PSA: Water

Consume it!

Not talking while you ride or beforehand. I'm talking all the other times in addition.

You could be like me and don't seem to ever feel thirsty. Drink water anyway. Kidney damage happens over a long time. I drank almost nothing except coffee and beer for a long time, and it has shown signs of affecting my health. Don't do that! My friend Fire Dave was taken by kidney disease, no doubt his decades of ultra running and survival training didn't help.

It's as easy a habit to get into as it is out of. Bottoms up, to your heath.

 

At least 40 oz on work days... something less than that on the weekends, but augmented by hop-flavored fluids.

 

Hurry! Check out the Picture Slot Machine! There's water in the background!

 

Yeah, behind @SnakeCharmer's bike. It really catches the reflection!

 

Good reminder @mike . Besides coffee in the morning, all I drink is water. A minimum of 72oz daily, usually more.

You'd be surprised if you did a survey of how much water people drink on a daily basis. It's a lot less than you think. Most consume less than 17oz per day, that's one standard bottle of water. Most headaches are caused by dehydration. It's your body trying to tell you to drink water. But, it's a lot easier to pop a pill to deal with the headache, than to drink more water. You got bad breath?? That is another sign from your body trying to tell you to drink more water. Feeling hungry?? That's usually a sign to drink more water. You're not hungry, you are dehydrated.

"Tilt your head back and now finish the cup" any guesses on the song lyrics???

 

literally just played in my rotation about 15 mins ago.

 

After my morning ice tea, I usually consume 50+ ounces of water per day.

 

Admirable awareness, guys. I'm a few decades late. But I just slammed another pint!

 

The research and results go back and forth, but the latest is that your kidneys can't tell the difference between coffee and water. Or tea and water. As long as you're drinking just coffee and/or tea and not a cup of sugar and cream with a little brew mixed in.

The occasional fortified water (IPA) is okay, too.

I am part camel. Can't change that. I drink less coffee nowadays than I used to, but still 2/3 of a pot (8 cups) every morning. My latest physical (in August) noted that my kidneys and liver are chugging right along, no issues. I'll be 60 next week.

Like many things, it has a lot to do with heredity, conditioning, and heredity. But mostly heredity. Genes will decide almost everything. Almost.

 

I drink about 2.7 quarts of ice tea at work every day. I have a bottle I refill and brew fresh daily. Sometimes I drink more than that.

Then I drink more later. Probably close to a gallon a day.

 

I've made an effort to dial the coffee back to human levels... 2 double shots in the morning, and maybe one more in the afternoon. Sometimes black, and sometimes with a little Stevia. We'll see how long that lasts... This is not the first attempt to cut back.

After the coffee, I have a 16 ounce stainless bottle that I drink from all day most days. With Frog Hollow coming up, I've made sure to drink at least 1/2 gallon each day for the last couple weeks.

Earlier in the pandemic, I had a taste for beer. But, I go in cycles with that, and the 12 pack of Blue Moon I bought in July is still untouched. I threw a few in the cooler for Frog Hollow, but probably won't drink any. I'm more likely to drink an Ensure between laps.

 

I drink so much water its ridiculous. I dont like beer, and rarely drink any kind of alcohol. Cant stand coffee unless its heavily adulterated.
my one vice is Coke Zero (I know, I know...)

 

Luckily Nana got me in the habit of drinking a lot of water when I was young. I almost never see my parents drink water. Other than a glass of whole milk (with cookies) a couple times a week I virtually drink nothing besides water and coffee, though I do put heavy whipping cream in my morning coffee (midday coffee is black). I also drink a full glass of water as soon as I wake up, before I commence with the coffee. I guess if I think about it, it's a couple large glasses of water in the morning, 2 X 240z Nalgene bottles of water during the day, and another glass or two at night.

Thanks for the PSA, @mike . Chugging a little extra right now because of the reminder.

 

Evidently someone is getting the message. Hydroflasks, Yeti bottles and similar are de rigueur everywhere!

Back in my day, no one carried a damn water bottle. Bunch of sissies! We drank gravel!

 

Is it coincidence this popped up in my social media feed tonight?

 

This is a hard one for me. Like @mike, I don't have much of a thirst reflex, so one H2O bottle's more than enough for a 30-mile ride. I know this is not good, but short of nailing a sticky note on my forehead, I'll forget to drink until I'm back at the car. You'd think 2 rounds with kidney stones (I lost both fights, miserably) would change my habits, but I'm dumber than average. Don't be like me!

 

I ended up in the ER by drinking too much water and not keeping an eye out for the sodium and potassium levels.
It will wash these minerals out of your system.
I drink water until I pee clear then drink 8 oz every few hrs after. This is a normal day and not on a ride.
Is Tailwind any good?

