I did it!!!

[Road Viexn]

I just got home from my very first 20 mile ride. I did it in 1 1/2 hours. Not to bad I think! I am doing the 33 miler for Little Red so I am shooting for 2 to 2 hr 15 min for the whole ride. I do need to drink more water. I didn't drink enough and I know I need to drink more. How do you guys remind yourself to drink. How often do you drink on a longer ride like that?

[tctrek]

You go girl! Congratulations and smart move working up to the mileage goal. You should be drinking about 16-20 ozs every hour. More if it's really hot. Try to drink a bottle before you get on the bike.

[TrekTheKaty]

My GPS beeps every mile (drink). It's silly, but you can also buy one of those cheap sports watches where you can set a timer. Set it to beep every 5-10 min. After a few rides, it will become habit.

[marni]

my rule of thumb iis deink on the 15 and eat on the half hour which means that I used to have the timer on my watch set for fifteen minutes and alternated eating and drinking. Nowadays I go more by feel but it still seems to be 3 or 4 times an hour.

If you are feeling hungry or your mouth is dry, you are too late so try to anticipate. Hydration is a self correcting weight- wht you don't sweat off you willl pee out.

marni

[Jiffer]

When I'm on a road with a lot of signals, I usually take a swig at red lights. If not, or if the lights are gloriously all green, I try to be conscious about drinking at least every 10 minutes ... or by feel. I'm thirsty, I drink. But I HAVE gotten dehydrated on days that I "thought" I was drinking enough, so I try not to only go by feel. I've only gotten dehydrated on especially long or difficult climbing rides when it was a hotter than I was used to riding in. The hotter it is, or humid, the more you need to drink. And when you're climbing, there are typically no signals to remind you to take a drink ... and if you're breathing hard, and already going rather slow, it's hard to slow down enough to settle your breathing to get a swig in ... but try you must!!!

Sounds like you had a great ride! Keep it up!

[ny biker]

I sometimes forget to drink as often as I should. On long rides, when I get to a reststop, I compare how much I've drunk so far to how many hours I've been riding, and if I'm below 1 bottle per hour I catch up while I'm stopped.

[Bike Chick]

I don't drink as much as I should on the bike, especially when I'm in a fast group and it's all I can do to hang on. If I take a minute to grab my water bottle, I'm off the back. I make myself drink every 15 minutes. I also make it a habit to weigh myself before a ride and then after I'm done to be sure I've taken in enough fluids. You should weigh more after your ride. If you weigh less, you haven't taken in enough. Another sign that you haven't hydrated enough is if you don't need to pee after a ride---especially on hot days.

Congrats on your 20 miles! That's quite an accomplishment. Keep it up!

[lisathew8lifter]

I just got home from my very first 20 mile ride. I did it in 1 1/2 hours. Not to bad I think! I am doing the 33 miler for Little Red so I am shooting for 2 to 2 hr 15 min for the whole ride. I do need to drink more water. I didn't drink enough and I know I need to drink more. How do you guys remind yourself to drink. How often do you drink on a longer ride like that?

hey there, good job! i bought my road bike on monday and took it for just under 21 miles and it took 1 hour 20 mins according to the gps. i was wondering if that was good time and it sounds like it especially for our first ride.

i love the advice here since this whole "eat before you're hungry" is new to me since i've fought to maintain my weight (or lose) most of my life. i need to get over that mindset or i'm going to be up a hill without a pedal

[carinapir]

It's not for everyone, but this is why I love my hydration pack. There's no excuse for not drinking enough and it kind of becomes a habit to grab the nozzle on your shoulder and drink. You can take quick splashes on a frequent basis without having to worry about messing with the water bottle and your position all the time. But then, I'm not very good at getting to my water bottle without disrupting my riding flow so others might not have annoyance at the drinking process as part of the reason they don't drink enough.

[colorisnt]

Congrats on your first 20 miles! Wonderful!

I drink every fifteen. If I notice myself getting a dry mouth, I pull over and drink at LEAST half a bottle.

[lisathew8lifter]

hi ladies, i went on my second ride this week, 20 miles last night and i did it in the same amount of time as my first road ride on monday. my avg hr and max hr went down - not sure if that means anything or not - but i cramped at the end and couldn't put my put down on the ground!

i had one full bottle of water mixed with G2 but i don't think that was enough. i plan to get another cage for another bottle but i can't imagine how i'll take water for a longer ride. someone mentioned a camel pack and i may look into that. thankfully i listened and had a Gu before i left and one about half way into it. i would have run out of gas! you ladies rock - i'll be spending wayyy more time here to learn from you guys. thanks again.