Energy Drinks

Irri_Tant

like High5 etc

which one would you recommend for 30 mile plus bike rides on tarmac with small to medium climbs?

ride_whenever

whichever one works for you.

Based on my testing (on my control group!) high 5 4:1 endurance seems to be fairly popular for longer training sessions.

Irri_Tant

ride_whenever wrote:

whichever one works for you.

haven't used one yet

does age make a difference as I'm 51.5 years young :shock:

Chip \'oyler

ride_whenever wrote:

whichever one works for you.

Based on my testing (on my control group!) high 5 4:1 endurance seems to be fairly popular for longer training sessions.

+1 for High 5 4:1.

Also Maximuscle do very good recovery products

ride_whenever

Not really, the best bet would be to pop round your local shops and try them all by the sachet. Not exactly cheap, but cheaper than buying a kilo of each!

rick_chasey

Dark Dog FTW

crumbschief

Worthington White Shield,that gets me up any hill,well when i'm not on the bike that is,hmmm come to think of it i have not tried that,i think this calls for more research and a night ride.

ScottieP

-1 on the High 5 4:1 - it always upsets my stomach. I found PSP22 better and the ZipVit stuff the best for me so far - but I think it tastes hideous, but gave me plenty of energy.

I agree getting small portions of quite a few and trying them is the way to go - we're all different and some will work for you better than others.

neilmacd

Maxim stuff is good but seemingly harder to get hold of nowadays.
Zipvit fruit punch is quite nice tasting but only available online although in Zipvit's favour the trial boxes they do for a few quid are good value

SteveR_100Milers

Lucozade sport works ok and is available at just about every garage and supermarket - the caffeine version is the best. Nothing however comes close to full phat coke (not pepsi).

maddog 2

+1 High5 4:1

Torq stuff is okay too

Scrumple

Lard

Irri_Tant

ride_whenever wrote:

Not really, the best bet would be to pop round your local shops and try them all by the sachet.

that's what I did yesterday

2 for 1 on the high5 stuff

might be able to try them today when if I get out on the new stead

Irri_Tant

Irri_Tant wrote:

haven't used one yet

been out today on a 30 miler

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/34160

start & finish are not my home address but were I start the clock after a short warm up

Downed a banana & a high5 gel drink and carried a 750ml Lucozade Sport drink.

No feeling tired during the ride

Finished the drink off when I got home

Think I'll invest in a tub of high5 or similar

Soreknees

Scrumple wrote:

Lard

rhodrigwyn

http://www.mybikefood.com/

and its made in the uk.
And lard clearly.

wicked

You do not need energy drink for 30 mile rides! Anything under 90 minutes and you really are wasting your time and money by consuming this stuff.
Some of the old boys arounf here go out for 5 hours with one 500ml bottle of pop!

NWLondoner

PSP22 and SIS Go used with ZipVIt gels.

brin

wicked wrote:

You do not need energy drink for 30 mile rides! Anything under 90 minutes and you really are wasting your time and money by consuming this stuff.
Some of the old boys arounf here go out for 5 hours with one 500ml bottle of pop!

+1 any fluid intake for that distance should be sufficient no need for energy stuff, won't harm you drinking it, but can't see the point in wasting it on a short trip, keep it for the long ones.

jibberjim

brin wrote:

wicked wrote:

You do not need energy drink for 30 mile rides! Anything under 90 minutes and you really are wasting your time and money by consuming this stuff.
Some of the old boys arounf here go out for 5 hours with one 500ml bottle of pop!

+1 any fluid intake for that distance should be sufficient no need for energy stuff, won't harm you drinking it, but can't see the point in wasting it on a short trip, keep it for the long ones.

Almost no-one can carry sufficient glycogen stores to ride all out for 90 minutes without utterly bonking, at an all out intensity most people have only 60 minutes, and this assumes it's from a full tank (ie well rested, completely fueled etc.) Of course if you're not riding at close to maximum intensity then it doesn't matter and certainly pottering around for 90 minutes (or 2 hours or even 3 hours if you're going easy enough) then you don't need any food.

However if you are working at close to your max, then you almost certainly do, even if you would have just enough glycogen stored, it makes little sense to complete deplete yourself as that makes recovery harder and will impact your ability to do the same again the next day.

You cannot talk about the food requirements someone may have by looking at time or distance alone, you can only look by talking about the individual intensity. At 50% of their max, they need nothing, but good eat anything. At 100% of max, they need lots, but could eat virtually nothing. In between it's a different story, at close to the max efforts energy drinks are well worth it.

moffatt666

Powerthirst. Google it

thinbo

I've just ordered one of these trial pack from zipvit seems pretty good value for a fiver!
http://www.zipvit.com/success/

btw on a totally different note what cycle computer do you use. I like the way you can overlie cadence and HR on the elevation profile.

