There is a guide that says eat before you'r hungry and drink before you are thirsty. Rides up to 2 hours and I will take one bottle and sip it right through the ride. If it is hot I will take two bottles. Longer and on will go the camelback. I drink when riding and drink plenty.

Problem is that if you get thirsty- it is too late. You are de-hydrated and will pay for it in a lack of performance. The other point is electrolytes. You need them and you will sweat them out- particularly if it is Humid. Gatorade- Energy drinks- Isotonic drinks- salty snacks will all put some essential salts back into the body.

One of the rules I make with new riders is telling them to drink and I always carry a spare bottle of water if I am out with one. Newcomers mostly do not know how important water is and I would rather stop for a comfort break or two than ruin a novices confidence by having him ride 10 miles once he has bonked.

And I heard it from the TV commentators on the TDF- After a ride- if you do not get lost fluid back into the body within an hour of finishing- then the rider will not perform well the next day. That 5lbs of weight loss on a ride will mainly be fluid loss so it has to be replaced as soon as possible.

Despite posting the OP I follow these same guides and will continue to do so. I was not aware of the danger of overloading which is why I posted the reference but I am still a bit more worried about waiting too long to drink. I don't think I overload, but I do keep up regular slugs to make sure I don't dig myself into a hole. And I always carry a second bottle on rides over 15 miles (which is almost all).

I wonder if the people who have dangerously low sodium levels, don't have other issues that are causing a low sodium level to begin with. For a normal person, the kidneys should take care of the excess water to maintain a proper electrolyte balance, simply by diverting it into the bladder. You lose some sodium in sweat, so if your sweating heavily, then you could possibly lose some sodium, but that simply means you need to mix an electrolyte into your water, or eat something that contains some sodium. A hand full of GORP made with salted peanuts every 20 minutes or so is probably better for you, then not getting enough water.

You are incorrect. Read about water intoxication.

For me the trick has been figuring out the amount of electrolytes I need to replace what I've lost. I have decided there is no formula for this and it will take experimenting to get it right.

Ditto the comments about continuing to drink enough in cool weather.

Not so much..

http://www.medicinenet.com/caffeine/page3.htm

But it can mess up your sleep.

So what are some of the signs of mild electrolyte imbalance? During or after the ride? bk

I hardly ever pee on a long ride so I'm probably not drinking quite enough. Probably why I can't ride in any kind of heat too.

I don't think its necessary to alternate with one bottle of "plain water" and another with a mix of some kind. If the mix is done with a good product, then it doesn't make much sense to use an alternating bottle of plain water.

Riders who have been riding for years will know or should know what conditions dictate how much and what to eat and drink. Taking a break on long rides is actually good for the body. I figure its not always a demanding group ride, and stopping to pee or drink or eat is ok. Your body will approve. But your ego might get in the way.

For me, the first sign is a dry mouth that stays dry after a couple sips of water. Another sign is twinges of cramps in my legs, when I know the level of effort doesn't warrant it. The latter is less reliable and harder to detect. Both of those can be corrected (at least for me) by popping a couple of extra Endurolyte tablets and maintaining the water intake. One other indicator is the saltiness of your sweat. Lick your lips.. if you taste salt, then you are likely ok.

So long as you like your teeth covered with sugar, and that gumminess in your mouth.

Yep. Those of us who do long rides without stopping to increase aerobic conditioning are solely driven by ego. Otherwise we'd take long breaks, and that would make us stronger. Uhhh.. nope. Taking a stop of any length makes it essentially two rides, which is a different animal from a conditioning standpoint. Yes, recovery is vital, but it is best done after the ride. If you want to take breaks, then by all means do so, but don't try to justify it by saying it is a superior training technique, and don't try to tell us that if we don't ride the way you do, we are a bunch of egomaniacs.

I think you have taken Garfield Cat way out of context here.

Well, I haven't been riding for years. That's why I'm asking the question(s).

Except I had coffee in the bottle as a baby, does not bother me in any way at all. Oh, I look rather young for my age, cute women hit on me all the time, they apparetly don't think I look old and haggard, neither did my boss who was surprised to find out I was 20 years older than he though or my wife who is mad because I look youn ger than her (shhhhh).

