Whether it's your first Bonnaroo or you’re a music festival veteran, we welcome you to Inforoo.
Here you'll find info about artists, rumors, camping tips, and the infamous Roo Clues. Have a look around then create an account and join in the fun. See you at Bonnaroo!!
Post by pixelblast on Jun 18, 2011 16:19:15 GMT -5
I wrote this survival guide after seeing so many people this year, smart people, put themselves in danger. For you Roo veterans, this might be simplistic, but I was hoping to create a guide for newbies which might be helpful. If anyone has anything to add, comments or criticism, please share. I would like it to be complete.
A really great job, thanks for the good deed. As someone who kind of flirted with heat issues on Thursday and Friday I can wholeheartedly vouch for your warning signs and remedies. Sometime early in the weekend someone made the point from one of the stages that Bonnaroo is a marathon and truer words were never spoken.
Post by pixelblast on Jun 18, 2011 17:14:05 GMT -5
I flirted with heat issues a bit myself on Thursday when I was setting up camp. I'm 45, with high blood pressure, and smoke... dumb, yes. Half an hour into setting up camp, around 12 thurs, had a huge dizzy spell, had to sit down. I started pounding water, V8 and Cranberry juice and after a while, my body got used to everything and I was ok.
I wrote this survival guide after seeing so many people this year, smart people, put themselves in danger. For you Roo veterans, this might be simplistic, but I was hoping to create a guide for newbies which might be helpful. If anyone has anything to add, comments or criticism, please share. I would like it to be complete.
[/url][/quote]Pixel, I've been researching, too and this looks pretty comprehensive. As you noted, hydration requires nutrition (i.e. electrolytes, salt, carbohydrates, sugar), not just water. Possible additions: Pedialyte - comes in flavors, miracle rehydration fluid.
Gorp - Peanuts, M&Ms, raisins: Protein, salt, carbs, lots of fructose and glucose. Make multiple small zipbags and take them with you to Centeroo.
Dried prunes - high potassium, will also speed up your bowels, which may or may not be desirable.
Dried fruit mix - compact, so you can take with you, still edible even if you aren't really hungry, makes you want to drink water. Make sure it has bananas and raisins for potassium.
Umbrella - portable shade, enough said
Bandanas - if you are wearing one on your head instead of a hat, keep it wet. Head->bandana->bag of ice->floppy hat = cool head = cool body
Also, a heat index chart from the National Weather Service: www.weather.gov/om/heat/index.shtml "IMPORTANT: Since heat index values were devised for shady, light wind conditions, exposure to full sunshine can increase heat index values by up to 15°F. Also, strong winds, particularly with very hot, dry air, can be extremely hazardous."
That means standing in the sun at What during a "mild" day at Bonnaroo (92 degrees with 80% humidity) feels like 136 F.
Post by klimfactor on Jun 20, 2011 21:10:28 GMT -5
Awesome guide - and kudos to you for taking the time to put it together. Hopefully this will help a lot of people in the future. Heck, I'm a six-year vet, and I learned something about the need for electrolytes.
Thanks Icy and Klim. I really appreciate your comments Icy, and I'll take them into account when I re-write the article. I got an email yesterday from the father of a close friend of the guy who died at Roo this year. From what he told me, they understood all of this and took steps to ensure their safety, yet he died anyway. I don't know. Any of use can fall off the face of the earth at any moment, and I think it can happen to anyone at Bonnaroo. It's a hard environment. I'm going to post a link to my other article, which was just about my experience at the fest. It's hard to write about roo. It's all been said before, over and over again, but I still love doing it. I will continue to improve the survival guide. Maybe it will help someone.
I brought gatorade powder, it comes in handy as it saves space (you don't need to lug a giant case) and it a great way to deliver electrolytes to your body. Goes right in your hydration pack too! I'm a huge supporter of this survival guide, glad to see it grow!!!
Post by icymountain on Jun 22, 2011 12:23:52 GMT -5
Pixelblast, More Friday for you. The biggest problem is that alcohol is a diuretic and a couple of the more popular party favors at Bonnaroo tend fire up your metabolism. All of them effect your judgement so that you might not see this coming. As I've said elsewhere I've gotten into trouble after 5 beers and 3 hours in the sun at 90 F/ 80% H even when well prepared with everything we're talking about. I have a new slogan:
SAVE IT FOR SUNDOWN!
