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Archives for June 2012

It Takes More Than Water

06.12.2012 by Ray Niekamp // 9 Comments

Summer temperatures are here in Texas now. Austin got its first 100-degree day (38C) this week, although thankfully, we’re way behind last year’s ridiculous 90 days of 100 degrees or more.

So I’ve been making sure I have plenty of water while out on my rides. But the advent of the really hot temperatures reminds me that water alone isn’t enough. If I needed a stark reminder of that fact, all I had to do was take note of this news item:

SAN ANTONIO, June 12 (UPI) — A 30-year-old man who fell ill during an endurance boat race in Texas has died, authorities said.

Brad Ellis, who had become ill Sunday during the Texas Water Safari race on the San Marcos and Guadalupe rivers, was the first participant to die in the event’s 50-year history, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

Ellis died of hyponatremia, or low sodium, said Allen Spelce, president of the Texas Water Safari.

“It goes against logic,” Spelce said. “You think, ‘Drink water, drink water,’ but you’re expelling all of that sodium, through sweat and using the bathroom, and not getting the replacements.”

I plead guilty. I get by just fine with two bottles of water for rides of 30 miles or less. Part of the reason I bonked last weekend is that I was just drinking water and not replenishing my electrolytes on a ride about an hour longer than I’ve been doing lately. It’s time to start carrying some kind of electrolyte replacement again.

I’ve never been picky about what I use. Often, in the middle of a ride, I’ll stop at a convenience store and pick up a bottle of G2 — the low-sugar Gatorade. I have used Nuun in the past, and like it, although I know people who don’t care for the fizzy tablets you add to your water.

Most sports drinks have a variety of electrolytes — sodium, potassium, chloride and more — it appears that sodium is the one to be most concerned about. The Mayo Clinic’s website says sodium is important to the body, because it “helps maintain normal blood pressure, supports the work of your nerves and muscles, and regulates your body’s fluid balance.” If the sodium level drops too much, extra water enters your cells and swells them. It can even cause you brain cells to swell, and since the brain’s ability to enlarge is restricted by the skull, swollen brain cells could trigger more dangerous symptoms.

In lieu of a sports drink, you could munch on something salty. I’ve always liked a Payday candy bar. The peanuts that surround the nougat center of a Payday contain plenty of salt. A small bag of pretzels would work just as well.

The main thing to be aware of, though, is that water isn’t enough. The Mayo Clinic says you should only drink as much fluid as you lose through sweat during exercise. That would be about 34 ounces — or one liter — of water an hour. That’s about two water bottles. Uh oh — I usually drink only one bottle per hour. So hyponatremia wouldn’t seem to be a particular worry for me. I need to boost my fluid intake, and now that it’s really hot outside, make sure I replenish my sodium, too.

Just use the common sense guidelines you’ve been following since starting to cycle, and you’ll be fine.

 

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Categories // food, Heat, training Tags // electrolytes, water

Another Bonk — From An Inadequate Breakfast

06.10.2012 by Ray Niekamp // 6 Comments

“See ya,” I called to my wife as I left for the Sunday club ride.

“What did you have for breakfast?” she asked.

“Coupla pieces of toast and jelly, orange juice and coffee,” I replied.

“That’s not enough,” she said. “You need more.”

“It was fine yesterday,” I answered. “Did 30 miles [really 28] with no trouble.”

She looked doubtful, but I headed out.

Now,  I usually do eat a decent breakfast on club ride days. But our stove was on the fritz today, and I couldn’t do my usual eggs. I had been pleased the previous day that toast and coffee fueled me adequately for my ride that included some decent little hills. I figured I’d just repeat that today.

The club ride was deliberately routed south and east, to avoid traffic. The Republic of Texas — or ROT — Rally is in town this weekend. It’s a huge motorcycle event, and we wanted to avoid roads that we knew would get heavy motorcycle use.

We made a tight-knit peloton as we rode through suburban streets to get out to the main ride area. Twenty-one riders showed up today. We didn’t schedule a separate B ride, although about five or six B riders were in the group — we just went as one big club ride. Although the A’s separated from us on the road to Buda, they waited at a parking lot there and we all regrouped.

The ride leader took us through some Buda streets we hadn’t used before, so we got a look at some new stuff (Frankly, not much to see). We rolled down a side street at about a 17 mph pace, and Laura regaled me with a story about some bubbas who once took a swing at her former husband with brass knuckles, when he protested their pickup passing too close to him while he was on his bike. The cops — WHAM! Up ahead in the pack, a rider lost control and took a bad spill. We all stopped, and avoided any more mishaps. The fallen rider was Donald, whose front wheel had apparently nipped the rear wheel of the bike ahead of him.

We milled around making concerned noises as Donald checked himself out. He didn’t look to be too much the worse for wear.

“Are you bloody?” asked Mike, who just happens to be an emergency room doctor.

“Bloody mad,” replied Donald, our resident Brit, in his best received English accent.

Donald had some derailleur issues, and had to nurse his bike back home. We continued on. I noted with some satisfaction that I had done the 15-mile ride to Buda faster than I ever had before. I’m not crazy about riding in a pack, for the very thing that happened to Donald, but I had to admit that the group does pull one along nicely.

Out in the country, passing slapped-up apartment complexes, double-wides, and an occasional nice housing development, we hit some extended rollers. I was in my customary position, at the back of the pack, but feeling good. However, I could see I was not going to acquit myself well on the rollers today.

