Nope. Research says it's extremely difficult if not near impossible to alter your physiologic electrolyte level in 2 hrs of exercise enough to cause muscle cramping by generalized loss of electrolytes. If we measured your plasma sodium, k+, and other lytes after 2 hrs, they would be pretty much identical to baseline.

As said, the cramping is from local stresses exceeding trained capacity. The cramps from generalized losses don't happen unless you're wayyyy deep into losses, which takes hours, even with a lot of sweat.

Even with optimal lytes & hydration, pros and olympic athletes going hard for 2-3 hrs cramp at the end of their race.

+1

I've been to talks by Stacy Sims; she knows what she is talking about. Here is a decent paragraph with the jist of some of why drinks like Gatorade aren't ideal and a recipe for a decent home made drink if you don't want to spring for the "secret drink mix".

The stuff from secretdrinkmix.com is awesome, but being a poor graduate student, I've played around a bit and my preference is:

64 oz water
1/2 cup sugar (I have a sweet tooth)
4 tsp sodium citrate (instead of normal table salt which is sodium chloride)
2 packets of emergen-c electro mix (or 4 normal emergen-c packets, going for ~800mg of potassium)
1 packet of kool-aid (for taste)

This gives enough to fill a bottle or two and have some before and after the ride. In the end with the kool-aid and everything the cost per drink isn't that much less than secretdrinkmix.com so when my current supply of emergen-c and kool-aid runs out, I'll probably just get the real stuff.

I picked up a bottle of Essential Electrolytes (by NutriBiotic) from a Health Food Store in Canada. I liked them because not only did they contain the electrolytes, but they also have vitamin C and Zinc ... and they don't contain soy, milk, egg, yeast, corn, wheat, excipients, sweeteners, colourings, flavors or preservatives.

Here in Australia, we've gone with Endurolytes (by Hammer Nutrition), which we ordered online. They seem to work quite well too. They don't have Vit C or Zinc but they've got a B vitamin ... and they don't contain artificial flavors, colours or sweeteners, wheat, gluten, dairy components, added simple sugars or stimulants.


I will often take a multi-vitamin with minerals a day in the week(s) leading up to a long ride as well. There aren't enough studies done on the effect long distance cycling has on the body, and particularly with regard to nutrient depletion ... so I figure it probably doesn't hurt to supplement my intake of real food a little bit.


I am not sure about the role of electrolytes in cramping (hydration seems to have a much bigger effect in my experience), but they sure do settle a stomach quickly and make me feel so much better about being out there on a bicycle on a long ride.

And DGlenday and I are not talking about a short 2-hour ride ... we're talking about 12 hours and more. For a ride of 2-hours and less, most riders don't need any sports drinks, food, or supplements of any sort (just water is required). The normal diet should be adequate. But on long rides ... 6 hours, 8 hours, 12 hours, and more, there is definitely a need for a lot more focus on fuel, hydration, and replenishing vitamins and minerals.

whatever you like to drink, plus Morton's Lite Salt. some potassium, some sodium.

i use koolaid plus lite salt. i take an old gatorade powder container, fill it 80% full of sugar, add 3 tsp of lite salt, and two koolaid packets. then i shake it a lot. when i want to mix up a drink, i use the old gatorade scoop and the measuring instructions on the container.

You guys scare me. I have never seen so many magical concoctions and weird science. It occurs to me that if sports drinks contain mostly sugars of some and rely mostly on marketing, is there any reason that the same marketing techniques have not been used on the products from health food/ nutrition stores. About the only product that meets the label requirements is the pickle juice.

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Nice video

I Like how deep you have to dig to find out a partial list of what's in it...marketing at its best :-)

hhnngg1 knows what he's talking about.

In the end, it's all just water with electrolytes (sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, and some others I forget) mixed in which make it taste bad, so also some sugar added to make it not taste bad. The differences are just in the ratios and form the ingredients come in (citrate vs chloride for the sodium, fructose vs sucrose vs glucose for the sugars, etc.). Once you get past all the chemistry sounding names, it isn't quite as magical and weird as it seems and a lot of the options are pretty much the same.

I do agree that there is definitely some black magic involved in getting the ratios right and what form of each ingredient is best. Thus why I chose to find someone whose credentials I trust (Stacy Sims) and pretty much just do what she says. I'm guessing it doesn't matter much which expert one follows, as long as they are a scientist and not in marketing.

Hnnng 1 is right on with this. Lot of magic hocum out there in regards to electrolyte replacement.

I personally like putting 5% dextrose in Lactated Ringer's in a Camelbak and drip it slowly to an IV in my arm while riding. That is TRUE electrolyte replacement.

Sure, but what he's talking about (no need for electrolytes on short rides) doesn't seem relevant to the main topic of the thread - possible need for electrolytes on rides of 200, 400, 600+ km.

Short rides 1-2 hrs, whatever you like.
Medium rides 2-7hrs, carefully weighed and measured science based peer reviewed outrageously expensive sports nutrition products.
Long rides 7+ hrs, whatever you can tolerate.

This is how I have learned it as well. That said, I use the nuun tablets but only on rather hot, long rides.

1/2 tsp of sodium bicarb in 24oz water keeps the cramps away for me. Can't taste the salt and it's dirt cheap.
I take 2 salt tablets every 4 hours starting 1 day before a long RR with lots of water... repeat afterwards.

The best commercial mix I've tried is Clif crisp apple; other than that I can't stand the sweet syrupy taste of most drinks when you mix them according to their directions.

Dunno if somebody mention it but there is a bubble gum with electrolytes.

8 oz orange juice
24 oz water
1/4 teaspoon Morton Lite Salt
1/2 teaspoon Kool-Aid Orange unsweetened
1 packet Splenda

Mix well.

Morton Lite Salt:



You can leave out the Kool-Aid and Splenda if you don't mind a slightly bland, slightly flavored drink...all natural then.