I try to drink one bottle of fluids per hour of riding on normal days and will increase the rate on hot days. I broke my own rules last Saturday in a 44 mile hilly race when it was 92 degrees. I decided to race with only 2 bottles of Gatorade with 3 electrolyte capsules in each bottle in order to save some weight for the big hill climbs. A dumb decision since the first 13 miles was a rolling/flat lap that took us back through the start/finish and I could have consumed a whole bottle by then. Normally I would put the 3rd bottle in my back pocket. Luck would have it the race started on a historic pretty brick street then crossed a RR track and 1 minute into the race one of the two bottles launched from the bottle cage. I made a poor decision to ration the fluid from the one bottle over the 44 mile race. Two thirds into the race I was cramping in the hamstrings had to let the pack go, finished the bottle and really struggled the rest of the race back to the finish. I drank everything I could after the race yet still was getting cramps while sleeping. Nothing like being awakened in the middle of the night with both hamstrings cramping while you are rolling on the floor.

Sunday marked the third race of the weekend with a crit. After 4 laps my hamstring began to cramp and I abandoned the race. Not a good weekend at all.