Commuting - Water or sports drink - which is better?

I usually try and ride about 2-3 hours per day, and I need liquid, which is the better choice, water or sports drinks? I don't mind water but after a while it gets boring, but sports drinks are kind of expensive, should I buy the powder and make my own?

I buy Gatoraide pwder, container says it makes 9 gallons and costs about $10.00 USD at the local buyers club. I ussally mix it a little weaker then suggested.

The new powerbar beverage system works great. Been using it for three weeks now...the taste is great, too. Not too strong. Just tasty enough to want to drink more...which is good.

Water.

I usually try and ride about 2-3 hours per day, and I need liquid, which is the better choice, water or sports drinks? I don't mind water but after a while it gets boring, but sports drinks are kind of expensive, should I buy the powder and make my own?
You need both water and carbohydrate replacement (what ever happened to, "low carb?") Sports drinks provide both, but are over-priced (I think they spend too much money on the fancy commercials.)

You can do better than buying Gatorade or Powerade. One can of frozen orange juice can be had for less than the price of 20 oz. of Powerade. Ounce for ounce, OJ has 14 times the Potassium, as well as tons of vitamin C, which helps rebuild muscle tissue. Plus it's natural. One can of frozen OJ will make several large drinks. You can make a 20 oz orange drink (you can even add that devil, "white sugar," to stretch your supply) for a fraction of the cost of hyped-up sports drinks (who wants green sweat, anyway?)

And if you really want a Powerade or Gatorade taste, you can bootleg some Kool-Aid into the mix for pennies. Kool-Aid is more righteous than Powerade or Gatorade, any day (I just wish they'd lose that "pitcher guy.")

:D

Either water or sports drink is fine. Drink whatever encourages you to drink often. on a three hour ride, you should not need electrolyte replacement. You also don't need carbohydrates during a ride this short since it's unlikely that you will be able to store any significant quantity of glycogen during the ride. However, a snack after about an hour provides a nice psychological boost even if it's not required!

I use 'em both. Water in the camelbak and sports drink in the water bottles.

I use the sports drink recipe from the Gatorade Sports Drink Powder (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=47340) thread found in Training and Nutrition. Way cheaper than even the Gatorade powder!

I find sports drinks make me more thirsty, and always leave me wanting water, my mouth dries up, and then I am left no choice but to find water. The last thing that I want to ingest is salt when I am trying to rehydrate.

Gatorade is the best for the price, it will cost you less than .10cents per bottle. I use to race...err long time ago...but we all used Gatorade, some used V8, orange juice, Nectrine juice and Emergen-C, all of which were diluted 50/50 with water. I still use Gatorade-diluted. About 3 years ago I asked my LBS friend what they use when they race (they had a race club and raced in the RAAM event), and he said GATORADE diluted 50/50!!! I then asked why then do you carry all that expensive bike boutique drink mixes then; and simply said because most cyclist come in here and demand this or that because they heard somewhere or from someone that that stuff was the best, so he sells them what they want!! But if someone was to ask he always said Gatorade.

But water alone will not replace the electrolytes your body is loosing to sweat, thus you could find yourself in trouble, passed out on the side of the road due to low levels of sodium, sore muscles that are not recovering, cramps, to tired the next day or the day after to perform well if at all, etc.

ON a really strenous ride you need both...Gatorade is my usual second choice..BUt, Gatorade is too sweet( I do
like the Cool Blue Rasperry, however...)..I think a drink like Accelerade has far more effect if you are doing a hard ride.
But water is essential...If not use it for my body, like to have it on hand, anyway...
Useful for washing off your hands should you need to change a flat and other purposes.

I like gatorade if I'm resting for a while, since it seems to make lots of thick plegm in my throat (I hate that feeling)....anyways man has done strenuous activity for millenia on water, so it can't suck that bad now, can it? ;)

on a long ride, after sucking down on so much gatorade, water will seem to taste 100x better

On a really long ride, I take one bottle filled with water and another with really diluted Gatorade or some other energy drink. I tried Powerade once and didn't like it though. One of my riding partners just recently tried some sugar-free stuff and let me have a sip. It tasted pretty good but I can't for the life of me remember its name. On shorter rides (under a couple of hours), I just use water.

