I like Gatorade, which is a little beneficial since that's most of the supported long rides use at the rest stops. I like the green kind and the blue kind best (Gatorade doesn't really have flavors... just colors) and buy it in the powdered form both for convenience and to avoid the HFCS that they use to sweeten the liquid version.

Some old school stuff:

John Forester's recipe, Effective Cycling (pp. 216-217)

-- 1 2-quart envelope of powdered Kool-Aid or Wyler's unsweetened lemonade mix
-- 8 tablespoons sugar
-- 1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix well, and divide into 4 equal portions. Use one portion per water bottle.


Arnie C. Baker, Nutrition for Sports:

-- 16 oz. water
-- 1/2 cup maltodextrin
-- 1-2 tablespoons lemonade or fruit juice concentrate
-- 1/16 teaspoon salt.

This mix provides 200 calories per 16 oz. bottle, and 100 mg of sodium. Baker admits this is a little sodium lite, and recommends that if you need the extra sodium, include salty snacks (potato chips, PayDay bars, peanuts, etc.) in your ride day snacks.

He also recommends 100% fruit juice, cut 50/50 with water as a during or post-ride recovery drink.

Something that I've started using back the middle of the summer, and that's really worked well for me has been these little individual tubes of powdered drink mix that are made up to add to bottled water. Crystal Light is one brand, but what I like is the Kroger generic, in apple flavor. The CL brands in green tea blends are good, as well. They don't really add a lot of caloric value, but then I'm trying to ride off some of the extra insulation. They do make tepid tap water taste a lot better, so that I'll drink more of it.

Tom