think i started to dehydrate yesterday big time.went for 30 mile ride between 9ish and lunchtime.was fine and drank 1 1/2 litres of squash whilst out.last five miles were slow and hard work ( i havent been out for months)
when i got home i was shattered and immediatly got a really nasty headache and pain behind the eyes.didnt go off for hours.i drank loads and had some berokka as well.
so the question is what would be best to drink in that heat/distance?

Water and plenty of it.

Sounds to me like you did all you needed too. Sometimes it's just too darn hot to ride hard and best plan is to cut back on speed or miles.

Dilute electrolyte – eg lots of water with a bit of salt/minerals to replace those you lose through sweat.

Good advice here on home made sports/isontonic drinks:

http://www.bikeradar.com/fitness/article/nutrition-homemade-sports-drink-25744

Basically you need more than simple squash can give you.

As for amounts see issue 53 of this magazine for a very well explained article. But roughly half a litre an hour of istonic drink on a hot day.

Get some of those electrolyte tablets/sweets?

Somebody gave me some once when I felt like that and it was like an almost instant cure.

Clif shot blocks seem to be good for this too, and give you an energy boost at the same time.

I tried a Nuun type thing (wasn't Nuun cause they'd sold out) No carbs or sugar, just electrolytes and salts, really impressed with it, and very drinkable, I found traditional energy drinks get very sickly, this was not at all like that, was drinking it for 11 hours on saturday.

EDIT: and easy to carry on long rides, just a tube of tablets, so as long as you can replenish water you're fine, no need to cart powder around

On a tangent – does anyone know if those expensive electrolyte powders/tablets are the same as Dioralyte?

Just stick some isotonic (i go for boots lemon flavour) in the camelback – not too much mind or its your stomach that will be hurting afterwards. Put some icecubes in there too or a couple of long mr frost ice sticks.

Water, lots of it. Might be worth taking in extra salt if you find you cramp.
Were you wearing sunglasses? The bright light can cause headaches. Equally if the sunglasses press too hard on your head or your helmet squeezes slightly I find I get headaches in the heat. THe other possible cause is your head getting too hot.

Not convinced any of that is needed on a one off 3.5 hr 30 miler, yes maybe if out longer and more regularly, but feeling done in after 30 miles is how most of us would feel if not having been out for months.

Nuun isn't the same as diaryte although I assume they are trying to do the same job and diarlyte is cheaper too. My GF was looking them up last night as she's off on holiday at altitude in the heat.

If I actually remember/plan, then I fill my Camelbak with water and put the bladder in the fridge overnight before the ride.

On a road bike I'll use very dilute energy drink in this weather, (I mostly just use water unless I'm racing).

Is it OK to put a Nuun type tablet into an energy drink like PSP22 or will there be some sort of countering effect? I need the carbs and sugars to stop me bonking but I'm all for replenishing salts aswell. Would make a high powered GO if it worked.

Water
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00scvy3

i take dry isostar powder with me and buy bottled water as i pass shops. (saves on weight) itcan get up to 35 degrees here and you need to be careful. if you deplete your resources of sugar/ minerals and dehydrate yourself and do exercise on top you can end up in a world of pain.

I've been using this recently, seems to work for me –

High 5 Zero

Water and plenty of it.

and dilute those essential salts/minerals even further.

Nuun tablets for me as i don't like drinking sugary drinks. 80 road miles yesterday with a bottle of 1 nuun and one plain water both topped up with more water half way. in hindsight i should have taken another tablet with me.

i used to get dehydration headaches before i used nuun's because even if you drink lots of water and more water on returning from a ride you are just diluting those thingies you loose through sweating.

On a tangent – does anyone know if those expensive electrolyte powders/tablets are the same as Dioralyte?

no. i nearly puked when given foul tasting Dioralyte. Nuun is far more palatable

I was told there was a study performed by Loughboro' Uni into drinking habits and it found that athletes would drink more if the water was flavoured Vs plain old corporation pop! I know I prefer the orange taste of Robinsons Barley cordial than Manchester's warm Chlorinated p!ss they call water!

i use that isostar long lasting energy stuff, seems to be bonza so far – i just dilute it more than its says too as im not a fan of very sweet drinks while im riding.

Nuun works for me.

Is it OK to put a Nuun type tablet into an energy drink like PSP22 or will there be some sort of countering effect? I need the carbs and sugars to stop me bonking but I'm all for replenishing salts aswell. Would make a high powered GO if it worked.

I used to mix Torq neutral with Nuun, but found I got cramp, whilst I didn't with plain Nuun. Someone told me that because the body is receiving the carbs and the electrolytes together, it processes the carbs first, then the electrolytes. For the same reason I found SIS Go, High 5 Isotonic etc didn't help. Sounded a bit dubious to me, but certainly the effectiveness of Nuun (or Zym) was reduced when added to an energy drink for me.