Just lately I've been using that Mizone Sportswater when I want something a little stronger (i.e. when it's 42 deg C out and 90% humidity). I think it's a diluted sports drink of some kind, and the best part is it comes in a 200ml bigger bottle for the same price as most of the sports drinks.

Having said that, water is still my drink of choice in most cases. Gatorade and the like will dehydrate you if taken in large doses, and when it's so hot that you're putting away 10-15 litres of fluids in an average day, that's the last thing you want!

Thanks everyone for all of your replies, I think I will go with 2 bottles, 1 with just water, and the other some sort of sports drink.

Recently, I've tried Gatorade Propel. At first I thought it was silly to buy a "designer" water, but actually it makes sence. The Propel has the same sodium and potasium content as plain Gatorade, but with a lot less sugar. So it replenishes electrolytes without tasting too sweet. The only problem is that I dont think it comes in powder yet. So, I'm still using diluted Gatorade from powder on most rides to save money.

Having said that, water is still my drink of choice in most cases. Gatorade and the like will dehydrate you if taken in large doses, and when it's so hot that you're putting away 10-15 litres of fluids in an average day, that's the last thing you want!

That's why your suppose to dilute Gatorade or any other sport drink 50/50. That ratio will not dehydrate you and will replace the lost electrolytes, plus will not give you that sweet crudy tasting phlegm in your mouth or throat. You can also use V8 or orange juice (but OJ can make you sick even diluted) for variety, but again any juice you use you should dilute it 50/50 because a lot of juices will upset your stomach plus some juices natural sugars will give you that sweet crudy tasting phlegm thing again.

And if you drink just water you can become over hydrated which can lead to death in fact the symptoms of hyponatraemic or water intoxication are similar to those of dehydration, including nausea, vomiting, and confusion. Therefore, people with symptoms may think that they need to drink still more, but further water consumption can lead to seizures, delirium, coma and death due to lack of sodium. In fact according to Georgia State University, who studied joggers' drinking habits, the causes of illness in "fun" runners since 1985 and found 70 cases of hyponatremia, many more than from dehydration.

Here's a text from the American College of Sports Medicine:
1.) It is recommended that individuals consume a nutritionally balanced diet and drink adequate fluids during the 24-hr period before an event, especially during the period that includes the meal prior to exercise, to promote proper hydration before exercise or competition.

2.) It is recommended that individuals drink about 500 ml (about 17 ounces) of fluid about 2 h before exercise to promote adequate hydration and allow time for excretion of excess ingested water. During exercise, athletes should start drinking early and at regular intervals in an attempt to consume fluids at a rate sufficient to replace all the water lost through sweating (i.e., body weight loss), or consume the maximal amount that can be tolerated.

3.) It is recommended that ingested fluids be cooler than ambient temperature [between 15 degrees and 22 degrees C (59 degrees and 72 degrees F])] and flavored to enhance palatability and promote fluid replacement. Fluids should be readily available and served in containers that allow adequate volumes to be ingested with ease and with minimal interruption of exercise.

4.) Addition of proper amounts of carbohydrates and/or electrolytes to a fluid replacement solution is recommended for exercise events of duration greater than 1 h since it does not significantly impair water delivery to the body and may enhance performance. During exercise lasting less than 1 h, there is little evidence of physiological or physical performance differences between consuming a carbohydrate-electrolyte drink and plain water.

5.) During intense exercise lasting longer than 1 h, it is recommended that carbohydrates be ingested at a rate of 30-60 g.h(-1) to maintain oxidation of carbohydrates and delay fatigue. This rate of carbohydrate intake can be achieved without compromising fluid delivery by drinking 600-1200 ml.h(-1) of solutions containing 4%-8% carbohydrates (g.100 ml(-1)). The carbohydrates can be sugars (glucose or sucrose) or starch (e.g., maltodextrin).

