Number One
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010
Last weekend I did it.
It took a few tries, but I finally did it.
The seal is broken.
It is done. There is no turning back now.
Last weekend’s 60 mile training ride had two goals.
- Ditch the “1 bottle per hour” rule and experiment to see how much water my body really needs while training hard
- Try to pee on the bike as practice for Rev3 Cedar Point
1 Bottle Per Hour Rule
The more I looked back at old training log data and how I felt at the end of long bike rides, the more I started to realize that I need WAY more than the 1 bottle per hour. Sure, it makes the math really easy for planning out ride nutrition, but by mile 30, I’ve almost always started to fade. NOT good.
The plan was to just drink. Whenever I needed some water I just had to keep just keep sucking it down. Keep. On. Drinking.
The first bottle went down in 45 minutes. The second in another :45, and the third was done in 20 minutes. I was done with three bottles (and felt good) in 1:50, the time when I would normally be just polishing off the end of my second bottle.
Dehydrated much?
I still need to tweak some stats, do a sweat rate test and figure out exactly how much I need, but at least I was able to prove that I need to drink a lot more frequently than just one bottle per hour.
Which leads me to my next story….
Last weekend Kim was hassling me about the fact that I’ve never peed on the bike before. There is no way I’m stopping at a port-o-potty on the bike to let ‘er go, so I had to practice (once I got my hyradtion nailed down enough to where there is something to actually let go).
Once I polished off my third water bottle, I found a nice easy downhill, relaxed the legs, pointed the “artillery” away from the drive side of the bike and try to let her rip. (Does worrying about which way I’m pointing mean I’m completely over analyzing this whole thing).
I was really surprised. Why was everyone freaking out and talking about how hard this was? Until I realized that my leg was bone dry. It was a phantom pee! WTH!
No, I did not let it dangle out of the bottom of my shorts like this guy. Smiling that big while peeing (no matter where you are) is just creepy. 
After I found another slow straightaway, I readjusted, tried to relax my legs and stop pedaling and try again. I’m not going to lie. It was pretty hot outside and having wind blow across the pee dripping down my leg was actually pretty refreshing…
My right leg was pretty jealous.
Later in the ride (after sucking down a few more bottles) I even did it again! I think I may have this thing down. Speedy bike times with perfect hydration here I come!
Coach Liz told me to look out for letting some surprise splashes go by accident once you get off the bike, stand up and start running, but thankfully I was all dried up at that point. I’m definitely glad I remembered to wear my Trakkers tri shorts and not my cycling kit.
Another random skill down that should bring me one step closer to the finish line at Cedar Point…
Tags: peeing on the bike | Posted in Triathlon | 4 Comments »
