electrolytes, whats your preference?

[badger]

Ultima Replenisher in Grape or Wild Raspberry. Those were the only two flavors where I could tolerate the stevia.

+1. I just ordered the wild raspberry so I'd be curious to see how it tastes. I've tried the lemonade, which is ok but I'm not a lemon fan.

[OakLeaf]

Remember that sweat normally contains more or less a gram of sodium per liter - there's a lot of variability depending on the individual and their heat acclimation. If you're eating salty foods, then good, but if you're relying on gels and electrolyte supplements for your sodium, make sure you're getting enough. Ultima wild raspberry only contains 37.5 mg sodium per packet! If you took enough of those to replenish even an hour's worth of sweat, you'd be way overdosing on some of the other heavy metal minerals in it.

[Catrin]

My stomach doesn't care for real food on long rides - outside of bananas (as long as I only have ONE) - outside of that Cliff bars, shot blocs, Hammer Heed, Accelerade all do well by me. I am unsure why I can tolerate Cliff bars, but my stomach accepts them. PB sandwiches also go down well if I can keep from smashing them - on a banana is even better.

[Becky]

Vitalyte if I need to drink my carbs. Nuun or Elete if I don't. I love the little Elete dropper bottles for keeping in my jersey pocket on long rides.

[Owlie]

I can't do real food on rides, and can't do Clif bars if it's hot and humid. I probably need a longer break for food--you know, eat at a leisurely pace, wander around a little, then hop back on the bike. I'm basing this on my experiences with riding right after breakfast.

I'm going to have to try Nuun or something else, as I don't generally need the sugar since I carry at least one package of shot blocks in hot weather.

[nscrbug]

As of this season, I am a NUUN/ZYM/GU electrolyte tablet convert. On hot, long rides I will carry 1 bottle of NUUN (or other type of tablet) and 1 bottle of plain water. I also carry a few extra tablets wrapped in foil in my bento box. I actually prefer the taste of the orange ZYM tablets over all the others, but NUUN is easier to find in my area. I don't like strongly flavored beverages while on the bike, so I tend to dilute mine a bit more. Aside from that, I generally always carry with me (but don't necessarily eat): 1 Luna or Lara bar, and a pack of Shot Bloks, Luna Moons, or Honey Stinger Chews (my personal fav!). On longer rides, I will sometimes also bring an Uncrustable (PB & Honey flavor). Depending on how I'm feeling, I may also share a banana (bought at a gas station) with my DH.

[marni]

I usually carry a Bottle of FRS which gives me fruit based energy, some electrolytes and doesn't get funky tasting when it gets warm. I carry a bottle of plain water for dumping on my head, drinking with endurolyte/sports legs tablets. When both are empty I stop and refill, I carry extra FRS tubes with me and mix up one bottle at a time. I also carry gu and cliff shot rocks along with a couple of luna bars. If the ride is over 50 miles I stop somewhere for a banana and some chips or other real food.

several years of distance of riding have taught me to step down for a moment or two every 20 miles or so take a deep deep drink and nibble something, even if it's just a gu shot or a cliff blok, and also to eat more real than not. Cn't stand gatorade, gives me a stomach ache. I tend to be a rut sort of person anyway, so having found something that works for me, I stick with it.

I do like Nuun tablets as well and will use them if I can't get FRS.

marni

[TsPoet]

Another NUUN vote. I put 1 NUUN tablet in a 24 oz bottle (it's supposed to be 1 tablet/16oz) and I carry another 24 oz bottle with water in it.
I bring some sort of food with me, depending on the ride and temperature. Fig newtons are good, cheese crackers...
I also often carry 1 tiny bag of Sports Beans. But I suspect that's mostly because I like them and I love the excuse to eat candy.

Sandy Earl, who just broke the women's 12 and 24 hr distance records, likes pizza. She says that someone can hand her a pizza as she pedals by and she can hold it and it gives her a punch.
Don't know what she likes on her pizza