The diuretic, duh, apparently you did not get the gist of my tongue in cheek "balanced" statement in that I drink plenty of water in the coffee and I then have plenty of water as a result to as you stated "pee" it out or whatever.

I think I will have a cup right now. Oh, today, I swam 1.5 miles in 30 minutes and actually did a full two miles. Then I did 30 minutes on my elliptical a few minutes ago. Tomorrow if the wind lays down some, I plan at least a 50 on the bike. And, plenty of cups of coffee.

Haggard my arse.

LC

Quite possibly, now that I re-read it. I'll blame it on off-season lack of endorphins, and apologize.

I will lose 5 pounds on a hot climbing day but that is not ideal. It's better if I can stay close to the weight I start at, but it doesn't always work out that way.
One hot day I lost 11 pounds and I felt bad, had nausea, etc. I'm normally 205#.

This is where articles like the one quoted initially fail, because they make a statement about an issue, without providing actual research, how much does a runner need to drink to get water intoxication, is it a relatively small amount, or is it a considerable amount. Has anyone actually tracked this to see? Does what applies to a runner actually apply to a cyclist who travels much faster, where the passage of dryer air around the body makes sweat more efficient, and therefore less sweat is needed to cool the body.

The normal guideline for cyclists is 1L/hr (a little more then a US quart, a little less then a UK quart), the kidneys can eliminate up to 1L/hr if healthy. Water is heavy, 1L of water weighs 1kg, so if your losing 2kg over a 4 hour ride, then you need an extra 2L of water beyond this to stay at your initial hydration level, providing your initial hydration is at optimum, which it may not be. The club rider who had 9 beers last night and then 5 cups of coffee this morning, is already starting out dehydrated. So before a ride, drink a full 1L of water in the hour before, to get your initial hydration level up, then 1L/hr during the ride. Weigh yourself before (pee before you weigh yourself) and after (don't pee before) , the weight difference is mostly lost water, so if you lost 5lbs that's 2¼kg or 2¼L (2.38 US Quarts or 2 UK quarts) your down on water, so the next ride of a similar length at a similar temperature you need that much more, spread over the ride. If the next time you are up 1lb then you know that your drinking about 1/2L per hour more then you need to, so you can cut back.

Barely a diuretic. Don't worry about it.

+1

Addicts swear their substance of choice isn't doing them any harm. Caffeine is the choice of coffee drinkers, and those who want to dismiss the role of caffeine in this discussion should drill a little deeper to the MedicineNet link. They might just find the same authors say diuresis is one of the five symptoms of caffeine intake.

The link provided also seems inconclusive to me on just about any aspect of the discussion. The best it seems to do is "cite" a study back in 1928!!

I do know that when I drink coffee, I pee almost immediately afterwards. I know that when I drink concentrated coffee, I have arrythmia issues, along with intenstinal problems. I also know that on the rides I do, I now steer clear of drinking coffee at the cafe stops, and rely instead on hot chocolates.

As the linked article also seems to be so adept at suggesting all the way through its treatise on coffee and caffeine, everyone's miles may vary.

Hot chocolate also often contains some caffeine. Chocolate by nature is very bitter, so if the hot chocolate tastes sweet, then it's because there is a sweetener in it, the most common sweetener used these days is High Fructose Corn Syrup, which really should be considered toxic to humans, but the corn lobby in the US is too rich, for that to happen. HFCS will cause a blood sugar spike, which makes the body dump a vast amount of insulin, which causes a sugar crash, in normal people. For diabetics, their sugar will go into the stratosphere and stay there....

Actually the best thing on the road, is plain water.

One bottle of water. One bottle of electrolyte (Gatorade, Powerade, whatever). When the electrolyte tastes too strong, more water. I let my taste buds do the talking.

If you're sitting on the couch, then yes, Gatorade spikes insulin. On an endurance ride, not so much.

This is one reason some of us wait until a ride starts to begin caloric intake. You don't want your body to start thinking it has too much glucose just when you need it.

That's how I do it also. I drink only water for the first hour.