What sports drinks and or supplements does everyone take to complete a long endurance ride/race? Thus far I have only used water and gatorade but have bonked out a couple of times on a 100 mile ride.

A 100 miler needs more than sports drinks to stop bonking. But in general I look for an Isotonic supplement for the water bottle that I like the taste of. And I also carry some extra powder in the pockets in individual sachets to mix up extra. There are plenty around but some of them leave too much after taste after about the 6th bottle.

My own personal taste is for one called "Leppin" and I use the training formula in Fruit Burst flavour. I buy it in 2kg tubs and I go through about 2 tubs a year at £25 a tub so a lot of it does get used.

I define long as over 50 miles and 20 miles as short.
Water is fine for short to medium rides. For long rides I use PowerBars and drink Accelerade. When taking Powerbars be careful. You need to counter the high sodium with water and not more sports drinks that have high amounts of sodium. I start out with two bottles of Accelerade and then switch to PowerBars when I replenish with water along the way. Everyone has their "magic formula", but just water is not going to do it over 40 miles.

During organized events there is the trusty soft pretzel.

I don't race, but I do long rides. Lately I have been using Nuun tablets in my water bottles. Easier to carry along than powder. But I'm not real picky about it. I'll stop for Gatorade or whatever is available. Just need to get those electrolytes. I keep a Clif bar and a couple of gel packs in my pocket for energy. If I am not in a hurry (and I'm usually not), I'll stop for some real food like a Subway sandwich.

I've tried a bit of everything and what I've found is the best thing is what works for you. I've use Heed, Sustained Energy, Gels, Gatorade, PowerAde, Accelerade, Electolyte Tablets, Cliff Bars, PB&J and any number of various foods.

I think that because I started and have used Gatorade for so long that my system is just accustomed to that as one of my staples. I can even notice a difference between PowerAde and GatorAde. What always works for me are: Gatorade, Bananas, Lance Toasty Peanut Butter crackers and all that supplemented by Hammer Gel and Electrolyte tablets depending on the temps and duration of the ride. Throwing in a 12oz can of Coke with 1-2 hours left in the ride seems to be both a mental and physical boost for me as well.

If you experiment, do it on training rides before an event-otherwise your long ride could become a real train wreck should something not agree with your digestive system.

Oh-the best thing I've ever done is to use R4 immediately after a ride (comes in powder and various flavors-fruit punch here). The 4:1 combo of carbs to protein seems to work really well for me. I suspect you can get similar assistance using chocolate milk but my digestive track doesn't handle milk at all. Plus sometimes it's hard to keep milk cool when rides start/finish away from the house!! BTW, Supplemental Warehouse has the large containers on a great sale right now..

Well, for rides of all distances, I drink water and only water. I do eat fruit during the ride which is good for potassium and for salt replacement, I just eat some table salt. Works for me. It ain't rocket science. As noted above, salty pretzals are a good choice.

Thanks for all the terrific responses, gives me some more ideas for experimentation