Caffeine-free drink for during ride?

Zippy

I'm out on my bike across the fields for six hours at a time – at a leisurely pace.

I would drink plain water while out (and beg refills at an allotment-garden and an English Heritage stately pile that happen to be on my route). But my thorough tiredness seemed to indicate I needed something better. So I went on to one bidon of flat Lucozade to one of water. Suspecting that I could do better than Lucozade, though, I posted on BRadar; and a number of replies pointed me the way of Holland & Barrett.

I tried their 'Body Fortress'-brand 'Iso Energy' and it seems to do the trick; but have since noticed in the small print that it contains caffeine, which I would rather do without.

Can anyone recommend a drink, preferably inexpensive, that replaces the salts lost in sweating and gives a mild energy-boost, please? Equally, I would be very happy to entertain suggestions as to what to drink before, during and after a ride – all caffeine-free, note.

Thank you.

Zip'.

The Northern Monkey

Isotonic drinks don't contain any caffeine by definition. fact.

Now that I've got a min from playing PS3

Have a read here... might help.
http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12572817

supersonic

I think I have seen a drink advertised as Isotonic having caffeine in as a 'flavouring'.

supersonic

Lucozade Sport 'with caffeine'!

http://www.lucozade.com/SPORT/products/ ... ost-drink/

The Northern Monkey

Humm.. well according to the standards set by the BDA isotonic drinks can't contain caffeine.

As caffeine is a diuretic, it would stop any benefits of what an isotonic drink is supposed to do... therefore its not isotonic.

Its kinda naughty that though... a sports drink is regarded as being isotonic. They actually call the caffeine drink "sport focus". Possibly a loophole somewhere.

Would be interesting to see what my Nutrition lecturer has to say on this!!

nicklouse

bigbenj_08
Please follow this up. :twisted:

supersonic

16mg/l is fairly low I suppose.

The Expert Opinion section has a vid though I have not seen it.

The Northern Monkey

yea thats what I was thinking.

Kinda makes it pointless though... my dissertation was on glucose and caffeine drinks. I've looked a hundreds of journals documenting the affect of caffeine on the CNS and cognition.

I ended up using 75mg of caffeine per 250ml water in my testing, as that was around the normal for those types of study (unless they were repeated doses),

The Northern Monkey

ok so from what I can see... its again a difference in opinion between the UK and the USA. Our standards say that isotonic drink don't contain caffeine, USA can be with or without.

There are no legal areas set by the UK food standards agency with regards to sport drink definitions.
Within sport, the definitions are set by the British Dietetics Association, but the guidelines have no legal obligations.

FSR Si

I use Gatorade when i'm out riding, doesn't have any caffeine in it, its a still drink, not over flavoured, and doesn't taste powdery like some of the "sports drinks"

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_ ... n_gatorade

Ditch Witch

1. caffeine is actually not that diuretic. For example, in tea and coffee, the water taken in is far more than that expelled by the caffeine's diuretic properties. However, more caffeine than that might be worse.

2. caffeine is proving to be a very good sport drink for short term performance boosts. Don't discount it completely.

3. Try something like PSP:

http://www.cyclelane.co.uk/products.php ... 1760&rs=gb

You can even get deals occasionally where you get a bottle and a sample of their performance, recovery, gels and snack bars. I use it for triathlon and it's good gear. I have found it to upset my tum if I drink too much of it, though, so I always take it and water for long rides.

Nik_B

Tea might be ok but try having a cup of coffee after a ride. I've done it a couple of times and end up with a nasty head ache no doubt due to dehydration.

Ridg

have you considered making your own energy drinks, which can be as simple as fruit juice, sugar salt and water?

gives you the option to mix them to your personal needs, eg the right iso / hydro tonic mix

nothing to do with the OPs question, but an interesting read

http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/caffeine.html

Caffeine mobilizes fat stores and encourages working muscles to use fat as a fuel. This delays the depletion of muscle glycogen and allows for a prolongation of exercise. The critical time period in glycogen sparing appears to occur during the first 15 minutes of exercise, where caffeine has been shown to decrease glycogen utilization by as much as 50%. Glycogen saved at the beginning is thus available during the later stages of exercise.

the issue with this is that caffeine is a restricted drug

Zippy

bigbenj_08 wrote:

Isotonic drinks don't contain any caffeine by definition. fact.

Now that I've got a min from playing PS3

Have a read here... might help.
http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12572817

Erm, I'm not trying to start an argument or anything, but the IsoEnergy powder from Holl'&Barr' does list 'Anhydrous caffeine' as an ingredient. (I'm to avoid caffeine in the afternoons, you see.) 'Isotonic'? 'Ice'n'tonic'?: it's all Greek to me. Thanks for the tip about PSP, though: that looks just the ticket. A further question, though: it is available as a powder, isn't it? (The websites I looked at didn't make it clear.)

And thank you, too, Ridg, for the idea of mixing-up my own drink.

You've given me plenty of food er, drink, for thought.

Thank you all, again.

Zip'.

Surf-Matt

I use 50/50 water and Lucozade Sport. Seems to do the job fine.

gaz047

zippy, yeah its powder mate, use it myself and blackcurrant is the best flavour imho
the lucozade/water mix is surprisingly tasty too!

Razer_MTB

Tesco are doing the 500g tubs of psp22 and go electrolyte for £7.50 each. they have a couple of different flavours of the electrolyte too

The Northern Monkey

Ridg wrote:

have you considered making your own energy drinks, which can be as simple as fruit juice, sugar salt and water?

gives you the option to mix them to your personal needs, eg the right iso / hydro tonic mix

nothing to do with the OPs question, but an interesting read

http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/caffeine.html

Caffeine mobilizes fat stores and encourages working muscles to use fat as a fuel. This delays the depletion of muscle glycogen and allows for a prolongation of exercise. The critical time period in glycogen sparing appears to occur during the first 15 minutes of exercise, where caffeine has been shown to decrease glycogen utilization by as much as 50%. Glycogen saved at the beginning is thus available during the later stages of exercise.

the issue with this is that caffeine is a restricted drug

Where?
Not in sport its not. It not on the banned substances list.

World Anti-Doping Agency wrote:

The following substances included in the 2009 Monitoring Program (bupropion,
caffeine, phenylephrine, phenylpropanolamine, pipradol, pseudoephedrine,
synephrine) are not considered as Prohibited Substances.

oh and..

http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/caffeine.html wrote:

THE MEDICAL INFORMATION PROVIDED IS OF A GENERAL NATURE AND CANNOT BE SUBSTITUTED FOR CARE PROVIDED BY A QUALIFIED HEALTH PROFESSIONAL.

That website is not peer reviewed.


Ditch Witch
your information isn't in context. yes caffeine had been found to improve stimulation and reaction times of athletes in short bouts of exercise. There have been very varied results regarding caffeine and enhancing performance in any endurance sports.

deffler

I use the NUUN tablets available on Wiggle & CRC, I absoluteley swear by them. Very light on the stomach. I use em for cycling, football, hangovers and work as I get dehydrated due to air con. These have only 6 cals in em. Come in a small tube so you can carry em with you on a ride

Then use a energy gel, I use high5. This combo reduces calories and sugar that Lucozade & Gatorade are full off.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Nuun_ ... lets_(Tube)/5360040045/