Cycling UK Forum

I've found myself waking up in the middle of the night having done 2 hours' cycling in the daytime. I've always woken up dehydrated, however I always drink loads of water after I get back from cycling, and any urine I pass between drinking water and bedtime is always clear, indicating no dehydration. Does anyone have any tips on what I'm doing wrong? Maybe I need to top up my salt reserves or something? I've had a fasting diabetes test in case that was the issue but apparently I'm fine.

I realise this topic is a bit different from most of the stuff on here but I regard the CTC highly so hopefully I'll get some answers.
thanks.

Unless you're riding in extreme heat ie;35 degrees + or are wrapped up like a hot water tank when cycling it's unlikely you'll be dehydrated due to the cycling you're doing.
However if you're downing a few pints of beer after cycling you could be.

You may be sleeping with your mouth open. The breathing over a couple of hours can dry out your mouth. As you say your urine is clear. Quite how you can stop this, if indeed it is the cause I personally don't know.

If you're worried about things like salt you can get tablets you can add to your drink which is supposed to help with that.

It sounds to me like you have other things going on other than being dehydrated, can you elaborate what symptoms you're showing that makes you think you are dehydrated in the early hours?

Hi,
Try drinking water before you get on the bike and drink librally when riding even when its cold.

I do suffer too sometimes from being thirsty after a ride and even pee a lot too.
Peeing alot after exercise because you drink after exercise to make up for it, but your body cannot absorb lost fluid quicker than you sweated and breathed out, simply by drinking.

This is why its important to drink on your bike and before you get on too.

Ignore comments about not drinking whilst riding and the ocasional Camel

I have cycled 250 - 300 miles a week in my youth for several years.
Run marathons.
Long distance walking 30 - 45 miles a day.
Several 200 - 250 mile cycling days, this year.

And my first advise walking at 14 was carry your water bottle, which we did.

I have drank 15 litres in one day (24 hrs) on a 200 K audax.

And when you stop exercise you still carry on sweating.
On my turbo trainer I can easily lose 1.5 litres of sweat in an hour, and then some when I stop, even with three powerful fans to cool me.

This is all over and above you normal intake of fluids.
Try weighing yourself before and after a ride
Try weighing yourself before and after sleep

On a typical 2.5 hour ride I will drink a cup before I leave, drink a minimum 1 litre on ride and another 1 - 1.5 litre within two hours, thats nearly three litres, then top up for rest of day.

Clear pee is just drinking too much, not rehydrating................

When I wake in the morning, or if I wake at night, I often feel quite thirsty. I keep a water bottle near my bed, so I can have a drink if I need it. I also have a drink of water when I'm getting ready for bed.

Hi,
Officially only 1 litre / hour rehydration orally is possible.

So if you can sweat and breath out more than that in an hour then you will dehydrate.
So drink more and earlier and constantly I.M.O.

NATURAL ANKLING wrote:Hi,
Officially only 1 litre / hour rehydration orally is possible.

So if you can sweat and breath out more than that in an hour then you will dehydrate.
So drink more and earlier and constantly I.M.O.

That's a very generalised statement and not necessarily good advice.
By drinking more you reduce your sodium concentration, you absolutely need to esnure that you replace salts, in fact that is much more important than drinking fluids, especially on a long ride or extended exersize period.
Diluting your sodium balance can kill you as a fair few instances have shown, known as hyponatremia they say that 1 in 6 marathon runners suffer from a degree of it. There was a case a couple of years ago in the London marathon were a guy almost died because of it, he recounted his story of consuming more and more fluids thinking he was dehydrated and he wasn't.
Symptoms are headaches, confusion and then collapse, often signs occur long after the activity has stopped.

I'm not 100% convinced the OP is dehydrated, straw coloured pee is normal, darker a little dehydrated but that often happens, can't say i've ever woken up with a raging thirst personally despite sometimes having darker coloured pee..

When I was in the library a few years ago leafing through a training book written by an Ex SAS bod, I read that sleeping restlessly and waking thirsty are symptoms of over exercise. Since I learnt to moderate my exercise I have come to realise that he's right, but I wasn't in a frame of mind to listen in those days. I read elsewhere that muscle glycogen is water soluble, which left me wondering if piddling all evening is a sign that you haven't eaten enough to replace what you used during the day.

Hi,
I did'nt mention food but I am assuming that we all eat as well as drink....I always have in the past.

I think the marathon runners who drink without eating (very difficult to eat and run even if you stop to eat, indigestion / runs etc, etc,.....)
do so because the uneducated / inexperienced only take that on board when they are hunting / listening to advise.

Without food how far would you go.

If you do endurance stuff you need to pack away all the stuff you need to balance your diet for healthy exercise.
BEFORE you exercise and straight after................

Yor body only has about 2 - 3 hours of ready energy before you run out of steam, eating then is too late.

Twenty miles yesterday and I didn't bother taking any water with me.
Forty miles today, I took a bottle, but didn't drink any of it.
Made it home at 13:00 and had toast and peanut butter for lunch. Still nothing to drink.
Just made myself a pot of tea (15:50) and it will be the first liquid intake since just after breakfast at 08:30 this morning.

No, I'm not dehydrated. I'm fit and heathy, and my urine is clear and normal.

Hi,
SOOOOOOO...................If you training up a team of newbie charity cyclist whom had never cycled more than 10 miles at a time in their life.
What advise on fluid and food intake would you give them if they want to train to do 100 miles in one day in july august Devon Cornwall

My advice would be to "listen to your body".

If someone hasn't cycled more that ten miles in their life, I suggest they do ten miles twice a week for a few weeks, then up it to twenty miles twice a week, then thirty miles twice a week a few weeks later. Keep upping the distances and keep at it.

Eventually, the body will get used to it, the appetite will increase, and the fluid intake will increase.
Still more eventually, things will stabilise.

Listen and take notice of what your body wants.
Don't listen to what someone else says you should be doing.

If you are hungry, eat.
If you are thirsty, drink.

Potted summary of the dangers of assuming you are dehydrated:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strange-but-true-drinking-too-much-water-can-kill/