I was told there was a study performed by Loughboro' Uni into drinking habits and it found that athletes would drink more if the water was flavoured Vs plain old corporation pop!

I'd agree with that! If I take a bottle of water I rarely touch it, if I've made an energy drink I end up thinking 'I don't want to waste this, so I'll drink it'.

Water first, then water with a nuun tablet, plus for some reason those Lucozade pouches give me a real boost and taste nice.
I get up early and eat well beforehand so my body is already carrying a lot of what it needs.

is that nuun stuff fizzy? not had any for yonks and cant remember….

I'm not going to be scientific about it because IME I've really only used energy drinks, e.g High 5, SIS, and more recently Torq.

On particularly long rides and/or hot days, it's worth taking a couple of litres' worth of powder in a sandwich bag, so it/when you pick up a bottle or two in a shop you have energy to add.

I also think chocolate, e.g. Mars, Snickers, gives a nice little hit, even if it's only psychological, for those moments when you want to feel that bit better.

Nuun hasn't worked for me.

are the same as Dioralyte?

but that's expensive too 🙁

"Each Dioralyte sachet contains: glucose 3.56g, sodium chloride 0.47g, potassium chloride 0.30g and disodium hydrogen citrate 0.53g" (and other things to make it taste nicer)

the citrate probably isn't necessary: "It is used as an antioxidant in food as well as to improve the effects of other antioxidants. It is also used as an acidity regulator and sequestrant."

I'm going to Superdrug to get some KCl at lunchtime. sodium chloride is also known as table salt…

and it found that athletes would drink more if the water was flavoured Vs plain old corporation pop!

I hate tap water, but I recently ran out of squash and found I drank more plain water on a ride 🙂

I got through over 7 litres of water with SIS Go on the Wiggle MTB ride yesterday (44 miles in 5 hours). My shorts and shirt had salty tide marks on them at the end.

for the first time ever on a ride > 3 hours I didn't get any cramps. I did wear Skins shorts for the first time too so I'm not sure which was responsible.

I've been using a 50:50 mix of Lucozade Sport and water, seems to be the right balance of electrolytes etc without tasting like it's drinking syrup.

I'm curious about the powdered stuff though, might be a bit more cost-effective. Anyone have any recommendations or experience of good / bad brands here?

As an aside, I found adding Elete Water to any drink did stop me getting cramp (I like High 5 best).

Not sure it specifically helps with hydration though, I only ever get cramp when I race, whilst training rides are far longer and I usually drink less. Did 3 hours on Sunday with 2 bottles of normal High 5, no problems with hydration.

7 litres in 5 hours!!!

I wouldn't have time to do any biking, would be too busy weeing

Usual load of confused bollox. Have a look at the ingredients of the stuff you are taking.

You need salts and water to rehydrate.

Isotonic mixes are absorbed more easily – you can get the isotonic nature by adding sugar and or salt in the right amounts or you can buy redy made stuff.

IMO hypotonic is better than hypertonic so when I make my own mixes I err on the side of hypotonic.

I take apple juice / water in 1/3 – 2/3 mix with a good pinch of table salt in a litre- isotonic erring on the hypotonic, a nice mix of sugars and salts.

You can get your salt in solid form – from crisps to cliff blox ( IIRC they have electroytes in them)

to the OP it sounds to me like you might have been short on salt. Possibly mild heatstroke a well. Try to take some salt during yor ride.

Cougar – Member

I've been using a 50:50 mix of Lucozade Sport and water, seems to be the right balance of electrolytes etc without tasting like it's drinking syrup.

I don't think you are getting any salts in that –

I wouldn't have time to do any biking, would be too busy weeing

one wee about half way round which was 'about right' for colour so I thought I was probably keeping pace with losses through sweat.

I certainly didn't slosh on the bumps.

I've been using the following for a while, seems to work…..

1 ltr of tap water in camelback, freeze it between rides (keeps it form going funky too)
1 ltr of orange juice
1 ltr of water
1/4 tsp salt (arround a gram, its still tasteless in amongst everything else)
1 crushed up multivitamin tablet

Cost ~60p, you could probably substitue the OJ for squash and the equivalent sugar and vitmain C tablets and make the cost negligable.

Eat a bannana before I go and when I get back (or buy KCL and some scales that can accurately weigh 0.3g)

Adjust as nececary if you dont use a 3ltr pack.

Don't get hung up on salts, the recomended (upper) daily allowance is about 6grams and the lower is 2.something grams, your kidneys will filter out any excess so as long as your not on a really low salt diet theres probably enough in your body to get you through the day.