HYDRATION XL

I was brand new to mountain biking and even newer to the world of racing, but being the all-or-nothing person that I am, I decided to jump right in and tackle a 12-hour biking event.  Since meticulous preparation has always been a strong point of mine, I felt confident my extensive research into the mechanics of eating and drinking properly for long-distance mountain biking had prepared me well for this undertaking.  Unfortunately, my actual real-world experience with endurance biking was, well, actually none up to this point.  As such, I was perhaps a bit overzealous in my determination to stay well hydrated during this late summer event. I had managed to sweat sufficiently while biking across the sun-drenched hilly stretches of trail during the warm afternoon hours to keep up with my water consumption.  However, as darkness fell and the air cooled, this no longer sufficed to balance the exchange and, being new to the whole endurance biking thing, I failed to readjust my water intake to my gradually decreasing level of output.  During one of my night laps through the dark and relatively silent woods, I felt the all too familiar fullness in my lower abdomen and heard that all too wise inner voice telling me I had not followed the Number One Rule of Consumption.  Moderation.  Or the second rule of consumption.  See Rule Number One.  It didn’t take me long to realize that the excess water I had been forcing myself to drink all afternoon and evening was going to make continued biking impossibly unpleasant.  So I pulled off the trail to find a suitable spot for a bathroom break. Despite my best efforts to discreetly position myself in what I thought was the deepest, darkest section of forest, behind a large oak tree, the Rules of Consumption had apparently not yet finished addressing my disobedience.  At a most inopportune moment, one of my riding buddies yelled to me as he rode by, informing me that before I assumed the position, perhaps I should have turned off the brilliantly flashing red tail light attached to the hydration backpack I was still wearing…