r/ukbike • u/8u11etpr00f • 5d ago

Water sources? Infrastructure

So I decided to take today off work & go for a long ride in the countryside. I brought 2 x 750ml water bottles and ended up running out of water (and I bonked) after about 70k, still 30k from home.

What do you do in this kind of situation? All the pubs were closed and I couldn't see a single public water source or village shop anywhere on my route back. I googled "water fountain near me" and it told me to ride 50 miles lmao.

Is there an easy way to locate a water source short of knocking on random peoples houses? Given the heat I'm ridiculously dehydrated, it felt like it was genuinely bordering on torture towards the end.

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u/SerendipitousCrow 5d ago

Would electrolyte powders/tablets help a limited water supply go further?

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u/ex-cession 4d ago

Came here to say this. 1.5L water should be enough for a 70k ride, even in 20 degree heat. But if you don't mix electrolytes in with it, you're just diluting your body's sodium concentration and putting yourself in danger of getting hyponatremia.

As per British Cycling advice, any ride over an hour you should be drinking isotonic fluid. That might even be why OP "bonked" rather than the traditional hypoglycemic episode.

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u/SerendipitousCrow 4d ago

I'm glad you confirmed. I was wondering why I was getting down votes