Hydration

[magnatom]

So does anyone else have problems keeping hydrated when cycle commuting.

I now commute further than I ever have (about 23 miles a day). There are hills involved and, I'm not one to hang around, so I sweat. In fact I probably sweat a fair amount. Obviously I need to replace that sweat, however, I find it hard.

Obviously once getting to work I need to drink. I'm not really a coffee or tea drinker so for me in the past it has mostly been fizzy juice (diet of course). I'm trying to cut back on that due to the cost (which adds up) so I'm now drinking more water. The problem is at work, there is no decent free water. Yes the water in the tap is 'supposed' to be ok to drink. Hmmm. Hospital water is pretty disgusting. So I take some in from home. But i can't be doing carrying 1.5 litres to work each day (I need at least that to stay hydrated).

My other problem is that I find it hard to drink lots of water. Not much taste you see.

So bythe time I get home, having sweated some more, I'm usually mildly dehydrated.

I know the answer, 'carry more water and drink it, ya idiot!'. However, I just wondered if anyone else had similar problems and how they solved it.

 

[HLaB]

Would it be worth carrying one full bottle for the morning and an empty one to fill up at night but with something to take the taste away, perhaps diluted juice. I found this recipe for energy drink on the web it would take the taste away:

Using table sugar

Making your own sports drinks will save you a fortune and there are two main ways to tackle this. These will make up 1 litre of sports drink. The first involves taking 60-80g of table sugar, adding half a teaspoon of table salt, adding no-added-sugar cordial and topping up with water.

Making it up in a 750ml bottle though (rather than a Litre) I used 3/4 of the ingredients.

Giving your bottle a taste will also help your other problem, you'll hopefully drink more or will at least replace the vital sugars and salts.

You could of course go the Nuun, Torq, High5 route etc, but that costs £

 

[ianrauk]

Don't hospitals have water vending machines?


You could always take a water filter to work, leave it there for use as and when.

 

[2Loose]

Our office water tastes crap, so I have a bottle of Barley water and a bottle of Ribena on my desk for added taste.

 

[hillrep]

Don't hospitals have water vending machines?


You could always take a water filter to work, leave it there for use as and when.

But we are Scottish - we don't want to buy water :-).

I'm sure the hospital water is safe, but perhaps unpleasant. If you want to improve it then, as Ian suggests, a water filter jug (google) will help a lot.

I too need some flavour in my water - I prefer tea, but some diluting juice should help.

Alternatively pinch some Dioralyte powder from work! It should have the right salts but I can't vouch for the taste :-)

 

[gaz]

Our office water tastes crap, so I have a bottle of Barley water and a bottle of Ribena on my desk for added taste.

Ditto

 

[ianrauk]

But we are Scottish - we don't want to buy water :-).

I know the Scott's are tight bastids. But I did mean the free water vending machines. With the polystyrene cups.

 

[jimboalee]

Hydration.... Commuting...... LOL.

 

[fossyant]

Bad move not to be hydrated. Fizzy pop isn't at all good. Big tea drinker here, but like the rest have said, get some cordial. It's important to be hydrated. Do you ride in with a drink ? - I get through just short of a 500ml bottle in the morning (important to hydrate on the way in on a morning), and about 250ml-500ml on the way home (depending upon temps).

Also carry a drink when doing the relatively short (5 mile) hops to other sites.

 

[magnatom]

Free water! In the NHS!! Are you kidding!! There is a water cooler for the patients, but not for us!

Mmm. A water filter. I've always been skeptical about them. Do they actually work/make a difference?

 

[ianrauk]

Free water! In the NHS!! Are you kidding!! There is a water cooler for the patients, but not for us!

Mmm. A water filter. I've always been skeptical about them. Do they actually work/make a difference?

Yes they do work.
The filters do last much longer then the manufacturers are have you to believe.
You soon can taste when the filter needs changing.

 

[hillrep]

Free water! In the NHS!! Are you kidding!! There is a water cooler for the patients, but not for us!

Mmm. A water filter. I've always been skeptical about them. Do they actually work/make a difference?

Well, when living in other parts, where the water was safe, but so hard that tea would instantly scum over, a water filter made a huge difference - tea was again drinkable. The filter did make the water totally tasteless, which is very dull to drink straight.

 

[Moodyman]

24 miles, and yes, I too have some long climbs being at the foot of the Pennines.

Drink two glasses before I set off and take a 750ml bottle with me.

I've been drinking lots of water for years due to my peptic ulcer - water's good for diluting the stomach acid which agitates it.

I'm blessed with good water facilities at work though have large water filter fountains.

 

[jimboalee]

At the workplace, the employer should provide 'Fresh drinking water'.
If you have a querie, contact the H&S office to see the analysis report.

The water at my workplace is drawn out of the River Leam and Draycote Water. The tea boiler gets silted up in 6 months and needs to be cleaned out.
The H&S report has shows no harmful contaminants, just good clean mud.

Its the sausages in the canteen that give me the shoots.

 

[jimboalee]

My company supply us with free lemonade. Trouble is its totally flat and completely tasteless.