Water is heavy!
I’d been researching food and hydration to prepare for Bucket List Item #1. The general advice was: stay hydrated. I drank plenty of water the evening before and with breakfast. But I also had to make sure I took enough for the trip.
Some very unpleasant past experiences on long rail trail rides probably led me to overcompensate with the amount of water. Two 24 ounce bicycle water bottles was not enough to take me from Glen Rock to the state line and back a few years ago. It was warmer then.
I suspected I might need water by the time I was empty in New Freedom. And it was really annoying that there’s very little public water fountains available these days. I may be carbon dating myself, but I remember a time when public water fountains were readily available.
Anyway, on that brief jaunt from Glen Rock to the line and back I ended up getting overly warm and not having enough water available. By the time I got back to the parking lot, I didn’t even have enough strength to attach the bikes to the rack (this lead me to changing bike racks, but that’s another story).
I couldn’t even talk I was so dehydrated. This didn’t seem to bother Mrs. Biker too much. However, I was trying to get her to buy me something to drink at the restaurant nearby (the late, lamented Mignano Brothers). She didn’t understand what I was trying to say. So, realizing that I needed liquids immediately, I walked off to get some myself.
And I collapsed.
Well, more like I was 3 feet from the front door, walked into shade, sat down for a second and couldn’t get back up. I tried. It wasn’t happening. Plus, I was out of sight of Mrs. Biker, so I couldn’t get her attention for help.
Finally, after what felt like 20 minutes she sent Henergy-on-Wheels™ over to check on me. He made many trips inside for bottled water and Cokes to help me get to the point I could stand again. I think this was the scariest incident ever for me involving bikes. Even scarier than getting run over (but, you guessed it, that’s another story).
Anyway, lesson learned. Carry lots of water.
So for Bucket List Item #1 I had both my frame mounted water cages carrying bottles, a 100 ounce / 3 liter Camelbak M.U.L.E. hydration system, and 2 or 3 more water bottles in the trunk pack, and a frozen Gatorade bottle for electrolytes at the end. Plus a few energy, breakfast, and protein bars for nourishment along the way. Didn’t think I’d need much more given that I’d had a decent breakfast and carbed up a bit the night before.
Doing the math (or maths, if you prefer), I carried approximately 220 ounces of water or nearly 1.75 gallons of fluid. At a rule of thumb 1 gallon of water weighs about 8.345 pounds. I added 14 pounds of weight to carry!
For my metric friends that was about 6.5 liters of water. Generally, 1 liter of water weighs about 1kg, Therefore, I was carrying around an extra 6.5kg of weight!
I was so sluggish getting to the trail that I felt like it was my first day back on the bike after winter hiatus all over again. Cornering felt precarious. Even downhill was a slog. But once I was on the trail and rolling along, it was barely noticeable.
Recommended intake is about 1 liter per hour. I didn’t even quite empty my Camelbak.
The ride down was just shy of 2.5 hours. I drank frequently on the way down. I paid for it on the way back.
The trip back took longer. Mainly because I was taking pictures of every mural and historical marker along the trail. However, all that water began catching up to me.
I learned that in addition to no public water fountains, there also aren’t enough portable toilets along the trail. They were few and far between. And I wasn’t about to pop off into the bushes on the side of the trail either. Besides the “No Trespassing” signs, the trail, even on a Monday morning, is well used. There wouldn’t have been enough cover even had there been no “No Trespassing” signs.
To make matters worse, the bladder was more than willing, but the urethra was crushed. ‘Twern’t much coming out even when I did find a spot. But after a few hours, life was flowing freely again. Whew! But it is a cause for consideration for the next big trip. I’ll have to do a little more research. I don’t want to end up like Tycho Brahe.
Also, this experience led me to explore what is possible with Google Maps. I ended up creating a map showing drinking fountains along the rail trail from John Rudy Park north of the City of York to the 7 mile marker south of the Maryland line. Hopefully, it will help others in need.
Until next time: Pedal on!