I crested a hill, only to see dots in the distance. I was falling farther behind the group on every ascent. By the time the route started turning, I had to stop to fish the cue sheet out of my pocket and see which way to turn. My speed was falling fast. I knew of a convenience store up ahead, and made a beeline for it (if you consider riding slow enough to be passed by a guy in everyday clothes on a hybrid to be making a beeline for anything).

At the store, I plopped on a bench, downed an energy gel, and ate part of a Clif Bar. I finished off one bottle of water and started on another. I just happened to look up, and saw a bunch of our B riders pass by. Ah ha! I knew what happened — they had diverged from the written cue sheet and gone to the store in Creedmoor to refill water bottles. I got my stuff together as quickly as possible in hopes of catching up to them.

It wasn’t to be. The caffeine-laced GU gel gave me a boost for a short time, but I got stuck at two stoplights, and they were already around a corner well ahead. I pedaled on alone, slower and slower. Finally, just a mile from the finish, I stopped in the shade of a large tree and sat on the curb. I remembered the bonk feeling — physically, I felt all right, but I was simply unable to turn the pedals. I finished off my Clif Bar and my water, and finally got back up on the bike. I made it to Starbucks, where Donald was telling the group about his fall.

I took stock of my situation. The toast I’d had the day before was spread with peanut butter, which no doubt provided a little extra nourishment for a ride that lasted less than two hours. The toast I had today was spread with strawberry jelly. Good, but not enough to sustain me for a 42-mile ride.

When I reached the house, Pat told me she’d had a great ride — after making herself a breakfast of oatmeal. She got the stove to work, too, jack of all trades that she is. I took a two-hour nap.

I know better — I’ve even visited this topic in the past. I pledge to eat better before rides from here on out. What do you recommend for breakfast?

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Categories // food Tags // breakfast, food

Losing 100 Pounds – In One Year – On A Bike

06.07.2012 by Ray Niekamp // 2 Comments

Just when I wonder if I’ll ever start losing weight again, along comes a guest post from Welshman Chris Spann. He’s got me revved up again.

As the kind of bloke who never really used to do any exercise, I would have been very surprised if someone had told me four years ago that I would now be cycling over a 100 miles a week, as well as doing pressup sessions that involved well over 100 of them every time. In fact, I would have laughed in their face. At the time, I was a mess who felt as though everything was beginning to wear out fast.

It’s not that I had always been such a lazy fat lump. I played Rugby at school, and my bulk back then had been muscle rather than flab. The problems came when I left school and went to university.

The appeal of running around getting beaten up in the mud began to diminish rapidly, especially when I could stay snug in the student union bar on a Wednesday or Saturday afternoon. Not playing meant that I also stopped doing any fitness work in the gym. Anyone suggesting going on a bike ride would have been given short shrift.

This pattern continued after I left university and began work in a career that involved sitting at a desk all day, after sitting on a train for two hours each day to get there. The job was great, but I hardly ever did anything that was good for me, I just did not have the time to get out. Nor did I want to.

That is, until I hit 22. It was then that the boozy, calorie-ridden lifestyle I had been living began to show. My waistline began to expand rapidly. Very rapidly. I went from having the physique of a young Richard Harris to once being compared to Orson Welles after I’d experimented with a beard for a couple of weeks. Although I laughed, that line really stung.

Soon after that, my girlfriend left. My weight had ballooned to almost 22 stone, (over 300lbs), which for someone who is only just six foot tall is not flattering.

However, it was then that I decided to buy a bike. Nothing special, just a bog-standard mountain bike from the local bike shop. I had been on my bike every day as a kid, even eschewing my dad’s offer of lifts to rugby matches so that I could cycle instead. I got on it actually expecting to be able to just get back to that kind of level immediately – that was how arrogant I had become.

Instead, I found that just pedalling the three miles from my house to the next village was agony. I had to get off and rest for five minutes twice. But I managed to get there and back, even though it took me something like an hour and half to do so.

Incredibly, I actually enjoyed the pain and the challenge. The endorphins had begun to flow again and I felt my sportsman’s blood actually respond to the test and begin to fight back. This was something that I realised that I had been missing for a very long time in my life. The feel of your body working, it running like a machine, is addictive, there’s no arguing that.

So I went out and got some sports kit to wear. Nothing special and certainly no skin-tight cycling shorts. Instead, a basic helmet and gloves for safety and comfort, some decent knee-length sports shorts and a T-shirt. They made me feel fantastic (although I can’t promise the view was great for others) and I began to cycle every day, even in bad weather.

It was a slow process. That was a year ago and although it has not always been easy, I have managed to lose something like seven stone – around 100 pounds – from those days of being told I looked like Orson Welles.

It did not happen just like that. There was a lot of pain and work, especially into head winds uphill in February – I live in Wales, where there are plenty of both. But if you really want to get fit then you will put up with that kind of challenge, then embrace it and then actually come to enjoy it.

Perhaps the hardest part of it all was watching out for my diet. However, with some sensible management of my carbohydrate and fat intake, I was able to complement the exercise with a more sensible refuelling regime. Lots of veg, fruit and lean meats, combined with just enough pasta, rice or boodles to make your meals interesting. I cook a mean stir-fry, and if I ever meet you I’ll cook one.

It’s been a funny old year, all in all – but I got through it. I even came out of it better off:- emotionally, physically, the lot. I’ve also quit smoking in that time, and I’m now working on stopping the nailbiting that I’ve done since I had teeth.

It’s the hardest damn thing I’ve ever done, I won’t lie.

Chris is a writer for moneysupermarket.com by day; by night he’s usually pedalling into head winds. In February. In Wales.

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Categories // guest post Tags // guest post, weight

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