What kind of water should I drink for riding in summer?
Why do you often feel very hot in the middle and late stages of long riding in summer? In addition to solar radiation and ground radiation, there is also the heat generated by our body’s muscle contraction and metabolism. The body must dissipate heat in order to continue normal exercise. If the body heat cannot be dissipated in time, it will cause severe dehydration, heat cramps, and heat exhaustion. Even the occurrence of heat stroke can lead to death in severe cases. Sweating is one of the main heat dissipation behaviors of our human body. In the hot summer environment, high-intensity riding will cause us to lose more than 2L of sweat per hour, and sweat contains a lot of electrolytes, specifically about every 2L of sweat. Nearly 6g of sodium chloride (the World Health Organization recommends that the daily salt intake should not exceed 6g, as a comparison) and other electrolytes such as potassium, calcium and magnesium. However, if a large amount of electrolytes are lost for a long time without being replenished, it may cause health problems such as the internal environment of the body and endocrine disorders. And if a lot of electrolytes are lost and then a lot of water is added, it will dilute the sodium content in the blood, and hyponatremia may occur, followed by various conditions such as headache, pulmonary edema, joint swelling, cramps, epilepsy and coma. Such severe symptoms can even be life-threatening! Therefore, after long outdoor riding in summer, in addition to replenishing sufficient water, we also need to replenish sufficient electrolytes. For ordinary cycling enthusiasts, the most direct way is to drink sports drinks (electrolyte drinks).
