Road Cycling - recovery drinks?

so i have a huge container of endurox and have been using it after my rides with pretty good results. shoot, it might be a placebo but it's working haha :) anyhow, is it a good idea to drink this stuff on a recovery day with absolutely no riding? will it improve recovery? or does it only work during the 30min-1hr window after riding?

melloboy

I dunno, I just drink beer after my rides :p

Beer.

Beer.

One issue (my opinion) with recovery drinks is they are specifically designed for post workout. Which means they can be high in carbs that will boost insulin levels. When you are trying to recover that isn't a bad thing. By boosting your insulin levels you basically ram glycogen back into your cells. The problem with drinking this on off days is you might get a case of the sleepies after drinking it. Plus the stuff is kinda pricey, so I usually stick with eating small amounts of starchy items frequently on my off days.

I agree with above, definitely not necessary on off days. Eat some healthy food instead.

The real question (in my mind) is how you can even contemplate drinking that stuff on off days. It seems to work, but the taste! :(

endurox R4 in vanilla actually tastes pretty damn good :)

melloboy

I use it after races and intervals b/c I cannot stomach food and want to get the carbs in. I am skeptical about everything and so far I do believe this stuff helps but then probably so would a bowl of noodles. It has a ton of Vit E in it to did you notice that?

I like the Powerbar recovery drink. I also use it during rides as it has high sodium content since I sweat a lot. This is the only drink that I haven't bonked on...and I've tried many.