If you read the hammer nutrition propaganda, you will, like me, go out and try heed and or perpetuem instead of what you have been drinking(eload). i don't much like the taste of heed, and perpetuem tastes like chalk. If you are so inclined, google eload and go to the web site of the company that makes it, nice comparison between sucrose(eload) as a carbohydrate energy source and maltodextrin(heed). in addition heed has a very low level of sodium, and stevia according to the eload folks has no nutritional value. the heed had some untoward effects on my gi tract to say the least, so I am sticking with eload. And although I don't drink coke during rides, one wonders about it when i see the strongest riders in the world, fueled by, i think it is safe to assume, the best cycling nutritionists, drinking little 8 oz cans of coke during the tour. hmmm.

If you read the HEED label, the 2nd ingredient, after maltodextrin, is xylitol. No nutritional value that I know of. Now why would that be? You might ask my dentist! I think I paid for one of the fenders on his new Mercedes SUV after only a couple of years of drinking Cytomax. Haven't had any trouble since I quit the sugary drinks. Long term cost/benefit analysis. A reporter asked Pantani how he was going to celebrate his Giro win. He said, "Lock myself in the house with my girlfriend and a bottle of Viagra." Me, all I've got is 3 gold crowns.

I like Heed, especially the Melon flavor. I really like Melon actually.

I can understand if you don't like it though, cause it is a bit different tasting than most drinks. But if you can tolerate it, you might start liking it after a while!

All you have is 3 gold crowns? What happened to all your other teeth?

I agree. It was always good. Very mild. On my first century about a month ago they had Gatorade and it pissed me off. Way too strong.
This, too.

All I drank on my first century 5 days ago was HEED and some water. I don't think it tasted bad at all but they might have been mixing it weak at the aid stations. It probably saved me from bonking but it did NOT sit well in my stomach. I felt nauseous almost the whole ride.

I assure you eload is NOT just artifically colored sugar water. First it has no color, second if you read the ingredients it has a very good mix of electrolytes including calcium and magnesium. It has a much higher sodium and potassium content than heed. Not saying there is anything wrong with heed, just not for me.

I don't mind the taste of HEED at all. However, I don't like to drink anything except for water on rides so I use gels.

I drink Heed and like it, but for some reason it makes my bottles smell weird.

Xylitol is said to reduce the risk of cavities and tooth decay?
Main side effect seems to be a pro-motility/laxative effect and possibly kidney stones if administered by IV.

http://www.yourdentistryguide.com/xylitol/

You can't leave HEED out in the heat for long before it goes off. If it is a hot day, you've got to consume it fairly quickly ... don't leave it sitting in your bottle for more than a couple hours.

Also, if you finish your ride and still have some HEED left in the bottle, you should either drink it or toss it because you won't be able to drink it on your ride the next day like you can with leftover water ... it'll be quite off by the next day.

what do you mean off? It tastes bad or there is a change in the molecular makeup?

It tastes sour ... like when milk goes off.

It's possible to find all sorts of weird stuff on the web. Try the wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylitol.

I've never taken it by IV and don't recommend that or the administration of any non-prescription drugs by IV.

My dentist recommended that I chew Spry xylitol gum. Seems to work, but hey, what do I know? Certainly not that it does have nutritional value!

I've often stuck my bottles back in the fridge after a ride, then used them on a ride on another day and not noticed anything funny about the HEED. But I always run my empty bottles and caps through the dishwasher, which has a water preheat feature, so maybe it's just getting them really clean.

But I don't use any nutrient stuff in my bottles when touring, just plain water.

Sugar Alcohol (Xylitol) doesn't help, improve or have any value to your teeth itself. The way it works is that when in chewing gum (not a drink) it increases saliva and the acid in your saliva kills bacteria.

From the Wiki leak I posted:
"Recent research[16] confirms a plaque-reducing effect and suggests that the compound, having some chemical properties similar to sucrose, attracts and then "starves" harmful micro-organisms, allowing the mouth to remineralize damaged teeth with less interruption. (However, this same effect also interferes with yeast micro-organisms and others, so xylitol is inappropriate for making yeast-based bread, for instance.)
Xylitol is specific in its inhibition of mutans streptococci, bacteria that are significant contributors to tooth decay.[17] Xylitol inhibits mutans streptococci in the presence of other sugars, with the exception of fructose.[18] Daily doses of xylitol below 3.44 grams are ineffective and doses above 10.32 grams show no additional benefit.[17]
Saliva containing xylitol is more alkaline than saliva which contains other sugar products. After taking xylitol products, the concentration of basic amino acids in saliva may rise. When saliva is alkaline (i.e., its pH is above 7), calcium and phosphate salts in saliva start to precipitate into those parts of enamel where they are lacking[19].
Xylitol-based products are allowed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to make the medical claim that they do not promote dental cavities.[20]
A recent study demonstrated that, as a water additive for animals, xylitol was effective in reducing plaque and calculus accumulation in cats.[21]"

The bracketed numbers refer to links to studies in the Wiki article. Cats don't chew gum, to my knowledge.

I can't stand HEED. I prefer Accelerade blue berry. Mix 1/2 water and 1/2 country time lemonade. That is some good stuff.

Most any energy drink can be tweaked as far as flavor. Just add a fruit juice to it. No big deal. Then maybe you "can stand it".

Just don't add a sugared flavouring to HEED ... use something like Crystal Light, Hammergel, or some other flavouring with no sugar.

I did a triathlon sponsored by Hammer, they gave me some energy gels, tasted kinda funny, but it did grow on me.

well i must say that the raspberry, montana huckleberry and cinnamon apple are just amazing, i cant stand the banana, tropical, and chocolate

HEED RULES! I've been drinking HEED for the past 1,500 miles in Texas heat and it has never done me wrong. Hell I carry a bottle of HEED with me when I run too.

Now don't get me on Accelerade...that stuff tasted so rancid while riding, I brought the entire jug BACK to Vitamin Shoppe and got a full cash refund.

i love heed/perpetuem. I find it interesting so many complain about the taste because compared to gatorade the flavor is much less prominent. I just bought a huge container of it. it was $42.50 with a discount I get at my lbs. they list the serving size as 1 scoop which is 100 calories. If I were doing a longish ride I would probably go 2 scoops per bottle and alternate drinking 1 bottle of that with one bottle of water and a nuun tablet to cover my hydration/nutrition needs.

I haven't tried recoverite because I have a thing of glutamine powder at home. I'm not sure that recoverite is any different than perpetuem with some glutamine added. Glutamine is cheap to buy on it's own so it's easy to just do that and add it into whatever drink i'm gonna use.