You can't and won't save everyone but if you save even one it is worth it.
Also One A Day Teen Advantage: 250% of the USRDA of B1, B2, B6, B12 for all the alcohol drinkers.
BTW, you need at least 2,000 mg of Potassium every day and you should probably be ingesting 5,000 mg for something like Bonnarro. For the bare minimum: V-8, 8 oz., 470mg (also 420 mg sodium) Banana, medium, 481mg Almonds or peanuts, 4 oz., ~800mg (more sodium and Chloride if they're salted) Raisins, 4 oz., 544mg
For the record, a Gatorade G Series Pro 02 Powder Pack has 200 mg of Sodium and 90 mg Potassium. Pedialyte Powder packs are about $1 each at Wal-Mart and contain 795mg Sodium, 352mg Potassium, AND 622mg Chloride. Mix w/ 8oz. water.
P.S. - "It’s a bolt for which I have no wrench..." <- Nice.
I think the biggest problem at 'Roo is the afternoon drinking. Being dehydrated from natural processes (sweating, metabolism, etc.) is one thing but adding in alcohol only compounds the effect.
"Save it for Sundown" is the best advice anyone can give. Granted, I love ice-cold beer on hot summer days but in this environment, you must be smart.
These are the recommendations for the average Bonnaroo Crowd ages: Sodium - 1,500 to 2,300 mg (1.5 to 2.3 grams) Chloride - 2,300 to 3,600 mg (2.3 to 3.6 grams) Potassium - 4,700 mg (4.7 grams) Water - 3.7 liters (1 gallon)
Bare Minimum daily Bonnaroo Hydration requirements: A banana and a glass of OJ for breakfast Wash down a One a Day Teen Advantage Eat a bag of gorp with 4oz peanuts, 4 oz raisins, 4oz M&Ms through the day Have a V-8 with lunch Mix in 1 Pedialyte powder with 8 oz water, Noon, 4PM, 8PM Drink a gallon of water (preferably not all of it containing 5% alcohol and hops)
Wear a funny hat, party your brains out, dance your feet off, get wet, and, oh, don't forget to eat a burrito as big as your head.
P.S. - A warning that coconut water, while being a great source of re-hydration chemicals, is a diuretic (i.e. it increases the rate of urination). Therefore, you need to keep up your water intake, not replace it with coconut water.
Post by pixelblast on Jun 22, 2011 16:07:23 GMT -5
This is great info. I'm going to be re-writing and re-posting the survival guide, so feel free to post any info you feel is relevant to this thread. We can re-write it together. This is the first year that it really occurred to me that I should save my drinking for after dark.
When I have to stomp around working all day long, I get worn out. I've learned from my own experience, and from many, many stories I've been told, that the very best way to enjoy alcohol at Roo is to save it til after dark. For me, I like to have two or three margaritas starting about three hours before I go to sleep.
For me, this makes for an enjoyable experience, rather than the immortal hell I've gotten myself into once, and which I know others have as well. All insights are welcome.
Just a quick thought on Gatorade type drinks. On Thursday I was getting a little woozy even after drinking A LOT of water, I drank a Gatorade in the VIP tent and almost instantly I was fine. The same symptoms started on Friday and again I added a Gatorade to my fluid intake and again it worked, so far so good, but over the course of the afternoon I had a couple more Gatorades and, probably because of the very high sugar content, almost ran into some other problems. Like anything else, moderation is the key.
Post by mizvalentine on Jun 23, 2011 13:05:19 GMT -5
I like the save it for sundown advice a lot. I didn't do such a good job at that...however, when I did drink in the daytime, I got a huge cup and filled it to the brim with ice. Then I filled with with white wine. Drank slow and made sure I consumed all the ice before I poured any more wine. This gave a nice mild buzz but made sure I got at least 1:1 booze to water (I also drank at least a gallon of water a day).
Overconsumption of water is one thing that I think should be mentioned. Maybe one of the nurses on here can clarify how much is too much? I found myself GUZZLING water one day and at one point I started to feel a little sick from it... had some salty snacks and felt immediately better. Not that we wanna discourage people from drinking water but the opposite is a danger too.
There are also hyperthermia warning patches you can wear, that change color when you're in the danger zone... I don't know how reliable they are, though. Anyone?
