I am I the only one or does anyone else really not like to drink straight water. I don't mean sport drinks and replacement drinks I just mean something with taste? Personally I drink Crystal Light on the bike and save the calories for beer at the end of the ride. I also do not mind diet coke or pepsi. I hate Gatorade only time I ever used it was in the Chicago Marathon in 1989 and that was a mistake. That was a very hot marathon and while I survived ok an actually ran ok. I could have done better not going for Gatorade. I thought with the heat I should but it was not great idea.

So on the bike it is weird but I don't carry water. I could drink water if I eat something like crackers or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but I never eat unless I am going on a ride unless I am going more than 75.

I am a drinker of a lot of water, not just when riding. I rarely go anywhere without a glass or bottle of water with me. When it is hot I drink a 32 oz. bottle in about an hour. I used to drink Gatorade but it upset my stomach, even G2, the lower sugar type. I sometimes make a beverage of water, apple juice, lemon/lime and salt. Mostly, for me, water works best.

I used to use straight water, and eat my carbs and electrolytes. However as I got more serious and faster riding it was just easier to put it all in my bottles. I do for 60 mile plus rides take a few snacks like a box of raisins or a granola bar or similar. But many times I finish those rides never touching the snacks.

Powdered mixes with carbs and electrolytes are easy to carry in a back pocket and replenish a bottle with when you get to a water source.

I sweat so much I have to drink lots of water. Yesterday I rode 98 miles and I drank 6+ large bottles along with a qt of Gatorade and a qt of root beer with lunch. Lunch was 1/2 of a large sub sandwich and a bag of chips. I also had 2 granola bars and a chocolate covered peanut butter thing.

It wasn't hot so I didn't get dehydrated. On a hot climbing day I can drink a lot more water.

Kudos for not obsessing over those missing 2 miles!

Yeah, I probably would have either rounded up or said "almost a hundred miles" <grin> So now I feel challenged since this year I haven't been over 63 miles.

Yeah, I've never done that. I've seen people ride around in circles trying to get to an even 100.

My first ride this long in a long time.

I know people who will circle the lot to get an even 50 or 62 or any other milestone. They would be really distressed to be 2 miles off a century!

Water only in my bottles, and it's usually ice water. I eat E-Gels for my electrolytes, and if I'm still feeling it when I get home I eat pickles and drink pickle juice.

I have a mid ride food plan that works for me.

How old are you? If you have a cardiologist like mine, you will learn to like straight water or else!

My docy is in my head every hour telling me, '48 oz every day - minimum!'

I love Crystal Light and Diet Pepsi and Splenda sweetened tea Hate straight water. But have a reusable dishwasher safe bottle for Crystal Light and similar beverages on longer rides.

One bottle always has water, if only to pour it over my head and neck when it is hot.


-Tim-

Yeah! That's why I generally carry 2. One to cool down, well not the whole bottle. And I don't ride nearly as far as some of you.

Municipal water in the US seldom tastes good. We have a ledge-mounted filter and its output has no taste, just plain H2O. So that's what we drink. Tastes just fine on the bike.

Straight water keeps the hydration bladder from gumming up.

Same here. Water just doesn't taste good to me. I don't think it's specific to location, it's just how it is wherever I go.

Until I get thirsty enough, then it's just fantastic.

But yeah, usually it's Crystal Lite for me. Half a long little packet into my 1.5L nalgene, then seal the packet with a binder clip for next time.

Isn't "straight water" an oxymoron? If a drink is straight, there is no water in it.

Seriously, if I mix in two spoonfuls per bottle of Vitalyte (marketed in the past as E.R.G., GookinAid and Hydrolyte though the formula never changed), I drink far more than if my bottles have just water in them. I more want to drink it, I can and will drink more each time and it stays down better. In fact, I can drink nearly half a bottle in one drink, something I would never do with water.

I used to like flavoured water when I cycled ... but almost a decade ago, I switched to plain water and I prefer that.

I also drink a couple tall glasses of plain water during the day at work ... it's nice.

I'm water only guy, all the time, on or off the bike, at room temperature.

Pretty much, same.

This is interesting and something I had not experienced until recently. I tried an electrolyte powder called Liquid IV toward the end of a long (for me) and hot ride Saturday. I took a good slug and was surprised to see I'd emptied half the bottle. Went down so easily! Have to think that's a good thing when dehydrated, it got me home. https://liquid-iv.com/

I think it's a personal thing. I don't mind plain water (although I prefer ice in it) until I've gone through about 3 quarts in a day, then I want something a little different. Straight tap water is fine most places (although in L.A. it needs to be poured from one glass to another a few times to aerate it, and the sulfur water in southern LA is just nasty).

My wife, OTOH, will drink anything from a can or bottle as long as it's not plain water.

Some water tastes better than others. My filtered tap water tastes pretty good. San Pellegrino tastes good, but it's not practical for cycling, and too expensive for gulping.

Almost always just straight water. I am not concerned with having "taste" when I am riding a bicycle.

I always have one bottle of plain water (luckily we have great water here in Northern California). If it's a multi-bottle ride then some kind of electrolyte replenishment drink goes in the second bottle. In my experience, not using electrolytes can result in horrendous cramps after 50 or so miles on a hot day.

If it's a killer ride like the Deathride or a double century then the plain water bottle gets a carbohydrate mix (e.g. Maertens) put in it roughly every other bottle fill so as to avoid bonking. I really prefer not to do that because I really don't like the taste and texture of that stuff.

I find it surprising that so many people in the thread above talk about putting a non-nutritious chemical mixture (Crystal Lite) into their water purely for flavor unless the water is really foul tasting. Water is what keeps us alive.