Looking at your HR on the graph, my guestimate is that you were avergaing somewhere in the region of 75% of max HR

thinbo

Moffatt666 wrote:

Powerthirst. Google it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRuNxHqwazs

incog24

jibberjim wrote:

brin wrote:

wicked wrote:

You do not need energy drink for 30 mile rides! Anything under 90 minutes and you really are wasting your time and money by consuming this stuff.
Some of the old boys arounf here go out for 5 hours with one 500ml bottle of pop!

+1 any fluid intake for that distance should be sufficient no need for energy stuff, won't harm you drinking it, but can't see the point in wasting it on a short trip, keep it for the long ones.

Almost no-one can carry sufficient glycogen stores to ride all out for 90 minutes without utterly bonking, at an all out intensity most people have only 60 minutes, and this assumes it's from a full tank (ie well rested, completely fueled etc.) Of course if you're not riding at close to maximum intensity then it doesn't matter and certainly pottering around for 90 minutes (or 2 hours or even 3 hours if you're going easy enough) then you don't need any food.

However if you are working at close to your max, then you almost certainly do, even if you would have just enough glycogen stored, it makes little sense to complete deplete yourself as that makes recovery harder and will impact your ability to do the same again the next day.

You cannot talk about the food requirements someone may have by looking at time or distance alone, you can only look by talking about the individual intensity. At 50% of their max, they need nothing, but good eat anything. At 100% of max, they need lots, but could eat virtually nothing. In between it's a different story, at close to the max efforts energy drinks are well worth it.

I imagine the OP is talking about normal riding though rather than a TT? In which case its probably best to stay off the energy drink unless you're sweating buckets and need electrolyte. Not great for your bank balance or teeth to be using energy drinks on short rides. Probably best just eating before you head out. Low GI food should see you through 2hrs fine.

Velonutter

For a normal 30 mile ride I just take 500 ml of High 5 Extreme Source unless I just want a recovery ride and then only take water.

I really only start to worry about Carb Source from 40 miles + and then I take High 5 4:1 and a bottle of Extreme Source.

PSP22 & Electrolyte form SIS contains Aspartame which I don't like as there are too many bad things about it.

Zipvit is sickly sweet and made me burp like to SIS stuff.

Harry B

A 30 mile ride would just need one bottle of water. We did 80 hilly miles on Saturday (glorious weather and the best ride of the year by far) and I consumed 2 large bottles of very weak PSP22, a can of coke, a Mars bar and an ice cream Mmmmm nice :roll:

freehub

Energy drink seems a waste of cash for rides of 30 miles.

pbt150

A few general points about sports supplements:

Look at the ingredients. Learn the difference between monosaccharides/disaccharides and longer sugars. Look at the fructose/glucose content and do some reading around to see what each does. For example, PSP22 vs Go - PSP22 contains maltodextrin and fructose, Go has a faster acting sugar balance and also has electrolytes in it. Learn when you need salt, when you need hydration, and when you need energy, and make up your drinks as you see fit. After that find the brand that delivers the ingredients in the most palatable form.

The High5 4:1 mix contains Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAA's). During prolonged exercise (>90 mins) your muscles can be used as a metabolic substrate, as they are very rich in amino acids that are easily converted to glucose or used directly in aerobic metabolism. This happens especially as your glycogen stores start to get depleted, and is an intermediate step in switching to mainly fuelling your body using fat (actually very similar to starvation!). So High5 is good at preventing this, so spares your muscles.

People here say you don't need sports drinks for a 30 mile ride, and they are probably right if you take the ride in isolation. However, if you're planning on doing 30 miles every day with longer rides at the weekends you will find it very hard to fully recharge your muscles every day if you don't consume ~60g carbs/hour exercise. On the first day you'll be fine, but by the end of the week you'll feel drained, so consider your drinks/gels as preparation for the next day as well as getting you round your current ride. And invest in a decent recovery drink as well, something like ReGo, or make sure you have something with carbs/protein straight after finishing a ride, in addition to what you'd eat normally in the day.

Aggieboy

NWLondoner wrote:

PSP22 and SIS Go used with ZipVIt gels. Disclaimer. These won't work on steep hills in Bushey though.

Fixed

TurboMonkey

You don't need any special sports drinks or supplements for rides of 30 miles or so. Its entirely sufficient just to make sure you have a good balanced diet and a good meal when you get home.
Saving energy drinks for hard training or racing means that you get a bit of a boost, which you normally wouldn't get (I'm somewhat led to believe half of this effect is psychological)
Also if your fairly new to cycling, its important to 'teach' your body to work off fat reserves. Energy drinks will only get in the way of this.

Even looking at some of the research in this link:
http://www.highfive.co.uk/ILUG_Study.php

Your looking at sports drinks & special foods making a difference after 3 hours of cycling prior to the test.

However if its a hot day you will sweat, and lose electrolytes. If your adequately hydrated and fuelled beforehand this shouldn't be a problem. If it is, a banana or some lo-salt in your water will help replace fluids.

All these sports drinks are commercial products whos advertising wants to make you think you need them for training. They do help, but only appreciably when your going very hard.

timb64

Maximuscle Viper works for me