What to drink on a ride? With a slight issue...

KevChallis

Yes the high sugar drinks work, and I understand why.

But what do you drink if you are like me, and embarrassingly so, have bad teeth? High sugar drinks are not good, yet I need something to replace the fluids in my body and add a little extra energy for those long rides.

Is there such thing or am I p*ss*ng into the wind?

Grill

Check out Skratch Labs and Clif. They both do lower sugar mixes without diluting the electrolytes.

You can also use electrolyte tabs and get your carbs elsewhere. Contrary to popular belief you can quite easily ride on just water as your fluid of choice.

dilatory

Electrolyte + caffeine tabs? High 5 Xtreme / SIS Hydro + Caffeine etc.

bad_moose

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/high5-zero-elec ... k-20-tabs/

I use that. Dunno whether it's what you're looking for or not, but I think it's pretty good. All of the flavours are sugar free I think.

DiscoBoy

The trouble is that you're going to need to eat sugary foods instead, which is probably just as bad for your teeth.

On the topic of electrolyte tabs, avoid sis cola flavour... It is absolutely disgusting. Powerbar mango passion fruit is my favourite flavour: delicious.

Grill

You don't need to eat sugary foods. Boiled potatoes, peanut butter sandwich, rice cakes- there are loads of options out there.

nammynake

You don't need tonnes of sugary drink/sweets. Stick to slow release carbs such as malt loaf, flapjack etc and drink water or half water/half fresh fruit juice. Sugary sweets like jelly babies are good for a quick energy boost but they won't sustain you for long.

DiscoBoy

nammynake wrote:

You don't need tonnes of sugary drink/sweets. Stick to slow release carbs such as malt loaf, flapjack etc and drink water or half water/half fresh fruit juice. Sugary sweets like jelly babies are good for a quick energy boost but they won't sustain you for long.

Malt loaf is 20% sugar by weight. Flapjacks are made with quite a lot of syrup. Fruit juice contains loads of sugar.

Anything with carbohydrate in will get digested into sugar in your mouth. Gels and sugary drinks might actually be a good idea, at least they don't get stuck in your teeth: remember the old adage that crisps are worse for your teeth than sweets, due to bits getting stuck?

team47b

Grill wrote:

You don't need to eat sugary foods. Boiled potatoes, peanut butter sandwich, rice cakes- there are loads of options out there.

This.

White bread is as fast acting as pure white sugar and will give you instant energy and not be at all sweet. dried apricots are about 75% carb and kinder to your teeth.

Drink water.

KevChallis

Thanks for your help!! Appreciate it!!

dave in swansea

Mini cheddar, indestructible in Jersey pocket. Nice and savoury.
Just need to wash down with lots of water or High 5 zero.

sungod

for energy, take 'real' food, or energy bars, or gels

drink water

bear in mind that the bacteria that cause tooth decay will happily feed on any carbs not just sugar, and starchy stuff will stick to teeth more tenaciously than sugary gels

after eating, swoosh some water around your mouth to wash out as much as possible before swallowing

Initialised

You could always chew gum while you ride, just be careful not to inhale it on climbs and sprints.

dilatory

DiscoBoy wrote:

On the topic of electrolyte tabs, avoid sis cola flavour... It is absolutely disgusting.

It's not the nicest, but I'd say it's similar to the flavour of those jelly cola bottles. I keep the cola ones in my pocket in case I need to refill with water at some point. They're pretty bland.

TKF

nammynake wrote:

You don't need tonnes of sugary drink/sweets. Stick to slow release carbs such as flapjack

Yes because flapjack is known for its low sugar content

KevChallis

TKF wrote:

nammynake wrote:

You don't need tonnes of sugary drink/sweets. Stick to slow release carbs such as flapjack

Yes because flapjack is known for its low sugar content

I've made flapjack before, and my lord has it a lot of sugar in!! Absolutely sh*t loads of golden syrup lol.

Thanks all for the help, will try this on Sunday (not the flapjack part lol)

Doris Day

Bananas are good and easy to digest, and drink water.

Have you seen a dentist about your teeth?

imposter2.0

Initialised wrote:

You could always chew gum while you ride, just be careful not to inhale it on climbs and sprints.

So a pretty dumb idea, then...

KevChallis

Doris Day wrote:

Bananas are good and easy to digest, and drink water.

Have you seen a dentist about your teeth?

Yup, quite a lot unfortunately paying the price for some very silly decisions when I was younger. Just like to be extra careful now.

ManxJ

Just drink water and eat some carbs and manage your efforts and you won't bonk

dilatory

KevChallis wrote:

Yup, quite a lot unfortunately paying the price for some very silly decisions when I was younger. Just like to be extra careful now.

You know what they say, not even once!

KevChallis

dilatory wrote:

KevChallis wrote:

Yup, quite a lot unfortunately paying the price for some very silly decisions when I was younger. Just like to be extra careful now.

You know what they say, not even once!

I don't understand, maybe because it's early

dilatory

Was a bad joke!

KevChallis

Yikes!!!! Not that bad lol!!

ednino

Read this before buying...

http://www.torqfitness.co.uk/news/electrolyte-tablets

IrishMac

Just split a tablet in half and put 1 half into a bottle of 750 ml, will help somewhat
Don't brush your teeth straight after a ride, the sugar etc weakens your enamel.
Or you could have one bottle of electrolyte and one of water, one drink of electrolyte followed my two small mouthfuls of water to try and wash it out straight away?

chris_bass

I just have squash in my bottle, seems to do the trick for me

desweller

Water and a dextrose drip. The drip will be easier to position if you have a recumbent as you'll have one of those silly flags to hang the bag on.

sparklehedgehog

bad_moose wrote:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/high5-zero-electrolyte-drink-20-tabs/

I use that. Dunno whether it's what you're looking for or not, but I think it's pretty good. All of the flavours are sugar free I think.

I use these too

ednino

sparklehedgehog wrote:

bad_moose wrote:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/high5-zero-electrolyte-drink-20-tabs/

I use that. Dunno whether it's what you're looking for or not, but I think it's pretty good. All of the flavours are sugar free I think.

I use these too

totally pointless. Read the link I posted

sungod

DesWeller wrote:

Water and a dextrose drip. The drip will be easier to position if you have a recumbent as you'll have one of those silly flags to hang the bag on.

this made me think of the bit in bill the galactic hero where they get a drum of alcohol and another of glucose and rig up a drip to stay smashed/fed until it runs out