Originally Posted by awiner
Food for though. From Hammer Nutition:
"...(in carbohydrate oxidative research) agree that up to 1.0 - 1.1 grams of carbohydrate per minute can be utilized from exogenous (outside) carbohydrate donation. A 1.0 g/carb per minute donation is 240 carbohydrate calories per hour. "
This is true with a single type of sugar, however in 2003, some researcher hypothises that sugar x is processed by process X and sugar Y is by the Y-process. One process can only process 60Grams of sugar per hour, but if you mixed two types of sugars, then you can net more then 60 grams of sugar. Turns out he was right and in the athletes that he studied, showed significant improvements in endurance. Since then alot of sports drink companies have switch their formula to go with these findings. If you want to read a little more indepth on this, check out this months article in Outsider Magazine.
To the OP, on longer rides, I will mix my sports drink on the REALLY strong side in one bottle, and use it almost like an energy shot, and the other with water.