Training & Nutrition - What works for you while riding, strange brews and concoctions?

I'm sure all of us have cabinets full of energy drinks, some work some do not.. What is your drink of choice or do have a blend that seems to work great for you while riding..

For me personally I have been using Hammer Nutrition Perpeteum and GU Electrolyte drink mixed together..

Both are Orange flavor and seem to mix very well and have a great taste.. Large Water bottle, 2 scoops of Perpeteum and 2 scoops of GU Electrolyte drink and I am good to go..

Trim all the garbage away from your drink. Streamlining what you need is best. Eload is developed by the former Medical Director of the Eastern Canadian Ironman and Subaru Series Ironman. This product is guaranteed that you will not bonk, cramp or get an upset stomach!
http://www.bikeworld.com/components/catalog/category.html?cat=1093

20 oz Water, 2sc Polycose (glucose polymers), 1/16tsp salt, 1sc Benefiber, squirt of lime juice for flavor. What more do you need?

Trim all the garbage away from your drink. Streamlining what you need is best. Eload is developed by the former Medical Director of the Eastern Canadian Ironman and Subaru Series Ironman. This product is guaranteed that you will not bonk, cramp or get an upset stomach!
http://www.bikeworld.com/components/catalog/category.html?cat=1093

Spunk, you're becoming a bit of a shill - bordering on spam.

Almost all your posts are promoting one product with the same sales pitch. It's disclosure time. What's your motivation?

I have noticed no difference between various drinks other than flavor. It's all sugar and electrolytes and I see very little difference between one and another.

For cold mornings, coffee with 5 tablespoons of cane sugar, pinch of sodium chloride, pinch of potassium chloride, and milk.

Trim all the garbage away from your drink. Streamlining what you need is best. Eload is developed by the former Medical Director of the Eastern Canadian Ironman and Subaru Series Ironman. This product is guaranteed that you will not bonk, cramp or get an upset stomach!Dude, do you own stock in this company or sit on their BoD? You're not gonna be able to bypass biology and human physiology no matter what you ingest. At some point given the distance, time and intensity of a ride, you WILL run out of glycogen and energy and bonk. Sure you can extend that distance & time by eating and riding slower to increase fat-burning percentage, but there is a limit and anyone who've done some intense training will tell you about bonking.... no way to avoid it without taking in sufficient calories on the ride.



For cold mornings, coffee with 5 tablespoons of cane sugar, pinch of sodium chloride, pinch of potassium chloride, and milk.I use something similar too. I'll make a double-shot espresso with a scoop of sugar and some half-and-half. Really wakes you up and the glucagon-inducing glycogen-sparing effect extends endurance too. About 20-30 additional miles before bonking with the same calorie-intake on the ride. I'll get my electrolytes in the energy-drink like Cytomax or something similar though. :)

I already checked if they'd let me be on the BoD, no luck. I also checked if I could buy stock... privately owned. Dam the bad luck! :) The product uses dextrose which is high glycemic (100) and doesn't require any processing by the stomach or liver. It also facilitates the electrolyte absorption better than any other carb out there. It is also blended with a secondary carb called sucrose. Lower on the glycemic index but still easy on your digestive system. I know so much about it because I wanted to find out how one product could be so far above any other's I've ever tried. Now I know. If you are into the science of it all, you'll enjoy reading http://www.eload.net/eScience.htm#Electrolytes and then you can look at the sports drink comparison chart at http://www.eload.net/eProductChart1.htm

Please don't poke me in the eye with a stick! I'm just trying to help a bro out, er, or sis. Peace!

For shorter/medium efforts....say, 2-3 hours.....a 24 oz. bottle of Cytomax plus a GU gel pack per hour is sufficient. Anything longer than that and I start getting reallly hungry and need actual food.

Eye of toad,
Ear of bat,
Leg of frog,
Tail of cat.
Drop them in,
Stir it up,
Pour it in a silver cup.

On a nutritionist's advice, rides under 2 hours, I just drink plain water.

Longer than that and I need to be replacing electrolytes (and calories).

But apparently there are few commercial sports drinks that are "blessed" by the nutritionist cult. It is essential to make your own, even though the preparations they have you to mix up are, at the core, very little different from things like Gatorade, Cytomax, etc. etc. I had one person tell me to use honey as a sweetener, to avoid the evil SUGAR. NEWS FLASH: they're the same thing (sucrose . . . glucose + fructose). :rolleyes:

I have seen a mix that is supposedly similiar to Gatorade.

The mix/recipe is;

2 litres of diet cordial - your selection of taste
8 tablespoons of sugar - there goes the diet cordial..:eek:
3/8th of a tablespoon of salt
1/8th of a salt substitute that contains potassium chloride

Mix and shake well.

I understand that it works out to about 30c per v. $2.90 for Gatorade... :D

The diet cordial gives you a no sugar base to add too, I'm told.

OK. I'm prepared to be shot down on this mix that I lifted of another site.. :eek:

I just use cytomax and clif shots. During intense workouts or races I will take a clif shot every 30 minutes.

You guys are all motivating me to run over to GNC on my lunchbreak and get some new products!!!!! I'm very simple. 1/2 H2O-1/2 Gatorade with Clif shots (sonic strawberry caffeine). I've heard good things about Cytomax.

On a nutritionist's advice, rides under 2 hours, I just drink plain water.

Longer than that and I need to be replacing electrolytes (and calories).

