Sweating Salt

Well, I can't be sure what it is, but I think it's mostly salt. Your sweat is salty, and the white residue is the salt that's left behind after the sweat evaporates.

The thing is, you need to replace the salt as you ride, else (for long rides) you can get into real trouble. Keep drinking an eloctrolyte replacement drink while you ride, so you are putting (hopefully) as much back into your system as you are losing.

And....don't sweat it (joke there). My helmet straps have lots of white on them, and so do many other people's. It's just part of cycling.

Yojimbo_ said:

Well, I can't be sure what it is, but I think it's mostly salt. Your sweat is salty, and the white residue is the salt that's left behind after the sweat evaporates.

The thing is, you need to replace the salt as you ride, else (for long rides) you can get into real trouble. Keep drinking an eloctrolyte replacement drink while you ride, so you are putting (hopefully) as much back into your system as you are losing.

And....don't sweat it (joke there). My helmet straps have lots of white on them, and so do many other people's. It's just part of cycling.

If it is hot, and you are working hard, you simply can not replace the electrolytes you loose, the drink would make you puke unfortunately.

Wrt the previous post....

So you agree with me then?

Yojimbo_ said:

Wrt the previous post....

So you agree with me then?

Yeah, it salt that is left behind when it dries I think.
I was just commenting on that "driniking" as much salt as you loose when working hard in hot weather, it just does not happen. That does not mean you should not try though, I have found that sportsdrinks with electrolytes does help.

Claes said:

Yeah, it salt that is left behind when it dries I think.
I was just commenting on that "driniking" as much salt as you loose when working hard in hot weather, it just does not happen. That does not mean you should not try though, I have found that sportsdrinks with electrolytes does help.

Most people get far too much salt in their diet anyway and can afford to lose some in sweat. It is not necessary to try and replace all of it by drinking electrolyte as you ride. The main advantage of sodium and potassium ions on sports drinks is to make the water in them easier to absorb, together with the other nutrients that you do need.

Don Shipp said:

Most people get far too much salt in their diet anyway and can afford to lose some in sweat. It is not necessary to try and replace all of it by drinking electrolyte as you ride. The main advantage of sodium and potassium ions on sports drinks is to make the water in them easier to absorb, together with the other nutrients that you do need.

If I ride hard, I get headaches the day after if I drink water. Slight headache only. Could be due to the fact that I am low on electrolytes and then the body can only maintain adequate balance via loss of water, IE I run and pee a lot and get dehydrated. 🙂 With sportsdrink, I do not get that headache. Any theories? The riding usually involves two days in a row riding so to speak.

Claes said:

If I ride hard, I get headaches the day after if I drink water. Slight headache only. Could be due to the fact that I am low on electrolytes and then the body can only maintain adequate balance via loss of water, IE I run and pee a lot and get dehydrated. 🙂 With sportsdrink, I do not get that headache. Any theories? The riding usually involves two days in a row riding so to speak.

Exercise certainly can lead to an imbalance of electrolytes. Drinking only water can (but usually doesn't) dilute body fluids.
Sports drinks contain many nutrients and the mixture is more easily absorbed in your gut than solid food and plain water.
The modern diet is high in sodium but low in potassium so don't try to increase just your salt (NaCl) intake to compensate for sweating.

Don Shipp said:

Exercise certainly can lead to an imbalance of electrolytes. Drinking only water can (but usually doesn't) dilute body fluids.
Sports drinks contain many nutrients and the mixture is more easily absorbed in your gut than solid food and plain water.
The modern diet is high in sodium but low in potassium so don't try to increase just your salt (NaCl) intake to compensate for sweating.

I am fully aware of that, potassium and a wee bit of magnesium is what I am thinking of.

Claes said:

If I ride hard, I get headaches the day after if I drink water. Slight headache only. Could be due to the fact that I am low on electrolytes and then the body can only maintain adequate balance via loss of water, IE I run and pee a lot and get dehydrated. 🙂 With sportsdrink, I do not get that headache. Any theories? The riding usually involves two days in a row riding so to speak.

Sounds more like glycogen depletion from lack of calories in plain water rather than lack of minerals. Even a slight bonk can give you a headache.

My problem with the common salt replacement advice is if you eat more you will sweat more of it out and then think you need to eat even more salt. With a little adaptation to heat and to a lower salt diet you don't need much at all. If humans weren't able to endure high heat with low salt intake we would have died out years ago. It was a long way between salt licks when we were evolving in Africa.

Just eat an occasional bag of potato chips or other salt laden food if you start craving salt. Much more fun than those salty snot tasting drinks anyway.

mises said:

Sounds more like glycogen depletion from lack of calories in plain water rather than lack of minerals. Even a slight bonk can give you a headache.

My problem with the common salt replacement advice is if you eat more you will sweat more of it out and then think you need to eat even more salt. With a little adaptation to heat and to a lower salt diet you don't need much at all. If humans weren't able to endure high heat with low salt intake we would have died out years ago. It was a long way between salt licks when we were evolving in Africa.

Just eat an occasional bag of potato chips or other salt laden food if you start craving salt. Much more fun than those salty snot tasting drinks anyway.

Could be it but I guess. I eat solids when I ride without sportsdrink. But
on the other hand, when my Polar tells me I burnt 3000 calories, then I guess
one needs to eat a bit to keep up.