CRW Elections for four Board Members are coming up

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There are 9 Directors on the CRW Board and the Past President serves in an ex officio role for one year after his or her term.  Each year, CRW members elect 3 directors for a 3-year term.  A director is allowed to serve no more than two consecutive 3-year terms.

Board of Directors meetings are held every two months in odd-numbered months.  One of those meetings is anticipated to be an all-day planning meeting.

In this election, there are four open Director seats to be filled.  The three top candidates will serve three-year terms from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2026. The fourth in line will serve the remaining time of a recently resigned Director.

This is the process for Election of the Board based on CRW’s bylaws:

• Any member may submit his / her own name as a candidate for the current Board vacancies, not later than September 20^th.  Each candidate may submit a statement of 250 words or less, including a single photo,  to be disseminated to the membership and included in the ballot.
  
  • Submit your nomination and statement to nominate [at] crw.org
  • The statements will appear in the October WheelPeople which will be released prior to October 1^st.

• Election of Directors shall be by electronic ballot transmitted to all members. CRW members in good standing as of August 31st are eligible to vote. Votes of the members shall be confidential. Voting shall be allowed from the first Saturday in October and continue through the following Thursday.  The Secretary shall verify and publish the results no later than the second Sunday of October..
  
  • All eligible CRW members may vote once for up to as many candidates as there are openings on the board
  • The names of the newly elected Directors will appear in the November WheelPeople.

New CRW Jerseys are available for sale!  Featuring our new logo and colors adopted in 2021, you can purchase our custom designed jerseys here: https://via.primalcustom.com/collections/t07260a  There are men's and women's cut jerseys in both short sleeve and long sleeve.  Deadline for orders is September 12, 2022, and delivery is projected for November 11, 2022, directly to your address.

Note there is a $20.00 shipping charge which we are working to reduce. If possible, you can get together with a couple of friends for one order to drive down the per jersey shipping cost, and distribute amongst yourselves.

Thanks to Keren Hamel for working with Primal in the design and setting-up the website.

This article appeared in Road Bike Rider Issue 1028 on 8/4/22

By Coach John Hughes

Anti-Aging: Why “Drink Before You’re Thirsty” During Rides Is Dangerous

By Coach John Hughes

This column is about hydration during rides not throughout the day.

My client Jack was on a fast cross-country tour: 2750 miles in just 20 days. Seven days into the tour he started riding poorly although he had plenty of training miles in his legs.  His buddies noticed he wasn’t urinating at the rest stops and said he was getting dehydrated. Even though he wasn’t thirsty they told him to drink more. After the ride he still wasn’t going to the bathroom so at dinner they reminded him to drink. The next day he kept drinking but still didn’t start to urinate. By that evening he had a headache and at dinner his friends noticed he seemed confused. His condition didn’t improve overnight so the tour staff took him to the emergency room. A simple blood test revealed he had a dangerously low sodium concentration in his blood, a condition called hyponatremia.  The ER doc started an intravenous fluid with a high concentration of sodium.

Jack had developed dilutional hyponatremia from drinking so much fluid that he diluted the sodium concentration of his blood to a dangerously low level. The dilutional hyponatremia had progressed to Exercise Associated Hyponatremia (EAH) and his body had started retaining fluid, rather than urinating it out. Because he was retaining fluid his body started to bloat. His brain tried to swell but couldn’t because it was encased in his skull. This caused the headache.

Hyponatremia.

 “Sodium plays a key role in your body. It helps maintain normal blood pressure, supports the work of your nerves and muscles, and regulates your body's fluid balance. … Older adults may have more contributing factors for hyponatremia, including age-related changes, taking certain medications and a greater likelihood of developing a chronic disease that alters the body's sodium balance.” [Mayo Clinic emphasis added]

Drinking too much fluid may cause a hormonal change so that your body retains fluid rather than urinating the excess fluid to restore the sodium-fluid balance. Retaining fluid leads to generalized bloating, your skin becomes puffy and your limbs swell up.

According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), hyponatremia in events under four hours is usually the result of drinking too much before, during and after the event. In longer events, even if you drink appropriately, you may lose enough sodium to develop hyponatremia, so sodium supplementation is a good idea starting early in the event. [American College of Sports Medicine. (2007). Exercise and fluid replacement position stand. Medicine and Science in Sports & Exercise, 39, 377–390.]

“Severe and potentially life-threatening hyponatremia can occur during exercise, particularly in athletes who participate in endurance events such as marathons (42.2 km), triathlons (3.8 km of swim, 180 km of cycling, and 42.2 km of running), and ultradistance (100 km) races. In fact, hyponatremia has been stated to be one of the most common medical complications of long-distance racing and is an important cause of race-related fatalities.” (Exercise Associated Hyponatremia (EAH) in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.)

Elite athletes rarely develop EAH — they’re racing too fast to do more than sip water as they race past aid stations. Most of the cases are middle of the field and slower participants who — worried about dehydration — believe they should drink before they’re thirsty.  Some even have plans about how much to drink at each aid station irrespective of how much they’re sweating.