But apparently there are few commercial sports drinks that are "blessed" by the nutritionist cult. It is essential to make your own, even though the preparations they have you to mix up are, at the core, very little different from things like Gatorade, Cytomax, etc. etc. I had one person tell me to use honey as a sweetener, to avoid the evil SUGAR. NEWS FLASH: they're the same thing (sucrose . . . glucose + fructose). :rolleyes:Heh, heh... common misconception from the crunchy-granola tree-hugger crowd. Once honey crosses your intestinal-wall into the bloodstream, it's the exact same stuff as table-sugar! :) Although you might get a little extra wax and pollen as flavoring...

Yah, I like Cytomax too. I try to take in 200-300cal/hr on rides and to get that same amount in Gatorade, I have to drink too much volume. I prefer to make double-strength Cytomax in one of my bottles and it's not as sweet and sticky as Gatorade for the same numbers of calories.

Hey Danno, Just FYI, volume is a good thing with regard to fluids. The more full the stomach the faster it empties. So on those long rides or races its better to "feel full", at least to the point where it does not intefere with your comfort level and impact performance. Now, I have a question: On the "3400 kcals thread" you mentioned that if you consume 1000 kcals you only get 200 kcals of energy. Could you explain this further? where does the other 800 kcals go? Thanks.

Hey Danno, Just FYI, volume is a good thing with regard to fluids. The more full the stomach the faster it empties. So on those long rides or races its better to "feel full", at least to the point where it does not intefere with your comfort level and impact performance. Now, I have a question: On the "3400 kcals thread" you mentioned that if you consume 1000 kcals you only get 200 kcals of energy. Could you explain this further? where does the other 800 kcals go? Thanks.


Not Danno, but...check these out:


Sports Med. 1986 Jul-Aug;3(4):247-74. Related Articles, Links
Optimal use of fluids of varying formulations to minimise exercise-induced disturbances in homeostasis.
by Lamb DR, Brodowicz GR.
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=3526506&dopt=Abstract)

Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1992 Jun;24(6):679-87. Related Articles, Links
Guidelines for optimal replacement beverages for different athletic events.
by Gisolfi CV, Duchman SM.
Department of Exercise Science, University of Iowa, Iowa City 52242.
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=1602940&dopt=Abstract)


Effect of CHO ingestion on exercise metabolism and performance in different ambient temperatures.
Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 28(11):1380-1387, November 1996.
FEBBRAIO, MARK A.; MURTON, PHILLIP; SELIG, STEVE E.; CLARK, SALLY A.; LAMBERT, DONNA L.; ANGUS, DAMIEN J.; CAREY, MICHAEL F.
(http://www.ms-se.com/pt/re/msse/abstract.00005768-199611000-00006.htm;jsessionid=D1QiiMB4tggZcs1842jKaIA1RqrloY2mVSHxg6piRunM6oZ86W3n!-477899252!-949856144!9001!-1 )


Gastric emptying and fluid availability after ingestion of glucose and soy protein hydrolysate solutions in man
By Ronald J. Maughan, John B. Leiper and Gunn E. Vist
School of Sport & Exercise Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, UK2Department of Biomedical Sciences, University Medical School, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD, UK
(http://ep.physoc.org/cgi/content/abstract/89/1/101 )

For a idiosyncratic view from the author:

http://www.slowtwitch.com/mainheadings/coachcorn/racefuel.html

http://www.starbucks.com/grocery/frappuccino.asp

I've always felt that if what you are drinking tastes good you will drink more.. A lot of the energy drinks are just plain horrible in taste, I found something that I like and I will be sticking with it.. Hammer Heed - Gu2 and Perpeteum, all Orange flavor.. Seems to suit me well for the long haul.. I also like the fact that Gu2 and the Hammer products can be bought in single serving pouches so I can take them with me for my super long rides when I need to refill my bottles...

Hey Danno, Just FYI, volume is a good thing with regard to fluids. The more full the stomach the faster it empties. So on those long rides or races its better to "feel full", at least to the point where it does not intefere with your comfort level and impact performance. Now, I have a question: On the "3400 kcals thread" you mentioned that if you consume 1000 kcals you only get 200 kcals of energy. Could you explain this further? where does the other 800 kcals go? Thanks.The 200kcals of work you end up getting out of 1000kcals ingested is due to the 20-21% efficiency of the body in converting carbs/fats to mechanical movements (lower with protein). Under anaerobic conditions, you're only getting 1-2% efficiency.

I try to customize my water and energy/electrolyte intake based upon the conditions. As you can devise form various studies, the maximum rates of absorption varies based upon CHO & electrolyte concentrations. This maximum-absorption rate of around 30-35oz/hr is always faster than necessary and all of the 18-22oz per hour that I drink gets absorbed readily*.

However, CHO digestion has an upper-limit of 200-240cal/hr. That becomes the primarily limitation for me when doing long endurance rides at a 600-800cal/hr pace. No matter how close I push CHO to maximum possible, there will be a time when the bonk inevitably occurs. I'll try to fortify the drink-mix with fructose which is absorbed passively through the intestinal wall rather than needing a sodium-ion exchange like with glucose. Even then, the upper-limit is about 250-300 cal/hr total for CHO.

To get 250 calories from Gatorade, I have to drink 40-oz of liquid. If I drink 18-22oz per hour, I'll only be getting about 50% of the necessary calories/hr. Sure I can use powdered Gatorade and increase the concentration to match what I'll need, 250-300cal per 18-22oz, but it ends up being way, way too sweet. That's why I like Cytomax, my double-strength bottle is then diluted with the 2nd bottle of water, usually one gulp Cytomax to 6-10 gulps water. One double-strength bottle lasts me the entire ride usually since I get most of my calories from eating real food anyway.

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* I did do the 100-mile Lodi RR with temps in the 100-105F range in June one time... I ended up drinking about 30-oz/hr of water, same 250cal/hr of CHO+electrolytes. That was pushing the limits there... :)