Does anyone still use Gatorade?
 

I'm a new cyclist and normally ride from 1-2.5 hrs at a time. I do bring water, but no food. Now that the weather is much warmer here I'm sweating more and am thinking about bringing something besides water. I hear about all the fancy/expensive drinks, but anything wrong with plain Gatorade?

No.

I use Gatorade. It has the major advantage of being available almost everywhere.

You really don't need it on sub 2 hour rides however.

One supermarket around here has Gatorade powder, so it's fairly cheap per serving and you can choose how strong you want it (not very, for me).

If I happen to buy Gatorade while I'm out on a ride, I cut it 50/50 with water. My stomach handles it better. Normally I try to bring enough Gu for fuel and fill up with water as needed.

fancy drinks like gel? those are more like energy bar alternatives.

I just use the cheaper stuff they have at costco.
I water them down a bit since the 750mL bottles don't top off with 591mL and 500mL sports drink bottles.

I buy Gatorade G2 when I stop at stores.

I use Gatorade cut 50% w/water for my rides, which are normally at least 2 hours. I've read that if your ride is over an hour long then you want to give your body some of the electrolytes that have been lost, but you don't want to give yourself too much carb, so a 50% Gatorade is pretty good. Gatorade started it all, so every other drink is pretty much based of it in some way, I would imagine.

are you diabetic?

I use Gatorade powder all the time - when I can get it. It's bizarre, but none of the supermarkets around here seem to carry the tubs of powder anymore, just the box full of individual pouches. :mad: Whatever, I'm moving in two weeks. Anyway, Gatorade works great. Personally, I prefer the original lemon-lime flavor. Really, there's no need to worry about needing the fancy-pants sports drinks like HEED or something. Good ol' Gatorade does the trick. Heck, iced tea will do in a pinch - I used homemade iced tea (English Breakfast, btw) cut with some water on my last hard ride, worked fine. Just make sure you're getting your electrolytes. In principle, you could just mix up water with sugar and salt and probably be all right, but it might not taste too good.

If I have to go with Gatorade I prefer the powder version because I can water it down a little. No high fructose corn crap in it either.

I also think the powder does not have brominated vegetable oil in it either.

i prefer hammer heed

i like gatorade for other sports, but always the powder never the bottles

when it comes to endurance activities like cycling and running i prefer complex carbs to simple sugars

That stuff makes my teeth feel weird, I use Nuun tablets combined with water instead.

Does include partially hydrogenated coconut oil(at least in fruit punch version).

For rides less than 2 hrs, you really don't need it. For rides of a few hours, it's OK. For long rides, I'd avoid it. The fancy sports drinks and gels use a different kinds of sugars that give much more even energy.

Not that you can't drink gatorade on long rides. I once drank 2 gallons of gatorade in one day. I wouldn't recommend that unless you like puking though.

:wtf:

:lol::lol:

Double century in hot sun. I really did need that much liquid, but gatorade was not the right choice....

Gatorade powder, bought in bulk when it's on sale. Ride with two bottles of one water and one Gatorade on the longer rides.

Should have gone with milk.

http://www.intowit.com/wp-content/up...bad_choice.jpg

Super Wal Mart always has the tubs....around here anyway.

I almost solely drink Gatorade on rides.

Used Gatorade for a long time but really don't like all the High Fructose Corn Syrup and other artificial crap that they put in there.

No.

I drink it because its 2 for $3 at several of the local stores so we'll each put in $1.50. I start off with 2 bottles with unflavored Heed, then go to the G2.

powdered gatorade (9 gallon cans) is about all I use. it's the cheapest... and it works ...go figure....

I shat out over 20,000 pedaling miles in 2008 (combined... all my bikes) and I am still alive

so it can't be bad.