Feed & Hydration Advice Please!
06-22-21, 07:51 AM
#26
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Yes, you fitness will dictate hydration when you are starting out. When less fit, you will try to and shovel drink more and eat more but you will still get really worn out. I have strong riding buddies who consume far less fluids than the rest. One friend brings 750 ML on some rides while many of us will go through 3 times that. He is going at a far lower level of his functional threshold so he does not need as much fluids and feels totally fresh after a 3,000 ft climb. Once you have a good fitness level, it is more predictable too. When in doubt, keep hydrating with electrolyte-mixed water. Just water will not work well at all for me, I discovered, I seem to just pee out all my sodium that way and get dehydrated. People are different though. I don't sweat much, unlike most of my friends who sweat buckets. That is not good since I can't regulate heat as well. I avoid riding when 90+.
I go by climbing as much as miles, and I fuel more on hot ride, obviously. So if a 50 milers has 5000 ft of climbing at 80 degrees (80 is super intense at 9K-11K elevation), I'll hydrate far more than I would for 50 miles at 6,000 ft of elevation with 2,500 ft of climbing, So for a more intense ride, I'll eat 3 egg whites, one yolk omelet 3 hours before the ride and oatmeal/banana 1.5 hours before. Then I usually drink 24-26 oz of electrolyte water (Tailwind, Osmo, whatever) every 60 mins. Some days, I'll do a snack at 1.5 hours. I try not to eat much or any protein during, unless mountain biking. Then I'll always take a peanut or sunflower butter and jam sandwich along and/or soft jerky type of thing. Mountain biking is a lot more anaerobic for me anyway. I find it more difficult to always gauge my hydration at high altitude (and we go up almost every wknd to a ski resort at 9,700 ft) so there I need to overdo it a bit till I get it right. I have bonked 3-4 times on a few long rides and it has always been the hydration- not enough electrolytes. Usually that happens when mountain biking though. Road biking is far more predictable and I never get lost so a 4-hour ride never turns into an 8-hour backcountry slog in the mountains. Plus, convenience stores....
I go by climbing as much as miles, and I fuel more on hot ride, obviously. So if a 50 milers has 5000 ft of climbing at 80 degrees (80 is super intense at 9K-11K elevation), I'll hydrate far more than I would for 50 miles at 6,000 ft of elevation with 2,500 ft of climbing, So for a more intense ride, I'll eat 3 egg whites, one yolk omelet 3 hours before the ride and oatmeal/banana 1.5 hours before. Then I usually drink 24-26 oz of electrolyte water (Tailwind, Osmo, whatever) every 60 mins. Some days, I'll do a snack at 1.5 hours. I try not to eat much or any protein during, unless mountain biking. Then I'll always take a peanut or sunflower butter and jam sandwich along and/or soft jerky type of thing. Mountain biking is a lot more anaerobic for me anyway. I find it more difficult to always gauge my hydration at high altitude (and we go up almost every wknd to a ski resort at 9,700 ft) so there I need to overdo it a bit till I get it right. I have bonked 3-4 times on a few long rides and it has always been the hydration- not enough electrolytes. Usually that happens when mountain biking though. Road biking is far more predictable and I never get lost so a 4-hour ride never turns into an 8-hour backcountry slog in the mountains. Plus, convenience stores....
