad. It is the only thing I drink on rides. However, if you are like me and sweat profusely and do long rides in hot weather, you will need to take in electrolytes. I just eat some table salt on hot days when I am downing camelbacks like there is no tommorrow. 1/4 teaspoon of table salt has something like 500 mg of sodium so it does not take much.

Originally posted by jhawrylak
I recall the Army recommending drink 1 qt. of water every hour to avoid dehydration.

John Hawrylak
Woodstown NJ

Here are the new reccomendations in the lates sports medicine journal that I get.
http://www.physsportsmed.com/cover.htm

I drank too much water on the Air Force's survival course, washed too many electrolytes out of my body and got quite ill, but this was over the course of a one week trek, with agressors chasing us, not a one day event.

The physican and sports medicine journal article referenced by CBHUNGRY seems to conclude the following:

"the IMMDA advisory states that blanket hydration recommendations for athletes are incorrect and unsafe, and that they should drink as needed, but not to exceed 800 mL per hour."

800 mL is approx. 1 quart.

Also, the aspect mentioned by FOG about washing out electrolytes from too much water is valid. It seems taking breaks to eat food should prevent the wash out effect, for example, the RoadBikeRider.com Newsletter recently had any article suggesting eating 1 PayDay candy bar an hour provides enough calories to prevent hunger and also supplies reasonable levels of salt.

So it seems you can drink too much water, but both the dehydration and over hydration can be reasonably avoided using the 1 quart per hour guidance and reasonable eating during the bike ride.


John Hawrylak
Woodstown NJ