6.) Inclusion of sodium (0.5-0.7 g.1(-1) of water) in the rehydration solution ingested during exercise lasting longer than 1 h is recommended since it may be advantageous in enhancing palatability, promoting fluid retention, and possibly preventing hyponatremia in certain individuals who drink excessive quantities of fluid. There is little physiological basis for the presence of sodium in an oral rehydration solution for enhancing intestinal water absorption as long as sodium is sufficiently available from the previous meal.

So to summarize Salt food more than the average person. Start your event with plenty of sodium in the body. Drink water before your event, but soon after (60 minutes) switch to sport drinks or fluids containing salt. Weigh yourself before, during, and after ultra-endurance events thus monitoring body fluid levels. For every kilogram lost, one litre of fluid should be consumed.

Also for you Energy Gel users out there; During exercise, especially in hot and humid climates, the greatest need is to replace fluids lost during sweating. For that reason, sports drinks provide practical advantages over the gel-plus-water routine. If an athlete wants to use carbohydrate gels during exercise, it should be matched with an adequate amount of water. For example, for a 1.4 oz. gel pack the athlete should drink approximately 500 ml of fluid. It's also recommended that the athlete examine the gel’s electrolyte content, which may promote fluid retention. The gels containing concentrated carbohydrate provide virtually no fluid. Because fluid replacement and carbohydrate supplementation are known to benefit endurance performance, sufficient fluid must be ingested. Therefore, people can either take the gels with sufficient fluid or they can drink conventional fluid-replacement beverages already containing the proper mixture of carbohydrate, electrolytes, and fluid. In other words those gels are taking your money!!

Gatorade was the first sport drink and was developed by Dr Cade and Dr Shires; they started with saline solutions, already isotonic with having the same concentration as body fluids. They formulated some salts out and sugars into the beverage to give the combination of salt and energy replacement at about the same concentration of particles in solution as body fluids. Gatorade's inventors considered chemical kinetics and chose correctly when they fortified the salt solutions with sugars rather than fats. Fats give a greater energy yield per gram of fat, but the body increases carbohydrate oxidation as exercise rates go up, and carbohydrate oxidation is more efficient when oxygen is in short supply. Simply put, they knew the body could not convert fats to energy quickly. Thus Gatorade is close to accurate in its formula and the cheapest.

And if you drink just water you can become over hydrated which can lead to death in fact the symptoms of hyponatraemic or water intoxication are similar to those of dehydration, including nausea, vomiting, and confusion. Therefore, people with symptoms may think that they need to drink still more, but further water consumption can lead to seizures, delirium, coma and death due to lack of sodium. In fact according to Georgia State University, who studied joggers' drinking habits, the causes of illness in "fun" runners since 1985 and found 70 cases of hyponatremia, many more than from dehydration.


I keep hearing these studies about the "dangers" of drinking too much water. I have to ask just how much water this actually requires? I've had many days where I've cleared 10 litres of water (even 15 on occasions) without any problems. After climbing Mt Barney in temps of 35 C a couple of years ago I sat down and drank about four litres of water in 15 minutes -- without any negative consequences. Let's hear some specifics before trying to scare people about how drinking water is going to kill them.

ice lemon with a pinch of salt that will do for me...cheap and refreshing

In all the years of megamiling, touring, and just enjoying life on my bike, 99.9% of the time I carried only water, and made sure to eat fruit, chips, sanwiches, whatever I feel like eating at the time. I have consumed lots of water. Sometimes 10 or 12 litres a day probably more, and I have never had a problem with rinsing all the sodium and pottasium out of my nerve cells. If consumed enough water to do that I would vomit. Water is also my favorite drink, besides milk, and I would not bring that with me on my bike. I have not really had many expiriences with sports drinks, each one was worse than the previous, so I have been turned off. My preference is water, I would not dream of going biking whithout it.