Vive le Liquid

Riders each drink seven litres of fluid during every Tour de France stage; that’s two full bathtubs of liquid by the time they arrive at the Champs-Élysées. A good hydration strategy could be the difference between coming home in the yellow jersey or as the lanterne rouge. You may not ride the TdF anytime soon – but these hydration rules will prevent cramps, keep your energy levels constant, and fuel your ride.

- Jonathan Ancer

I’d never taken much notice of hydration until the first day of a very hot three-day mountain-bike stage race. That was the day I was savaged by cramps. And these were no ordinary cramps – they caused my calves to seize, shooting quivering spasms of pain up my hamstrings and into my quads. It was excruciating.

I’d taken one bottle of water, which I’d finished in the first 20 kilometres. The temperature was 35 degrees and climbing. An hour later, with me drenched in sweat and leaking electrolytes, the first attack came. For the rest of the ride I had to get off the bike every three minutes to stretch and cry for my mother. When I eventually rolled over the line seven (SEVEN!) unbearable hours after the start, I did what the cramps had done to me to a massive container of orange flavoured Rehidrat – I attacked it with extreme prejudice.

The liquid found its way to the pain points in my body and rejuvenated them. It was like a magical elixir, restoring a dried out prune to a plum in all its juicy glory – over the next six hours, I drank cup after cup of the stuff. I was aware that Rehidrat was a well-known babalas cure, but I didn’t realise it could also blitz cramps.

There was some fallout, though. After I woke up the next morning and started to get my bike ready for Day 2, my riding partner, Adrian ‘Field Marshal Hooligan’ Sillito, looked at me in horror. “Dude!” he said. “You’re orange!”