| POLICIES
AND PROCEDURES
Hydration
Keeping hydrated is the single most important
thing you can do to maintain your stamina while riding so be sure to continuously
drink both water and sports
drinks as you’re
riding. Do not wait until you feel thirsty to
drink liquids, drink before
you feel thirsty. If you feel a thirst sensation, you are already becoming
dehydrated. As you sweat your body loses essential minerals that sports
drinks replace. Do not drink only water!
Urination is one of the primary ways to tell if you are dehydrated. You
should be urinating regularly during the ride, and your urine should be the
color of pale lemonade. If you are not urinating regularly or if your urine
is a dark color, you are becoming dehydrated.
Personal Water Supply
It will be very hot while you’re riding and you drink a LOT of water.
It is very important that you do not run out of water on the road. We
strongly recommend carrying as much water with you on the road as you can.
At the bare minimum, carry at least two water bottles with you on your bike,
ideally the larger 28 oz. ones, and/or a Camelback. Do not just carry one
water bottle – you will definitely run out of water. We will not
dispatch a SAG vehicle to your location on the road simply because you
run out of water except in an emergency situation. If you lose a water
bottle
on the road we will have water bottles for sale at every rest stop.
We recommend carrying sports drink in one water bottle and plain water in
the other. That way if you get something in your eye while riding or need
to wash something off yourself will have plain water available instead of
just sports drink. This will also prevent you from accidentally squirt sports
drink in your eye if you forget what is in your water bottle (yes, this has
happened before to the ride director and it really sucks). |
