Hydration

Wednesday, May 31st, 2017

Part of the ‘How To Endure Long Rides’ series, Sasha Maguire outlines the basics to ensure you maximise your potential on the big day.

HYDRATION

Water is a vital component to cell health in the body. Our bodies are made up of roughly 60% water and we need to be hydrated during the day. This is particularly important when doing physical activity. As mentioned above, cycling burns a lot of calories which means you will be sweating and losing using the food and hydration stocks in your body at that time. The more you sweat the more water you need to consume in order to avoid dehydration. Similarly to ‘carbo-loading’ it is good practice to keep yourself hydrated throughout the week leading up to the event.

Usually more water means more trips to the toilet, which is good for detoxifying your body until you are excreting nutrients. If you find you are constantly needing to go to the toilet because of the amount of water you are consuming, you may not be absorbing as many nutrients as you should be. In this case you can make a homemade electrolyte drink for the bike or to sip on throughout the day:

A pinch of salt
Mi wadi (add to preferred strength)

Cyclist is drinking water from the sport bottle

This is a perfect drink to have on the bike, avoiding lots of pit stops and feeling fresh on the spin. Or if you have a packet of the effervescent electrolyte tablets or Berocca they do the same job. Eating water dense vegetables such as cucumber, courgette, radishes and celery are a brilliant way of hydrating your body. You can even juice those vegetables into a healthy drink. The bottom line it to keep track of how much you’re drinking on the bike and know what works for you!