crgowo

I pretty sure its a dehydration issue but i have a 2Liter camelbak and drink bottled water after i ride. What else can i do? Yesterday i was in alot of pain at around 5pm. I went riding around 8am for about 3 - 4 hours. Took some pills and it went away but its not the first time its happened. It was just pretty bad yesterday. Thanks for your help.

a2psyklnut

You can actually hurt yourself by drinking too much water. You need some salt in your system to properly hydrate. After your ride, drink a sports drink, preferably something with electrolytes in it. That should help!

Me, I visit this little hole in the wall Mexican Restaurant on the way home!

L8R

Trek Rider

Dumb question but one people don't think of.

How much caffiene do you 'normally' take in during the same time frame on other days when you were doing your 3-4 hr ride?

Maelstrom 

Good call Trek rider. I always forget the effects of caffeine.

geneman

Amen!! If you consume coffee all week and then don't have any on Saturday and Sunday you're asking for a headache.

<caffine free for over two years>

-mark

PeterG1185

I get the same thing. You can't just hydrate one day, its a gradual process. You gotta be hydrated before the ride begins, not just keep yourself in the same deficit during a ride.

Also sometimes i take an aspirin before a ride, just to ward off. But just start drinking more water and less caffine than usual the day before a ride. Easier said than done but thats what works for me. The thing is, is to drink when you're not thirsty because if you're thirsty you're already screwed. Another thing could be the light conditions. I know when there's a certain light caused by the clouds it triggers migranes.

crgowo

To be honest i hardly drink any caffiene. Im a root beer/sprint drinker. But come to think of it when I do stop and eat something before I go home, Im fine those days. Going to make sure i do from now on. Thanks guys!

Trek Rider

Next time you buy Root Beer, check the caffiene content. Barq's Root Beer have 23.0 milligrams of caffiene per 12 ounce can.

Shroom

Also if you make your own root beer you need to have the sassafras roots processed to remove carcinogens.

crgowo

the barqs and mug are caffeine free. At least last time i checked.

dirtbikedude

IT ZA TUUMAAR.

Make sure you drink pleanty of H2O during the week. If your rides last longer then 45min you should drink a sports drink during the ride to replenish the lost minerals.

You should also try and keep you head as cool as possible. Try and keep your head cool with a wet down headband of some sort. Also, you should try and keep the water as cool as possible. If it is going to be a schorcher then try and freez the water in you pack the night before. It will stay cool when you ride, you can sip it as it melts and it will also help keep your back a little cooler.
You could also invest in something like a MistyMate (no not a teary eyed Aussi.). My wife just bought me one and it works great on hot days.

ChiefCatchacold

Not sure if it's the same problem, but, a protein bar about an hour before the ride does the trick for me. (Along with proper hydration,etc.)

crgowo

Itz Notta Tuumaar.

MandansFinest

I am probably way off but it may be the sun is wearing on you.

mindbogger

Care to elaborate on that?? I am a bit confuseddd

jcivic00

I usually take a couple of aspirin before a ride, it thins you blood a little to help with circulation for the workout, and keeps that post ride headache at bay. Bad part is if you crash you'll bleed a lot more.

iamlucky13

I usually eat some salty crackers right before I ride, and if it's going to be a long ride I mix up some lemonade and put salt in it (not as bad as it sounds, you can't taste it unless you put too much in). Doesn't get me my potassium like Gatorade does, but it's a lot cheaper and tastes way better. Plus, I like banannas anyway.

I get really bad headaches when I'm dehydrated.

cyclezealot

Water, cashews, banannas, Maybe Cytomax mix, Gatorade.Sunglasses. Maybe a power bar..
Plus when the aching starts..Maybe one 10 minute break..I come back just fine. Even when I crash on the living room floor, smelly and all..The living room floor is normally downstream from the kitchen..Eventually , no shower , no dinner...So says my wife.

seely

Salt pills work wonders and are cheap!

Al.canoe

Could be two possibilities. It's either a electrolytic deficiency or it's due to sun glare. I can suffer from both. For the glare problem the solution is sunglasses.

My wife and I both suffered from post exercise headaches some 40 years ago. We solved it by adding ERG (It's still available; https://www.gookinaid.com/Order_Info/...t/product.html) to our drinking water to replace the electrolytics lost through sweating. I would suggest not taking salt tablets as they can eventually hurt your stomach and Sodium Chloride is but one electrolytic lost through sweating.

For strenuous exercise levels, the following concentrations (p 146, Serious Cycling, second edition, by Burke, pub. 2002) per liter is:

Sodium - 400 to 100 mg; Chloride - 500 to 1500 mg; Magnesium - 10 to 100 mg and Potassium 120 to 225 mg. ERG easily gets you into this range with an added pinch of salt. I typical use 1/2 to 3/4 of the recommended ERG concentration with about an eighth teaspoonful of table salt per ltr.

Here in the Gulf coast, I'll drink over three liters of this concoction on a 2hr early morning ride in the summer. You can't wait to be thirsty to drink as by then it's too late to catch up and rehydrate. For every 1% loss in body weight the heart rate rises 7 beats/min typically. Burke recommends a rate of 8 ounces every 20 minutes on a warm day. The first 8 ounces should come before you get on our bike.

Al

a2psyklnut

Mexican food is salty, thus I replace my sodium chloride and electrolytes from eating some sit-in your stomach, awesome, authentic, Mexican food.

Add to that an Orange Soda and you're covered.

Ever notice how good an Orange Soda with Mexican food can be????

L8R

cyclezealot

I remember trying, what I thought then to to be a really steep grade.... My heart went up to over 120 beats.. Got all dizzy, so I thought..
I blamed it on a big, huge greasy Beef burritto....It did set in my stomach..

Shroom

That brings back horror stories I've had with Chinese Buffets.

DrJekyll

I know that on some of the longer flint hills rides we do around here... just having your camelbacks' straps mis-adjusted has given me a headache... you might try that if all else fails.

Raiyn

After our trips out to Alafia we usually stop off at McDonald's and grab something. Their fries take care of that salt problem real quick.