Danger signs. If your urine is dark in color, you may be getting dehydrated, although your urine also turns yellow when you excrete supplements that your body doesn’t need. If you stop urinating, then you may be developing dehydration or your body may be retaining fluid.

To check for dehydration, pinch a fold of skin on the back of your hand or your arm. Let go. If your skin fold almost instantaneously returns to normal you aren’t getting dehydrated. If it takes a few seconds for your skin to return to normal then you may be getting dehydrated. Moderate dehydration won’t affect your performance as I explain in this column Hydrating like the Pros.

Bloating and the resulting weight gain are the most obvious symptoms that you’re retaining fluid. If you start to get puffy around a ring on a finger, or at your glove and sock lines, you are developing hyponatremia. In serious cases, your limbs may swell so that you look like the Michelin man.

If you start to get puffy or gain weight, stop drinking until you urinate freely and the puffiness or extra weight disappears. If you develop puffiness and become mentally confused, your brain is swelling and it is a medical emergency. Call 911 or your local emergency number.

Prevention

Drink to satisfy thirst

 “Drinking according to thirst and avoiding weight gain during exercise remain the most reliable strategy against developing exercise-associated hyponatremia.” [Hew-Butler, Tamara, et al. (2008). Practical management of exercise-associated hyponatremic encephalopathy, Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, 18(4).]

“Older adults. As you age, your body's fluid reserve becomes smaller, your ability to conserve water is reduced and your thirst sense becomes less acute.” [Mayo Clinic] Because of these factors adequate daily hydration is important. Exercise Associated Hyponatremia results from drinking too much during rides.

If you are urinating less then check for bloating as described under danger signs above.

Daily hydration

The old adage of drink eight glasses a day is inaccurate. How much you should drink depends on your body size, whether you live in hot (and humid) environment, how active you are and your individual metabolism. This article in the New York Times explains How Much Water Do You Actually Need?

Electrolytes

Jack and his friends knew electrolytes are important during exercise.  They’d been drinking plenty of sports drinks. Although they vary significantly these are the primary electrolytes in sweat. 1 liter contains approximately:

• 800 milligrams (mg) of sodium
• 115 mg of potassium
• Calcium and magnesium are present in small amounts

The exact amounts vary by individual depending on fitness, heat adaptation and other factors.

Compare the electrolytes in sweat with the concentrations in some popular sports drinks:

• Gatorade (1 liter)
  
  • 460 milligrams (mg) of sodium,
  • 130 mg of potassium
  • No calcium or magnesium
  • 60 grams (gm) of carbs (240 calories)
• Powerade (1 liter)
  
  • 420 mg of sodium
  • 100 mg of potassium
  • No calcium or magnesium
  • 60 gm of carbs (240 calories)
• HEED (1 liter with 2 scoops)
  
  • 120 mg of sodium
  • 62 mg of potassium
  • 32 mg of magnesium
  • 57 mg of calcium
  • 54 gm of carbs (216 calories)
• Skratch (1 liter with 2 scoops)
  
  • 800 mg sodium
  • 80 mg potassium
  • 100 mg calcium
  • 80 mg of magnesium
• The Skratch website says “Drink when thirsty. Don't when not.”

Note the sodium concentration in sports drinks except Skratch is roughly half the concentration of sodium in your blood, so you can drink too much of most sports drinks just as you can drink too much water.

Electrolyte supplements aren’t the answer, either unless you take enough tablets every hour:

• Nuun (1 tablet)
  
  • 360 mg of sodium
  • 100 mg of potassium
• Succeed! (1 capsule)
  
  • 341 mg of sodium
  • 21 mg of potassium
• Endurolytes Extreme (1 capsule)
  
  • 120 mg of sodium
  • 75 mg of potassium

According to the ACSM consuming additional sodium during events longer than four hours may reduce the risk of hyponatremia. The ACSM doesn’t recommend other electrolytes. [ACSM, 2007]

Heed Joe Friel’s recommendation: “Pay attention to your thirst mechanism. We’ve been taught over the past few years that it [thirst] is not effective and that we shouldn’t trust it. This ‘old wives’ tale’ refuses to go away. Drink when you are thirsty. When you’re not thirsty, don’t drink. It’s that simple.” [The Cyclist’s Training Bible (2009) page 257]

Next week: Coach Hughes Homemade Sports Drink [HMSD], which meets the recommendations of the ACSM at a fraction of the cost.

