MBT rehydration - what to take to the trails

Barnymeinhoff

Does anyone have any home made re hydration tips? I put in a shift at some local woods for the first time yesterday and whilst i had an amazing day i sweat a lot and ended the evening at home with one of the worst cramps i have ever experienced.

long story short i finished the day drinking salt laced ribena. what are you all drinking out there, does anyone have any recipe's or should i stop being cheap and head to the sports drink section?

Thanks

Briggo

High5 electrolyte tablets personally, don't like bananas.

The Northern Monkey

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/health_ ... 289704.stm

stubs

500ml water, 500ml fruit juice, pinch of sea salt and half a teaspoon of sodium bicarb. I find Apple juice is the easiest on my stomach but Black Grape and Pomegranate are also nice, I find Orange juice a bit harsh and it gives me heartburn.

kajjal

It depends on how your body reacts. All I need for four hours of hard XC riding is water and museli bars. Drinking before you start riding can help as can eating sensibly hours before you start riding. If you suffer from cramps anyway then that is different.

bigmitch41

Briggo wrote:

High5 electrolyte tablets personally, don't like bananas.

This with a hydration bladder/backpack

apreading

I dont get all this staunch "dont buy sports drink/food - make your own" stuff.

Yes, you can, if you can be bothered but we dont continually tell people not to buy beer and wine and brew our own at home, we buy ready made pastry, pasta and stuff all the time. So what is so wrong with buying pre-measured and prepared sports food & drink?

Barnymeinhoff

I don't mind buying ready made but its an area that's new to me so I suppose im trying to get an idea of their actual value, also I might need to knock something up quickly and not have time/money to hit the shops. all said Im sold on the high5 and bananas option.
beer and wine pasta and pastry take a while to make whereas tipping water and juice in a bottle with some bicarb and salt takes about as long as it took me to type this.

lostboysaint

Briggo wrote:

High5 electrolyte tablets personally.

One/750ml of water and if you're properly trying then you should drink that in an hour. So a two hour ride 1.5l water with two High 5 tabs thrown in it. Always found them to be very, very good.

stubs

apreading wrote:

I dont get all this staunch "dont buy sports drink/food - make your own" stuff.

Yes, you can, if you can be bothered but we dont continually tell people not to buy beer and wine and brew our own at home, we buy ready made pastry, pasta and stuff all the time. So what is so wrong with buying pre-measured and prepared sports food & drink?

Because most sports drinks taste like a combination of battery acid and plasticine

njee20

lostboysaint wrote:

Briggo wrote:

High5 electrolyte tablets personally.

One/750ml of water and if you're properly trying then you should drink that in an hour. So a two hour ride 1.5l water with two High 5 tabs thrown in it. Always found them to be very, very good.

Trouble is they only contain electrolytes. So they may stop you getting cramp on a hot day, but they won't actually provide any energy, which is often the bigger concern on a long ride.

Depending on how long the OP's riding they may solve the problem, but if you're depleting your glycogen stores then something with more energy will be needed. I like High 5 Source when I'm racing, tastes nice, convenient and easier to consume than 'real' food.

apreading

stubs wrote:

apreading wrote:

I dont get all this staunch "dont buy sports drink/food - make your own" stuff.

Yes, you can, if you can be bothered but we dont continually tell people not to buy beer and wine and brew our own at home, we buy ready made pastry, pasta and stuff all the time. So what is so wrong with buying pre-measured and prepared sports food & drink?

Because most sports drinks taste like a combination of battery acid and plasticine

Thats why they spend fortunes on R&D, so that they can find the right additive to make their squash/salt/bicarb mix taste deliberately worse...

FWIW, The High5 stuff tastes fine to me, both the zero tabs and carb powders.

I get the pre-measured sachets so its really easy to make up another bottle when I am out and about - buy a 500ml bottle of water from somewhere, add the sachet and go. I dont bother with the zero tabs anymore because if I am on a ride where I dont need a carb drink, I probably dont need the electrolytes either.

lostboysaint

njee20 wrote:

lostboysaint wrote:

Briggo wrote:

High5 electrolyte tablets personally.

One/750ml of water and if you're properly trying then you should drink that in an hour. So a two hour ride 1.5l water with two High 5 tabs thrown in it. Always found them to be very, very good.

Trouble is they only contain electrolytes. So they may stop you getting cramp on a hot day, but they won't actually provide any energy, which is often the bigger concern on a long ride.

Depending on how long the OP's riding they may solve the problem, but if you're depleting your glycogen stores then something with more energy will be needed. I like High 5 Source when I'm racing, tastes nice, convenient and easier to consume than 'real' food.

Yep, quite agree. I'd be looking at packing some energy source for longer than 2.5/3hours but up until that it's water + High5 only.*

*Assuming the normal diet means that you've got the energy in before you go!!

diy

njee20 wrote:

Trouble is they only contain electrolytes. So they may stop you getting cramp on a hot day, but they won't actually provide any energy, which is often the bigger concern on a long ride.

Depending on how long the OP's riding they may solve the problem, but if you're depleting your glycogen stores then something with more energy will be needed. I like High 5 Source when I'm racing, tastes nice, convenient and easier to consume than 'real' food.

This - the zero cal stuff is great for low cal training but not much good as a source of energy. The 2:1 powder is good. However, I have found Holland and barrett Iso Energy is not bad and half price at the mo.

http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/shop/p ... n-60006661

I've done 15 hour rides on this and a few flapjacks and 'nanas.

Ferrals

Depends if you are using bottles or a hydration pack, when I was a teenager I used to put energy drinks in my camelback and it was impossible to clean it enough to avoid mould so everything had a taste of cucumber. Now I've started using the high five zero as it tastes nice and you can leave it in the bladder for days without mould. I then just have fruit pastilles and fruseli bars for energy - unless it's a special occasion when I get the high five gels.

njee20

I always used to use High 5 with a bladder. Flush with boiling water and freeze. No mould.

Ferrals

Ah good tip, I will give it a go again. Definitely easier just sipping away than trying to eat gels on the go.

Briggo

njee20 wrote:

lostboysaint wrote:

Briggo wrote:

High5 electrolyte tablets personally.

One/750ml of water and if you're properly trying then you should drink that in an hour. So a two hour ride 1.5l water with two High 5 tabs thrown in it. Always found them to be very, very good.

Trouble is they only contain electrolytes. So they may stop you getting cramp on a hot day, but they won't actually provide any energy, which is often the bigger concern on a long ride.

Fair point, I don't drink it thinking they provide energy, they are used to keep the cramp monster at bay and do a good job (plus taste nice, good ole berry flavour).

Which is what the OP mentioned was a problem.