Heed in Camelbak?

[Dannielle]

I've never used plain water in my camelbak and I've never had any problems. Propel and Crystal light never left a flavor but Gatorade and Cytomax do, to some degree.

I do clean it out as soon as I get home and I have a cleaning kit (the nashbar brand rather than the official camelbak cleaning kit) for it so it's an easy job. Sometimes I fill it with water and add a denture tablet...sometimes I just use a tiny bit of dish soap and the brushes...and rinse really well. I always hang it to dry with the insert that keeps it open.

I guess a taste residue might be weird if you go back to water but if you stick with a flavored drink it's not a big deal.

[OakLeaf]

My homebrew recipe:

1 Cup Sugar
4 Tsp Salt
2 Tsp Potassium Chloride (Salt Substitute)
2 Tsp Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda)

Use 3 Tbsp per liter of water

For calcium and magnesium I just swallow capsules separately, although I know there are liquid forms available.

Mostly I just use HEED and Endurolytes - more expensive but simpler. On longer rides I can get calories from just about anything except fruit. On longer runs I use Hammer Gel and Endurolytes. I tried a lot of natural substitutes for gels (molasses, barley malt syrup, rice syrup, combinations of those), but they were all too high in fructose for my digestive system.

[kmehrzad]

Thanks for the homebrew recipe. One more question:

Use WHAT per 3 TBSP per liter of water? I'm not quite getting that part of the recipe. Thank you.

My homebrew recipe:

1 Cup Sugar
4 Tsp Salt
2 Tsp Potassium Chloride (Salt Substitute)
2 Tsp Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda)

Use 3 Tbsp per liter of water

For calcium and magnesium I just swallow capsules separately, although I know there are liquid forms available.

Mostly I just use HEED and Endurolytes - more expensive but simpler. On longer rides I can get calories from just about anything except fruit. On longer runs I use Hammer Gel and Endurolytes. I tried a lot of natural substitutes for gels (molasses, barley malt syrup, rice syrup, combinations of those), but they were all too high in fructose for my digestive system.

[OakLeaf]

Thanks for the homebrew recipe. One more question:

Use WHAT per 3 TBSP per liter of water? I'm not quite getting that part of the recipe. Thank you.

3 tbsp of the mixture.

[kmehrzad]

3 tbsp of the mixture.

Right! I've got it now. Thank you.

[Catrin]

I have experimented with putting Heed in my 50 oz Camelbak for my rides that are 3.5 hours or longer, taking two water bottles of Accelerade, and powder for both in my seat post bag just in case I need to replenish along the way. That 100 ounces seems to be working for rides of up to 4.5 hours. I suspect that I am still not drinking quite enough, however I feel fine and haven't had any problems with thirst. Of course it matters how hot it is and how many hills there are - hills require more effort AND I find that I drink less in the hills.

The Camelbak doesn't seem to be holding the flavor of the Heed, but I clean it very, very well after the ride. I like the new strawberry flavor.

I still need to get those scales and weigh myself to make sure I am drinking enough...