Hydrate!
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I go through between 4-6 solo cups worth of water from our office water jug each day and typically one waterbottle’s worth of water into work (15 miles) and home (15 miles). What’s funny is despite going home having all the climbing, I’m never as thirsty because I’ve quenched the thirst all day.
This may also be a good place to solicit a good, yet potentially dumb idea of mine. I saw the Nats are doing a blood drive in two Saturdays. They say you get two free tickets for donating blood and as an O-, everyone wants my damn blood. So I’m cheap and thinking, this sounds awesome. All I have to do is get myself to Nats stadium, which is just like riding into work except going a different way. No problem. My worry is how much more will I need to hydrate for the long ride back? I’m guessing double what I usually do. I’m going to ask a physician friend of mine. I won’t lie, I love giving blood because it helps people, but also because it makes going out to order drinks extremely cheap that night
.@Terpfan 53439 wrote:
I go through between 4-6 solo cups worth of water from our office water jug each day and typically one waterbottle’s worth of water into work (15 miles) and home (15 miles). What’s funny is despite going home having all the climbing, I’m never as thirsty because I’ve quenched the thirst all day.
This may also be a good place to solicit a good, yet potentially dumb idea of mine. I saw the Nats are doing a blood drive in two Saturdays. They say you get two free tickets for donating blood and as an O-, everyone wants my damn blood. So I’m cheap and thinking, this sounds awesome. All I have to do is get myself to Nats stadium, which is just like riding into work except going a different way. No problem. My worry is how much more will I need to hydrate for the long ride back? I’m guessing double what I usually do. I’m going to ask a physician friend of mine. I won’t lie, I love giving blood because it helps people, but also because it makes going out to order drinks extremely cheap that night
.As a fellow blood donor (I’m O+, so not quite universal), before posting my opinion I’ll refer you to the Red Cross info page: http://www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood/tips-successful-donation
I have always biked to/from donations, but I make sure to choose locations within 5 miles and keep the pace very slow (10 mph and no attacking hills). Since your blood helps to regulate your body temperature, after a donation it’s much easier to overheat. Whenever leaving a donation site, I always have to double check with the staff before leaving to reassure them I’m not going to pass out somewhere on the trail. The moment I get back to work (I usually donate during a weekday), I make sure to drink a full liter of water within the next hour.
That said, I’d recommend against the 15 mile trip especially with the arrival of summer. See if you can lower the distance by breaking it up with rail/bus/driving. I did the Redskins blood drive last year to get a ticket, and it worked out really well (got to see RG3’s amazing touchdown run against the Vikings). Happy donating!
Y’all are a bunch of crazies.
I don’t drink quite as much water as I should, I realize, but surely at some point you crest that “staying hydrated” line and it’s just passing through your system??
I drink 1/2 bottle for my 1-hr/16-mile AM commute in this warmer weather (I drank 2 bottles this AM, but it was 50 miles and included HP laps w/ Tim). I drink coffee at work and when I’m remembering to drink water, I drink 1.5-2L of water during the work day, half of it carbonated (ah, work perks). And 1 bottle for the return ride. (And then more at home.) This is probably less than ideal, but is sufficient to prevent any negative symptoms for me. If I drink more I don’t feel any better, just need more bathroom brakes.
Tangentially, we drink a fair bit of seltzer at home (plain or made into spritzers w/ ikea concentrates). I investigated the SodaStream option, but it didn’t seem any cheaper than $1 2L bottles from Shoppers. So I went the DIY route (based on: http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Soda-Water-%26-Home-Carbonation—Pays-For-Itsel/). Setup was probably around $120 (large part of that was the tank). After that the 5lb tank of CO2 costs $20 to fill, fits in pantry cabinet and seems to last us almost a year. Definitely has paid for itself a couple times by now.
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