I also made my own mist tent. Brought 4 (would've liked 6) of the large capacity misty-mates (cost maybe $5 each), pulled down my EZ Up tarp sides halfway and clipped the filled & pumped misty mates to the cross bars of my EZ up. Set up my two O2-Cool fans blowing on me and put my camp chair in the middle of all that. Then I just turned on all the Misty Mates and voila! Immediately made for a huge temperature drop and really saved me Saturday...it also tamped down the dust under my shade canopy, a huge plus for my asthma.
Additional advice for asthmatics: Dust masks, clean your feet and face with babywipes when you come back to camp, keep your car doors closed as much as possible, watch out for running engines/tailpipes at camp, stake down a tarp facing the road(s), leave your tarp walls down when you leave camp, zip up your tent windows during the day if you have them. If you're up for it, wipe down your tent outside, your chairs, your tables, and other surfaces if the dust is high (I did this twice during the weekend and it helped). Ask your doc if you can use prophylactic albuterol and/or a long acting asthma medicine for Roo. Heat + humidity + dust + pollen was really a difficult environment for me, and could be deadly for some.
This is why water, water, water is not enough. You need Sodium, Potassium, and Chloride as well. And you cannot ignore water for an entire 4 hour Widespread set.
Quite simply, a set of healthy kidneys can process from 10 to 15 liters a day (depending on who you believe) but at a rate of no more than 1 liter per hour. Drinking 3.7 liters over 8-10 hours won't kill you but it will probably cause you to keel over if you have urinated and perspired all your electrolytes.
If you drink 12 oz. (~0.35 liter) water every 1 1/2 to 2 hours, you only need to process at 1/4 to 1/3 capacity (not including sweat produced by ecstatic dancing). You will have to drink at this rate for 16 to 21 hours to hit that 1 gallon (3.7 liter) number.
This is why water, water, water is not enough. You need Sodium, Potassium, and Chloride as well. And you cannot ignore water for an entire 4 hour Widespread set.
Quite simply, a set of healthy kidneys can process from 10 to 15 liters a day (depending on who you believe) but at a rate of no more than 1 liter per hour. Drinking 3.7 liters over 8-10 hours won't kill you but it will probably cause you to keel over if you have urinated and perspired all your electrolytes.
If you drink 12 oz. (~0.35 liter) water every 1 1/2 to 2 hours, you only need to process at 1/4 to 1/3 capacity (not including sweat produced by ecstatic dancing). You will have to drink at this rate for 16 to 21 hours to hit that 1 gallon (3.7 liter) number.
This is awesome information. Thank you for breaking it down.
I ended up drinking one of the 3 liter Poland Spring bottles between when I woke up (8am-ish, and usually thirsty from booze & dancing the night before) and when I left camp (3-4pm). Then I drank as I felt I needed it the rest of the day (along with booze). I think the day I got in trouble, I drank a lot the night before, and drank maybe 1 and a half bottles of water during the day which was just too much. Gonna bring some of those electrolyte packets next year.
Also: I wouldn't underestimate the power of corn to fool you into thinking you're okay when you're not. I didn't get any corn til Friday morning, and the minute I had some, I went from 'god I'm too hot and thirsty' to 'wow its not so hot!' Which is great... but I had to be more aware of my water intake and shade because my normal inner warning system wasn't working as well.
Post by pixelblast on Jun 26, 2011 15:28:17 GMT -5
One thing to remember is that in very hot environments, you can't judge your water intake only by how often you urinate. A great deal of water is lost from evaporation and sweat. On really hot days, you could conceivably drink a great deal of water on only urinate a few times.
Water intoxication, or hyponatrenia, happens when your sodium and potassium levels drop below a certain point. I think we've covered this quite a bit now, but replacing these is just as important as staying hydrated. The two go hand in hand.
Yeah, great summation and good information icymountain.
Water intoxication, or hyponatrenia, happens when your sodium and potassium levels drop below a certain point. I think we've covered this quite a bit now, but replacing these is just as important as staying hydrated. The two go hand in hand.
The article was copied to another message board called the "Shroomery". Some bright fellow there pointed out that a Marathon is a Race. Lol. I hate it when I make dumb mistakes, but he was indeed right. Bonnaroo is a marathon, not a sprint. lol.
