Sports drinks

The Man Chump

Hi fine men and women of the forum.

The book I have read recently kept bleating on about sports drinks and eating during rides.
I have squash in my bottle and don't eat during rides (I have only got as far as 30 miles so far)

what do you fine fellow have and is it worth getting something with a bit more ooompf?

cyberknight

Plenty of sports drinks on the market mainly in powder form that you mix into your drinks, i like SIS but it might be an idea to try a few to see what suits you.
Most are a combination of fructose/glucose/maltodextrin along with electrolytes .

On longer rides a good breakfast like porridge ( i like mine with sultanas) and carry an energy gel is a good idea along with some sort of energy bar or i am currently carrying own brand supermarket bars or nutrigrain bars .

For a club run of 60 -70 miles i will have ...
porridge for breakfast
energy drink x 1 or in summer X2, 1 normally being zero cal electrolyte drink
cake stop about halfway , cup of coffee + a piece of cake or toast + essential toilet break
carry a gel+ bar just in case.

Solo rides would be similar but no cake stop up to 50 miles with no extras carried.

When i did a sportive it was 76 miles and i carried a couple of gels + scoffed a couple of slices of cake at the feed station.Add 2 more energy bars ( i like cliff peanut butter ones ) and i was fine for energy levels .

Wirral_paul

Cake stops - the best bit about winter cycling (and spring / summer and autumn riding)!!

I like the Torq energy drinks myself (lemon and lime) - you can buy small pots that will make about a litre to try. I now buy it in 5kg tubs of the powder.

Bananas are a good option. Also Malt loaf (Soreen etc) and cereal / museli bars are cheap enough. Avoid the high sugar and very dry ones though. Gels and bars available from cycle shops tend to work out very expensive and to be honest I feel are not really needed on most rides - although i'll take some on 80-100+ mile rides in addition to other bits.

Try all the various options you'll get here and see what works for you.

The Man Chump

I'm going to build up to the local 50 mile this year (May time) with the aim of 100 mile max next year so i'll try some of the powdered ones for the 50 and see how it goes?

sungod

depends how hard you are going, if you aren't going hard then 30 miles is fine on water, just eat (good carbs) before you ride

fwiw if i do a hilly 80km at a fair pace i'll burn about 2000 kcal, much more if i push it, that's more than a day's food if i were resting, so i'm scoffing all the way as my body's glycogen reserves are probably only going to be around 2500 kcal*

but doing a low intensity flat 50km, i'll be using less than half that energy, so as long as i ate properly beforehand, water would be enough, also i'd be using less of my glycogen reserves as a greater proportion should be coming from fat

*it's more complicated, fat (and muscle) will also be used as fuel, and fat holds many times more energy in reserve, but glycogen is the low hanging fruit of the metabolism, especially when going harder, and once it's gone you slow down (or fall down!)

if you are trying to lose weight as well as develop base fitness, you should be able to do fairly long low intensity rides without fueling-up en route (by all means carry something high-energy in case you start getting low), and some shorter harder efforts for variety on other days

Wirral_paul

sungod wrote:

..... and fat holds many times more energy in reserve,

I'm off to ride a 300 miler tomorrow then - wont be needing food!!

simon_e

You don't need energy drinks to ride 30 miles, a bottle of water is fine. Your muscles have enough stored energy for that kind of ride if you eat normally. For longer distances you might feel better if you sip an energy drink or eat some jelly babies or raisins periodically. For long winter rides Snickers do the job nicely

Torq singles are dinky alu canisters with powder for 750ml (you can use a weaker mix too). Torq is very palatable, nice flavours, with no artificial sweeteners. You can re-use the canister - refill it and pop it in bag or your seat pack. You can get plain maltodextrin, which is flavourless and does the same job, lots of people on here get theirs from myprotein.co.uk

oldwelshman

For anything over 30 miles, stick a scoop of myprotein tri carb, good stuff.
If you can't afffford that, a spoon or two of glucoe in your squash, but reduce amount of squash, just put a bit to flavour the drink. Think gklucose is about £1 a box.

wardieboy

For 50 mile training rides I'm currently using Robinsons lemon squash with two teaspoons of sugar and a pinch of salt (saw the recipe on a BBC program which analysed the difference in performance for athletes using sports drinks). I thinks it's fine for the winter but may not cut the mustard in the summer.

