So what's in your bottle?

[LBTC]

one camelbak bladder with water, one camelbak bladder with very lightly mixed (about 1/3 strength) lemon lime gatorade (I'm not very fond of the orange mix and the blue, although great in the bottle is nasty in the mix!!). on every mountain bike ride - varying degrees of fullness depending on ride length. on the road bike, it's one bottle of each.
varieties of sports drink mixes out here in the stix are limited, but my lbs can get cytomax, so I'm thinking of giving that a try. based on the above fuss-***-ness of flavours, can you recommend which flavour I should look for?
oh, yeah, and I tried accelerade once instead of gatorade. wow! was that ever bad!!

namaste,
~T~

[SadieKate]

LBTC -- I really like the Cytomax Tropical Punch mixed with Crystal Light Pink Lemonade (or yellow). We don't use the Cytomax full strength and the Crystal Light makes it very tasty and refreshing. You wouldn't know that you're drinking electrolytes. Cytomax gets good reviews for digestibility and helping with altitude sickness.

Our riding group had a large can of Accelerade that kept getting passed from one member to the next. Sort of a white elephant. Not sure who had to guts to finally throw it out. Who knows, it may be travelling the continent one scoop at a time.

I'll post a review on the new Pink Lemonade from Cytomax after this weekend. Maybe the Crystal Light cocktail will become obsolete.

[caligurl]

water WITH ice in both my polar water bottles!!!!!!!!!!

i have taken gatorade in a propel bottle that i put in my handlebar bag on 3 rides.. the first one was a local 68 miles ride.. had to make sure i liked gatorade and to be sure it didn't give me any tummy problems...

all the rest of my local long (60ish mile) rides i just take water w/ice!

[ultegra]

Grape Cytomax mixed with Sustained Energy for longer rides. Sustained Energy doesn't upset my stomach like bars or other food. Sometimes I mix in some Hammer Gel if it's a really long ride. Works so well, I started using my cycling drinks for soccer, too! I tried Amino-Vital, but it didn't work for me. Maybe not enough calories.

[Dogmama]

I just peeked at the bottom of one of my bottles the other day - ugh. Does anybody else run their bottles through the dishwasher? Hot soapy water did not cut it. I put in a pinch of bleach & that got rid of the stains. I have polar bottles - a few years old.

[MightyMitre]

I use the same kind of bleach they use for cleaning baby bottles. Does the job pretty well, although BF & I felt a bit self conscious as we found ourselves in the Baby section of our local supermarket. We joked that we hoped no one spotted us, or we'd be the butt of ' So, when's it due? ' jokes.

[CorsairMac]

Just look at them and smile Hugely and tell them its due when the two of you have enough money to buy next years model!! That outta keep them guessing!

[snapdragen]

Polar bottles go through the dishwasher beautifully, even the tops.

I just peeked at the bottom of one of my bottles the other day - ugh. Does anybody else run their bottles through the dishwasher? Hot soapy water did not cut it. I put in a pinch of bleach & that got rid of the stains. I have polar bottles - a few years old.

[Dogmama]

This is IT. Half a can of Monster Energy, a small scoop of HydroFuel, fill up the bottle and look out world! I blasted through my ride today, up hills, into headwinds, the whole thing. Only had to slow down when my legs were screaming "Get off me!!" Stairs, tomorrow, ought to be really fun (not!). I think I'll do an easy spinning class before work.

You can probably substitute Red Bull for Monster Energy. The best thing was - I didn't get an energy crash. And I'm very sensitive to sugar and caffeine.

[joyrider]

I'm new to trying out the sports drinks. Just got to riding long enough for it to start to matter! But in the interests of hydration, I tried out this stuff called "Glaceux" or whatever, "vitamin water" - glugging it down about halfway through my hour-and-a-half ride today. It tasted all right - and I sure felt better and better hydrated than when I was using my "stop at the occasional drinking fountain for a sip" method. I actually had to stop to pee during the ride! Which I thought was a good sign. I should mention that before I left I did have my usual home-concocted smoothie of yogurt, fruit, and (yech!) powdered wheat grass.
So after I got off my bike my stomach started really bothering me and then, uh, other parts started really bothering me. So my question is: what is the easiest to digest sports drink? And also, is it really necessary to drink them at all, even on a long ride? Could I instead drink a lot of water and maybe eat a couple of bananas?

[emily_in_nc]

I got two huge cans of Accelerade last weekend at Performance because I had a coupon for buy one, get the second for 1 cent. I didn't read the posts here, and I am glad I didn't, because I tried the Blue Raspberry (new flavor), and I liked it a lot! I watered it down a bit, though. One scoop was supposed to make 12 oz, but I used my Polar bottle (22 oz I think?), and it was just the right level of taste, not too strong at all.

Normally I go with homemade Kool-Aid (we buy the plain lemonade stuff where you add your own sugar, add sugar and salt) - or GatorAid when I buy sports drinks on the road. I love GatorAid!

Emily

[Dogmama]

So my question is: what is the easiest to digest sports drink? And also, is it really necessary to drink them at all, even on a long ride? Could I instead drink a lot of water and maybe eat a couple of bananas?

The nice thing about sports drinks is that they hit your system immediately. Bananas aren't quite as quick, but are still excellent for a snack. Experiment around with what you like.

Many of us water down the powdered variety because they are so strong. I, myself, am currently hooked on Monster Energy or Red Bull (about 1/2 can) mixed lightly with Ultra Fuel. I keep one "energy bottle" and two water bottles on board. I also carry a Clif bar for longer rides and a tin of Gu in my bike bag just in case I start to bonk.

[joyrider]

Isn't Red Bull loaded with caffeine? I notice a lot of people mention it as a good drink for during a ride - I'm just concerned I'll get jittery and then drop like a hot rock.

[LBTC]

mmmm
caffeine good

Namaste,
~T~

[Dogmama]

Isn't Red Bull loaded with caffeine? I notice a lot of people mention it as a good drink for during a ride - I'm just concerned I'll get jittery and then drop like a hot rock.

It does have caffeine and other herbs, but it doesn't drop you. I'm extremely sensitive to caffeine and sugar - and for some reason this combination doesn't leave me dragging. I usually grab a swig before a big hill and the effect is immediate.