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Hydration and Nutrition

Remember to eat before hungry and drink before thirsty.

If you’re going to put effort into training, you might as well do it right. That means more than just hopping on your bike and riding. It means preparing your bike and your body for optimal performance. Lakeside Bicycles has the cycling nutrition, hydration, and therapy products you need for strength, endurance and recovery. Bars, gels, drinks for all stages of your training; water bottles for your bike, bottle cages and hydration packs (actually, we are thinking REALLY hard about hydration packs, historically they haven't sold to well, let us know what you think.) to ensure that you always have access to thirst-quenching liquids and edible foods (we would like to carry Power Bars, but no one has ever been able to disguise the fact that they share flavor and textural features with road kill) and accessories you need to return from your ride without an overwhelming need to tear the door off of the 'fridge and lay waste to it's contents..

Nutrition:
In General consume 30-60 grams of carbohydrate for every hour during exercise. Everyone has their own preference and you need to find what works for you.:  Bananas, sports bars, sports drinks, fruit cake, hard tack, or gels it doesn't much matter as long as you eat.

It is important not to experiment during an event, you should have established what works for you at least a week in advance.  Because longer rides are generally done during the weekends this is the best time to experiment and get your nutritional plan sorted. Some people get a stomach upset when consuming high GI carbohydrates like gels and sports drinks. It’s best to find this all out on your training rides. Gels (if you swing that way) need to be consumed with water only, they contain electrolytes so there is no need consume gels with sports drinks. 

Hydration:
Hydration is really important.  It is not particularly difficult to lose more than 5% of your body weight due to dehydration, so ensure that you are drinking regularly.  You can drink up to 1.2 litres of water an hour. More and your body can’t digest it. You’ll only want to drink this much on the really hot part of a really hot day. Otherwise 750 ml per 60-90min is fine.  As a rule, if you get thirsty then you aren’t drinking enough. If you have to go to the toilet more than every 90min then you’re drinking too much.