How much water are you guys taking\drinking when you're out riding in this heat?  I got through 1.5lt last night in a fairly difficult (for me anyway!) 10 mile\70minute off road ride in the late evening.  Seem's like quite a lot to me.

Today I've had 3 pints of fluid so far will probably have another 4 before I finish work at 00:00

Had a bike ride in that at a sedately average of 15 MPH

I get through a 800ml bottle of SIS GO on a 25 mile road ride.  I make sure I stay hydrated before the ride and drink plenty afterwards too.

Not many athletes give enough consideration to their hydration status during training in the winter and spring. Well it's cold so you don't really sweat that much…or do you?

Just remember that as you sweat, you are losing body fluid (in the very cold weather you also lose body fluid from vapour lost in the breath). Essentially the majority of this fluid is coming from your blood, and the blood volume actually drops (due to a fall in the blood plasma volume) which in turn will cause a rise in your heart rate, circulatory distress, reduced ability to deliver oxygen to the working muscle, and a possible increase in carbohydrate use. Significantly a 2% loss in body mass through sweating will cause a 10-20% drop in performance levels!

So it may be important to assess how much you sweat, in order to calculate how much to drink, for both winter and summer training.

Here's the easy way:

• Jump on the scales (preferably naked) before you train, remembering to keep a note of your weight (don't forget to get dressed before you go training or you may get arrested).
• Enjoy your session, and drink as you normally would. Recording your fluid intake (mentally or otherwise) can also be of use to help calculate your sweat rate.
• Weigh yourself as soon after the training session as possible (naked and towelled dry).
• Any difference in body mass is sweat loss that you have not replaced. Every 0.5 kg lost equals 500 ml fluid! (You may be surprised how much you sweat, even in winter.)
• Add the bodymass lost to volume consumed, this equals total sweat loss. To calculate sweat rate, divide total amount by time of training session. This will give you an idea of fluid needed for the intensity, duration and weather conditions in future sessions.
• Finally, chances are you have not fully hydrated during your training session, so in order to fully rehydrate, drink 1.25 times the volume of weight lost.

Hope this helps you stay hydrated, and improve your recovery from your rides

Dr Garry Palmer
Sportstest Ltd

Well thank you Dr Palmer, that sounds interesting, I may well give that a go when I go spinning tomorrow.

Dar, that was also reasonably funny.

I get through 3L on a 4/5 hr ride..    am I odd in that I ride not very frequently but when I do it takes all-day?

Or am i just phat?   :-/

I bought some themed water at the Spinal Tap gig the other night and I can confirm it goes up to 11, so I will be incorporating it into my hydration regeime. Their Rockin' Rolls are tasty too

Dan I think you may be a bit odd

Or are you saying that it just takes 4/5 hours and you're only covering a couple of miles

Dan I think you may be a bit odd

In what particular way Tekk?

well you're a big puff.

Dont forget to take electrolytes with all of this water you are drinking otherwise you'll run a higher risk of cramping with the warm weather.

I made the mistake of going out and doing some trail maintenance for 2 hours yesterday without any water. I was shot when I got back home and bonked in about 30 minutes of a 1 hour blast around Friston that afternoon.

Still suffering today.

Hydratin loads for the ride tomorrow afternoon.