Sports Drinks

Hey guys,

Have been biking for the past couple of years. For the last month I have been doing long slow distance. On some of the rides I feel tired from the previous day workout.

I now use plain water on my rides but am wondering if anyone has had success with one of the sports drinks such as Heed or Endurox.

Thanks in advance

buff

I too suffer from occasional soreness from the morning's or previous day's ride. Being a little older I'm a fan of carb/electrolyte drinks during longer rides and a carb/protien drink for recovery. I like Cytomax and Endurox products and use both and my wife's coach uses Heed products. I suspect all of these would contribute to your rides and recovery.

Good luck.

i always used plain water during cycling training, but am thinking about using drinks too, expect I dont know which one/type to use....

ive read that for the more intense training sessions (not sure about the exact heartrate zones) taking in sportdrinks with sugars would be beneficial, because sugars are only used by your body at higher intensities.

I guess if you only do slow rides, which are at low intensities you would not use the sugars from your drink, only fat which everybody has enough of.

This is the theory, but even if I ride at low intensities I feel crapped out and eating something with lots of sugars help me get on track again??

Electrolytes I think are always good, especially on warmer days. Proteins are not vey useful in drinks because of the very limited uptake of proteins, more easy to restore this when you get home via normal food intakes.

Uhm, you got some misinformation there. Carbohydrates, aka sugar, is always used, regardless of intensity. The only difference is the percentage of energy coming from the different sources. At higher intensities, a bigger percentage is from sugars and at lower intensities, fat contributes a larger percentage. However, at all times, sugar is used. As for your question regarding taking sugars to get back on track, simple sugar gives you a quick rush but will cause a quick depletion if a constant supply is available. Especially prior to a ride, it's best to consume slower digesting sugars, or pair it with protein.

If you feel crapped out, look into your workout schedule/plan and diet throughout your day. Hope that helps.

Izzy G.

My personal experience with the long rides is that it's important to find something that you can handle the taste of after a few hours. I tried various kinds for awhile, sometimes toward the end of the ride I just couldn't stand the taste of the drink and had to go back to water. I finally settled on Cytomax because I can drink it for 8 hours on the bike without puking. I'm not sure how it rates against the others nutritional wise, but if I can't swallow the others it doesn't matter. I'm passing on other peoples' advice now, but you also need other supplementation after an hour or so that the regular drinks don't offer. Perpetuem offers more of the long term necessary what-nots so I have one bottle of each on my rides. It gives me the most hellacious gas you'd ever witness, but my buddies at work think it's funny so I'll keep drinking it.

Save yourselves a ton of money by mixing your own.

The following costs 10-20 cents a serving, tastes great, and is functionally equivalent to the best sport drink out there - for use on the bike and for recovery. Your body is not nearly as picky as the sports drinks manufacturers would have you believe.

In your water bottle mix 2 tablespoons of maltodextrin (for example carbo-gain) and half a tablespoon of soy protein isolate. Add just a little fruit juice for taste, top off with water, and shake. The concentration of carbohydrate is low enough for rapid absorbtion, the concentration of protein is low enough that it doesn't get in the way of your ride and is readily available to rebuild muscle after you stop, and the water volume is sufficient to keep you hydrated if you drink one bottle an hour. About 200 calories.

Oh yeah. Electrolytes. Every hour take at least one tablet of potassium glyconate. You'll have enough sodium from everything else you eat.

The cheapest place to get these ingredients is at

http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/now/now.htm

How much protein in that half tablespoon of soy? 3 grams? 5 grams? Not enough to matter. Potassium is abundant in orange juice and it will be where you need it during exercise simply by drinking some orange juice each day.

7 grams. A serving of Hammer Nutrition's Recovery has 10 grams. No difference.

My point is that maltodextrin and protein (either soy or whey) are the main ingredients in these sports products. Plus, they throw in some electrolytes. All other ingredients are nonsense. Don't waste your money.

Do you guys tend to drink all of your sports drink up front and then switch to water, or vise versa or something different?

I usually try and drink the sports drink first in a 2 to 3 hour ride as I figure it takes it time to even help you on the ride, but maybe I am wrong.....

More knowledgable guys can correct me if I'm wrong, but it would seem to make more sense to drink your water before drinking your sports drink. Sports drinks replace sodium, electrolytes, etc. lost on rides, so water should be sufficient until your ride is long enough that you need those things replenished.

Never used sports drinks. Lots of water, small sandwiches with jam/honey, fruit on longer rides. If all else fails, a stop with a pastry and a cappuccino usually does the trick, and is very yummy.

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I'm typically doing either 30 of 50 mile rides. I was just drinking water when my rides were less than 20 miles. Now I just mix my drinks 30% gatorade & 70% water. It's enough for me to replenish salt and such. I also find that around the 20 to 25 mile mark my stomach starts growling. So I pack a a quick snack. I found Slimfast just came out with a peanut cookie bar. Only 150 calories. One of those every 20 miles keep my belly happy and the 300-350 calories I'm eating aren't a problem considering during a 50 mile ride I'm burning over 2500 calories.

A semi-unrelated question, but I was wondering: is there any good way to eat a Powerbar while on the bike, or is it solely for when you're taking a break? Many of the group rides I go on never stop or stop very infrequently and I usually don't have time to eat anything. I have this 24-pack of Powerbars and it'd be cool if I could utilize them during rides more effectively.

unwrap the wrapper and take a big bite. seriously, this is probably the only way you are going to get to eat during your ride.


i used a tall glass of good ole ovaltine after a ride. best recovery drink around. i mainly drink water, sometimes ill mix some weak fruit juice for a little flavor (if you lose alot of salt (sweat) like me, add a coupla shakes of salt)

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do you have a late 90's merckx corsa 01, or colnago 58cm frameset lying around? let me know.

A silly but effective tip. Pre-tear one of them if you know your on a long or fast ride. Sometimes they rip right open, but sometimes you get putty fingers and woudnt you know the attacks come when your right n the middle of trying to scarf that thing down.

I am going to try Hammer products. I tried the Heed and it went down easy and no bloat or cramps on or after the ride. I tried Gatorade and XLR8 , but they didnt sit well, especially when going up hill and pushing the HR up. But the Heed doesnt have enough calories for a hard 3 hour ride (100 cal/bottle) so i am next trying the Perpetuam. 200 calories, no HFCS!!

I always have one bttle sports drink, one water and either a power bar or banana. I just tried a gell and although it did the job when I was hurting, I dont litter and the package made a mess of my jersey.

Ray