I'll also take a couple of banana's if my brekkie hasn't been that substantial (I have no appetite before 10 in the mornings and struggle to get quality carbs in), and possibly a nutrigrain type snack bar.

simon_e

wardieboy wrote:

For 50 mile training rides I'm currently using Robinsons lemon squash with two teaspoons of sugar and a pinch of salt (saw the recipe on a BBC program which analysed the difference in performance for athletes using sports drinks). I thinks it's fine for the winter but may not cut the mustard in the summer.

Sounds interesting. Any idea of the programme name or the points made? Mind you, it could be at the level the BBC deems suitable for the great British public it may have been watered down and rendered almost pointless.

Edit: apologies for the unintended pun.

Pigtail

Sports drinks seem to divide opinion, as many things in cycling and life do.

You will find as you build up fitness and train your body that you don't need so much as you do when starting out.

I use High 5 4:1 as an allrounder. Its 4 parts carbs to 1 part whey protein. No artificial sweeteners, which is important to me, and I also find it quite palatable. I'll do 50 miles at this time of year on a bottle, occasionally supplemented with a banana. In warmer conditions I'd add a second bottle of water. Many people complain about the cost of sports drinks and feel they are not needed, however a 1.6 kilo tub costs about £22 and lasts me a couple of months, so I don't begrudge it.

wardieboy

Simon E wrote:

wardieboy wrote:

For 50 mile training rides I'm currently using Robinsons lemon squash with two teaspoons of sugar and a pinch of salt (saw the recipe on a BBC program which analysed the difference in performance for athletes using sports drinks). I thinks it's fine for the winter but may not cut the mustard in the summer.

Sounds interesting. Any idea of the programme name or the points made? Mind you, it could be at the level the BBC deems suitable for the great British public it may have been watered down and rendered almost pointless.

Edit: apologies for the unintended pun.

The program was called 'Food Hospital' the conclusion was that athletes performing exercise for over a 45 minute duration were able to sustain effort for longer when using 'sports' drinks. They performed tests on athletes using stationary bikes over a two week period and mixed the individuals drinks for each workout (the guinea pigs didn't know if they were drinking sports drinks or flavoured water). They then went on to show how the drinks were made and how you could make your own for very little cost. The recipe was as I quoted above for a 500ml bottle. I switched to making my own after my last tub of shop bought powder ran out and can't really notice any difference, I certainly don't feel as if I am bonking as I used to when I started cycling and just taking water.

That said, I am naturally getting fitter through regular long rides so my threshold levels will also be increasing, it's also much cooler too.

On further searching Bikeradar quoted the same recipe http://www.bikeradar.com/fitness/article/nutrition-homemade-sports-drink-25744/

SimonRees73

Simon E wrote:

wardieboy wrote:

For 50 mile training rides I'm currently using Robinsons lemon squash with two teaspoons of sugar and a pinch of salt (saw the recipe on a BBC program which analysed the difference in performance for athletes using sports drinks). I thinks it's fine for the winter but may not cut the mustard in the summer.

Sounds interesting. Any idea of the programme name or the points made? Mind you, it could be at the level the BBC deems suitable for the great British public it may have been watered down and rendered almost pointless.

Edit: apologies for the unintended pun.

Here is a link to an article on the BBC about homemade sports drinks http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/health_ ... 289704.stm which gives some interesting recipe ideas.

essjaydee

I'm no sports nutritionist and new to road cycling, and have done a couple of 50 mile plus rides now. Tried a Hi 5 drink and can't say I noticed any difference in energy levels, but am thinking that in warmer weather when you sweat more, it's probably more important to go with an isotonic type mix.

I currently go with one robinson squash, and one plain water on rides above 50 miles. Always carry a SIS gel and high energy bar too. Shorter rides I put a handful of jelly babies in a bag and in back pocket

Did 'bonk' once on way home from work and energy gel did the job. Ever since then I always have a banana 1/2 hour before home time

simon_e

SimonRees73 wrote:

Here is a link to an article on the BBC about homemade sports drinks http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/health_ ... 289704.stm which gives some interesting recipe ideas.

Thanks.

Is table salt suitable for replacing electrolytes? I don't know but I found this: http://www.webmd.com/hw-popup/rehydrati ... ar=hw86827
Does anyone know just how much of these salts we sweat out and require replacing in addition to what is in normal food? If you glug a load of electrolyte energy drink without sweating much surely you could in fact be increasing the level of these salts in your body, which I can't think is ideal.

TBH I can't imagine that I need to replace/replenish electrolytes during commuting or training rides but during a race or longer time trial it may be felt to be worth the expense (after all, it's not a big outlay compared to the travelling, entry fees, gear etc).