Dehydration

Nate and I have had many conversations after a ride about how amazed we are that the heat and humidity doesn't bother us once we start riding.  Heading home from work I have the A/C on to cut down on the humidity at the same time knowing that once I get home, I'm changing my clothes and going for a ride in this weather!  We both get lots of people telling us that they can't believe that we are going to go out and ride after working all day AND in this heat!

Truth be told, it's not bad once we get out there!  With the exception of when we're on a Rails to Trails path that will run through woods, we ride on the open road and there is usually always some kind of a breeze to help cool you down!  I have read that you are suppose to drink 4-6 oz every 15 mins, even if you aren't thirsty, to prevent dehydration.  I am *horrible* about drinking water!  Knowing this, I try to hydrate if I know that I'm going to skate or bike after work.  This was not the case on Sunday!

We went to a Relay for Life Cornhole Tournament in the afternoon and sweated our butts off, but we took 3rd place!  Because I had gotten a new seat for my bike and wasn't sure about it yet, I wanted to go for a short ride.  The more we got out, the more we decided to ride further.  After about 15 miles of what ended up being a 40 mile ride, I was feeling it.  My tell-tale sign that I'm dehydrated is a headache, and I had one that just wouldn't go away!  Even though we made it a point to get a drink at every stop sign we came to, both of us were wiped out! 

Being out of water and Gatorade, we stopped to refill the bottles at the bike path.  We had it planned out so that we way we went home would put us right at 50 miles, but I started feeling sick to my stomach when I got off the bike, so we agreed that we'd take the short, direct route instead.  I *hate* riding on 235 any more than I have to, but at this point I didn't care!

I've learned my lesson!  I am really enjoying being out on the bike and I don't want to do anything to ruin that feeling, I definitely don't want to feel like that on another ride again!