Drinking while riding or running

I have never been able to do this. I tried yesterday in a local sprint on the bike and had really bad cramps on the run. No big deal if I can’t drink at all for a sprint but I have my first Oly in November and I know I will bonk if i don’t hydrate or take in some energy gels. Like everything else, does practice help with this or are some people not meant to do this? Also, I drank no more than 1/4 of my water bottle on the bike to wash down 1/2 of an energy gel. I also had 1 banana and a cup of water 1 1/2 hours before the race. Could this have affected me as well?

yes, practice helps.

if you can’t drink water or gatorade, try beer or vodka. wait…

so your stomach is cramping if you take in 1/4 bottle of water? what about in training rides where the pace is slower/hr lower?

i used to have this problem in high school. as soon as I drank anything I’d get side cramps and blow up.

my coach told me to drink small sips–not big gulps. it seemed to help, and I still do this today. lots of small sips, not huge gulps all at once.

most of all, practice and you’ll get used to it.