 

Tailwind's the bomb! One bottle of that, and I'm good to go, food-wise, for a long time riding.

 

I drink over a gallon of water a day at work, even in the cooler months. Oddly enough though, I drink 1-2 bottles at the most when I ride.

 

Overdoing it isn't fun – I did it once.

I've used TW ardently, but I'm not going to say that it helps the urinary system. I'm wondering if it might do the opposite, so I'm going tochange things up some.

 

I would say it does the opposite. There isn't enough sodium in it. I would get bad headaches about 2 hours after my rides. Even when taking Tailwind recovery, still got them. Looked at the sodium levels in TW and it's low when you compare it to what daily amounts should look like. Since I only drink water, I wasn't getting enough sodium. I NEVER put salt on anything, NEVER. Talked to my holistic dr. and he suggested adding a tablespoon of Himalayan sea salt added to my nightly routine of vitamins. Did that and haven't had a post ride headache since. Boosting my sodium levels has also helped with my joints not being so stiff after long periods of inactivity.

 

I rarely thirst. Years ago I forced my self to drink H2O any time I stop either by gravity, or energy. It used to be gravity would force an unclip. Now I bet it will be the latter. I used to keep track on those stops. This is the only time I stop except to watch the sun dip below the horizon.
Happy drinks on the trail

 

LOL, during party sessions I'd drink beer until I pee'd clear then I'd lay off and drink some water for a while until my pee turned yellow again.

 

I don't know if I am remembering it right. But if I do remember it right, after some research it was determined that no one had ever died from dehydration after completing a marathon, however several deaths have been attributed to over hydration.

Yes, it is a problem.

 

Just to be clear... there's water and then there's "water".

Please don't drink that crappy 8.5 pH alkaline, high sodium, high ammonia Sh!t that comes out of the tap in SoCal and assume you are drinking water. If it kills carp at 10% strength, don't put it in your body. Use it to wash your clothes and maybe (if you like to live dangerously) to wash your dishes. Otherwise drink bottled spring water from a reputable source. Or, failing that, drink distilled water. Avoid "bottled water" product even if it comes from some place like Costco... since it is merely filtered tap water.

If you could see the difference between my crappy Moulton Niguel Water District water and my well water here in NC you'd be here already.

 

@BonsaiNut preach brother, preach! SoCal water is REAL bad, so is Vegas! bottled isn't far behind. We have full RSO w/ pure water home filter in our home. When we moved here we sent water samples to our holistic dr. He ran tests on them showing all the different toxicities and bacteria's. Real high levels of magnesium and aluminum. And built us a custom home filter w/ RSO. He said our water is as close to pure well water as you can get in the city. The taste difference from is silly. And, our skin holds a lot more moisture now, even in the dry desert. When we lived in California we had RSO filter, no tap water in my household.

 

https://www.tapsafe.org/city-rankings/
Several so. calif cities rated among the world......not bad.

 

Living water vs dead water. I'll always remember the time that I drank some water directly from a spring on Mt. Shasta. It was an explosion of vitality.

 

All I drink is Costco water, so I looked it up ... all sources say it is very to extremely highly rated. Who am I to argue?

I mean, North Carolina hick water sounds tasty and all .... but convenience wins.

 

That site is worse than a joke. I can't believe you could be so taken in... unless you yourself are being sarcastic?

The above data is comprised of subjective, user submitted opinions about the water quality and pollution in Mission Viejo, measured on a scale from 0% (lowest) to 100% (highest).

Random opinions of how healthy people think their water is? Based on... nothing?

I remember when I installed my lab grade RO/DI drinking water filter in my house in Laguna Hills and the contractor wondered at why I was so concerned about water quality for drinking and ice cubes. I poured a glass of tap water, poured a glass of the bottled water he was drinking that day, and then poured a glass of our filtered drinking water. Then I broke out my electronic TDS (total dissolved solids) meter to show him the difference. Moulton Niguel tap water: 600+. Bottled water: 110. My filtered water: 4. Maximum contaminant level standard 1000 (the highest level allowed in public drinking water). That is just the barest indicator of water cleanliness, and though some dissolved solids are not harmful, you need to test further to determine the source of those results.

FWIW here is the water quality report for Moulton Niguel Water.

Also... enjoy reading up on chloramine. It's a nice little combination of chlorine and ammonia - and it's in the tap water you drink in SoCal. It burns up bacteria and will kill 36" koi if you top off a 5' deep pond with 6" of untreated water... but apparently won't harm the cells in your body. At least... according to the government, which has done almost no testing.