Related columns:

12 Myths About Hydration and Cycling

What Should a Beginning Cyclist Drink

Cycling in the Heat Parts 1 and 2 bundle:

You can learn more about the science of riding in the heat, and managing your fluids and electrolytes, in my two-part eArticle series:

Cycling in the Heat, Part 1: Ride Management is 19 pages and covers

• Why you get hot while riding
• Effects of overheating
• Acclimating actively and passively
• How to train in hot months
• How to ride without overheating in all conditions
• How to stay (relatively) cool while riding
• What to wear in the heat
• What to eat and drink in the heat
• How to cool down if you overheat

• Heat-related problems

Cycling in the Heat, Part 2: Hydration Management is 21 pages and covers

• Assessing your sweat rate and composition
• How much should you drink?
• Fluid replacement
• Electrolyte replacement
• Electrolyte replacement drinks
• Electrolyte replacement supplements
• Electrolyte replacement food
• Hydration-related problems

The cost-saving bundled eArticles totaling 40 pages Cycling in the Heat Parts 1 and 2 are just $8.98 (a 10% savings)

Coach John Hughes earned coaching certifications from USA Cycling and the National Strength and Conditioning Association. John’s cycling career includes course records in the Boston-Montreal-Boston 1200-km randonnée and the Furnace Creek 508, a Race Across AMerica (RAAM) qualifier. He has ridden solo RAAM twice and is a 5-time finisher of the 1200-km Paris-Brest-Paris.

He has written nearly 40 eBooks and eArticles on cycling training and nutrition, available in RBR’s eBookstore at Coach John Hughes. Click to read John’s full bio.  

My eBook Anti-Aging: 12 Ways You Can Slow the Aging Process includes chapters on how to meet the American College of Sports Medicine’s recommendations on aerobic, high intensity aerobic, strength training, weight-bearing exercises, balance and flexibility. I include sample weeks and months for different types and amounts of exercise. I give you plans to build up to 100 km and 100 mile rides. I include a plan to increase over two years your annual riding from around 4,000 miles (6,500 km) to over 5,000 miles (8,000 km) per year. You can easily modify the plans for different annual amounts of riding. I discuss the importance of recovery and how to gauge if you are getting enough recovery. I combine the different kinds of training into programs that balance training and recovery. The 106-page eBook is available here Anti-Aging: 12 Ways You Can Slow the Aging Process 

What ever became of the paper boy?

My biking career started as a paper boy. I was generally a total bookworm, my parents had to drag me kicking and screaming to any athletic event. I was forced to join a Little league Team, right field of course. Fortunately for me during the entire season only one fly came my way. I sort of threw myself at it and managed to throw it to one of my nearer partners in the outfield, who saw that it got back into the infield (my throwing range was about 40 feet). I think I had a batting average of zero (did have one mercy walk though). But I had a bike and could ride it. The paper boy biz was good for me in many ways. I learned useful skills such as the manly art of paper folding, forming the paper into an aerodynamic projectile that you could heave at the customer's house. It gave a sense of responsibility -- I was the one who got up at six AM to make sure that the Sunday paper was there for your morning coffee. I learned sales skills, as all paper boys were required to go door to door trying to peddle papers. This was called "canvassing" and our reward for a successful night of "canvassing" was that Mr. Rico, the paper boy meister, would take us over to White Castle where we would stuff those little two inch hamburger wafers into us. I remember, my usual order was seven, and if I got one without the pickle, I was crushed.

At our house in the suburbs, we have a paper man, who drives around in his paper mobile. I must admit, delivering papers in New York City where millions of people are crammed into a small area made paper delivery by bike more feasible. My route consisted of about 10 blocks total. One of my paperboy colleagues had a primo route, which consisted largely of one apartment building. One visit to that and his deliveries were half over.

My paper bicycle was a masterpiece in functional design. It sported a single speed coaster brake drive train. I've recently thought that this would be ideal for winter commuting. No derailleur to get mucked up or freeze, no brake pads to get eroded by sand, etc. Apparently I'm not alone in this idea, since I've recently seen ads for new old bikes of this ilk for the retro crowd. Unfortunately, the price of one of these beauties, which is tricked out with hi-tech goodies, would probably have outfitted a whole fleet of paper boys in the old days.

My bike had a huge wire frame basket mounted on the handlebars that held the papers. This way the papers were strategically located within easy reach, where they could be heaved at the target house without dismounting or even slowing down too much. My route was about sixty customers, but the high rollers in the biz had up to 100. Hauling around a payload of Sunday papers was quite a feat in defying center of gravity. It was roughly equivalent to going loaded touring with all your gear in your handlebar bag.

It wasn't too hard to learn the art of paper delivery. The basic technique was to ride by the house and fling the paper at the porch. Thus the importance of the paper folding ritual for proper aerodynamics. Still I discovered early on that I could never make a career in the service industry. Several of my customers had the temerity to suggest that I actually get off my bike, walk up their steps and place their paper in a protected spot when it rained. I of course thought this was far above and beyond the call of duty, and my tips suffered accordingly.

This article originally appeared in WheelPeople in October 1996. The paperboy image was added.

There's nothing better than getting out for a ride, but on a rest day a video can almost take us there. Enjoy our monthly virtual film fest.

Alex Post is a CRW member who lives in Virginia, but regularly visits MA to bike with his dad. He has also led rides for CRW.