Originally Posted by
Carbonfiberboy
Not a cheap shot. I just picked on you because you didn't seem to know how they function. Many of the riders posting on this thread seem to have very little experience using a variety of these products, or even understand how they work. One may comment on a product without me grousing about it when they have used same on a hot, mountainous 400k brevet or similar. Even a short ride like RAMROD can count. Or ridden a thousand miles on a single tour while using a product - takes longer to accumulate experience on a tour because the demands are so much less.
Comments on these forums are best when they are from personal experience, not from supposition. Disclaimer: I have only used Endurolytes, Gatorade, Cytomax, and HEED on brevets. Stoker uses Endurolytes, Cytomax, and Tums.
Hmm, how about doing an Ironman triathlon, and not just to finish, but to compete within one's age group? Go do a 112 mile time trial (after a 2.4 mile open water swim) under 5 and half hours and then run a 3:30 marathon and let me know how it compares to a brevet. Those speeds, if you're unfamiliar with them, were fast enough to qualify for the Hawaiian Ironman, which is a world championship event. Brevets and many of the long rides that people discuss around here certainly can be demanding, but the emphasis is not on head to head competition and pushing one's body to the limits during that competition in order to stay on the edge between speed and physical breakdown. I'm not trying to get into a pissing match over who has more experience, but I do get rather annoyed whenever questions are assumed to be coming from a total lack of inexperience. As such, perhaps you should try a tactic different from "picking on someone."