Dealing with the heat

[Catrin]

How much water you need depends totally on your sweat rate, which varies a LOT from person to person. The best way to know if you're drinking as much as you're sweating is to weigh yourself before and after your ride. "A pint's a pound, the world around" - every pound in the difference in your weights is a pint of water that you need(ed) to replace. Of course that doesn't address how well hydrated you were before you weighed yourself the first time - but it's at least a way to know what you lost during your ride. It's good that you're keeping track of how much you're drinking, too - that will help you figure it out.

Re: sodium - actually, sodium helps you retain water. When I get hyponatremic (which I do very easily if I'm not careful) I pee like crazy. It's my body's way of trying to increase the concentration of sodium in my blood ... but of course, the result is that I get dehydrated on top of hyponatremic. Any more, I usually figure it out pretty quickly... but I still get caught out once in a while.

This is a good idea - and I've been needing to replace that broken scale anyway - don't ask me how long it's been broken That is what the scales at the gym are for! I need to also check out the electrolytes part of the equation...

Granted, I'm a camel, but seventy-five ounces in two hours is a lot. I'd suggest that you may have potentially had a bit too much fluid, even in this heat. Google hyponatemia for information on drinking too much water. Now that's an extreme condition, but short of that, you might experience cramping and stomach upset if you drink too much. It's a fine balance.

I suspect that my original estimate was off...but your point is well made. I was trying to not get dehydrated and may well have over-done it. Regardless I still had fun though

Thankfully am riding tomorrow morning as my last day of vacation - 75 degrees