Gatorade is yucky.

[SadieKate]

Tropical Fruit Cytomax with Pink Lemonade Crystal Lite = tart and yummy. Yes, it has artificial sweeteners, but it sure tastes better unrefrigerated and I drink more.

[Running Mommy]

ohhhh Sadiekate... I'll have to try that! Thanks!!
Oh and my newest drink option is Nuun tablets. I started out using them on my longer training rides for when I knew I would run out of my cyto/carbo pro cocktail. They were easy to carry and would get me through the last few miles if needed. Well now I use them on my shorter rides/runs. Anything 2 hours or less. They don't have the uneeded sugar or calories- just the electrolytes my salt starved desert dwelling body needs. It's so dry out here that I pretty much always need to watch the electrolytes. Plus I'm a salty sweater... ( I picture a sweater hanging in a store window with salt shakers all over it when I say that. hee hee )....

[maillotpois]

We get tons of free Power bar things because we're sponsored through TNT. We have been using their performance drink (powdered), and now are switching to using their "recovery" drink which has a bit of protein and more sodium/carbs.

The Power Bar drink stuff is pretty good, not too sweet, and you can easily sub in gatorade when that's all that's available. On the 600k, the Power Bar recovery stuff in my camelback went down really easily and seemed to stop the beginnings of a gatorade stomach ache.

[DrBee]

hee hee hee salty sweater - sweater covered in salt shakers That's great! Thanks for the image!

[Susie]

I've been a cytomax girl for so long, but I'm really sick of drinking sweet stuff on rides. A couple of weeks ago, I stopped by the Hammer booth at the Sea Otter Classic and asked if they had anything that wasn't so sweet. They mixed me up a bottle of Hammer Heed, flavor plain. I swear -- it tastes like water. There's no flavor whatsoever. I bought some on the spot and have already reordered online. If you're sick of drinking hummingbird water, give it a try.

Susie

[KnottedYet]

SCORE!!!!

I just ordered Clif Snot Razz Sorbet mondo bottle (16 serv) for $8. Clif lemonade electrolyte (45 serv) for $14. And Clif mango orange recovery (24 serv) for $17.50.

www.sierratradingpost.com has a bunch of Clif for waaaay cheap.

The only one of these that I haven't had is the recovery. So I only ordered one of those.

Now I gotta find one of those gel flasks. Probably REI. REI gives a discount for any 12 Clif products, so I might pick up some Nectar bars and Blocks while I'm there.

I am so looking forward to doing a better job of managing my liquid/sugar/salt when I do rides and swims!

[brittamac]

I've been using GU20 because gatorade just makes me sick. ugh. I like that its not very sweet at all, and my stomach can tolerate it for long rides. Lemon-Lime

[bcipam]

I've fallen in love recently with Gatorade's new product RAIN. All the flavor are delicous and its not too sweet or salty. Most markets have it and for a good introductory price. Let me know what you think if you try it.

[KnottedYet]

Got my Clif order today. Went out for an hour "skills" ride (aka learning to use my clipless pedals at the school track again) and drank a whole bottle of Gatorade (gotta use it up). I had a Clif Recovery afterwards. I'm bad at drinking when I need to, I've even given myself kidney stones, so I was proud I made myself drink a whole bottle. And, whaddaya know, I didn't get shakey after the ride this time!

Now, if only I could find a gel flask. Everyone around here is sold out because tri/run/ride season is starting.

Drink! Drink! Drink!

[Geonz]

I looked at the ingrediments on the Endurance stuff... why stick the artificials in there? The flavors don't help *that* much anyway.
I have this unamerican intolerance for supersweet 'cause I got into the habit and I don't feel like changing, so I water down the Gatorade (straight orange) and chow down on the bananas. Of course, I can think much more broadly if I'm traveling with a blender, I suppose!

[wabisabi]

I have become a big fam of the Hammer products--Heed is their powdered drink. I realized that I would anticipate a dread of the (to me) overly sweet and artificial taste of Cytomax. Heed is a very subtle lemon-lime taste, and is the one product that helps with leg cramps, which I tend to get after riding, and sometime during.

A couple of weeks ago at the Chico Wildflower century they had two kinds of Recharge, I think it was; the orange was OK but the grape was truly vile.