Best Hydration For Cycling

[theDaveB]

A wee while ago the Touring section had a chap who was toting loads of bottled drink about because he "didn't like water". Turned out the problem was not water but trying to drink too much of it in one go. Try sips, little and often, and it may be a lot more palatable.
Pete.

That was me and am happy to say am still on the water, don't take anything else with me now (well I have been taking a flask of coffee with me in the cold).

Dave

[fluffybunnyuk]

sports research has shown that this is not true. drink with a higher osmotic pressure than water will be absorbed quicker.

True but if youre that obsessive, put some glucose in your drink. Cheaper than throwing money down the toilet...

Tbh i'm against quick-release sugar drinks especially L***zade , The problem is any sugar not consumed is turned to fat. And unless your a very good cyclist putting out the wattage its hard to burn the sugar quick enough. Guzzling sports drink is a quick way to a large belly. Its fine if you bonk, and the resulting head rush, and ache that follows is less important...

Theres a reason why cyclists decades ago ate and drank the way they did. its because it works... Avoid the industrial sludge, its a con.

[andrewjoseph]

zero have no carbs/sugars in them, just electrolytes.

i too dislike the quick sugar high, so i find the 4:1 drinks easier to tolerate, fairly slow release carbs and protein.

[Norman H]

DanCharles wrote:
What are the opinions on Lucozade Sports Juice Drinks?

Read the ingredients on the label and make up your own mind.

An advert for Lucozade was banned by the ASA over claims that it hydrated better than water.

[beardy]

but I can't find a straight simple answer.

Probably because the question is not as simple as it seems.

We are looking for different things from our drinks than each other. The water seems the (almost) unanimously agreed bit, after that we dont have the same requirements. The special cycling "performance aids" are designed for all out racers and (in my opinion) wasted on tourers like myself.

In your case you possibly need nothing more added to your water than something that makes it palatable for you to drink on the rides. In my case that is just my favourite cordial, the likes of High5 are disgusting to me and include things that I always avoid in foodstuffs yet if they are similar to someone else's normal drinks they will be happy enough with them.

If you start finding that you are getting cramps then you can look into taking something to counter that but only a minority of us suffer from cramps and it probably isnt worth considering unless it happens to you.

I have never noticed a sugar rush from my drinks, I have the cordial fairly dilute and take a few mouthfulls at a time so it isnt a lot of sugar hitting my system, just a small trickle. Some quick calculations say it is about 100 calories of simple sugars in 750cc of water over about 2 hours.
I had never considered its energy content before and was surprised how much it is.

[RJS]

Hi Dan, like you not keen on just water, years ago Richard Ballentine's book said add some honey, ( I dilute 2 teaspoons in warm water then add to 680ml biddon), more recently I've added a pinch of sea salt, it seems to lessen the chance off cramp. Probably cheaper than sachets etc., and I quite like the taste. As said a little and often.
Cheers, Rob

[Audax67]

Day 1 of a 1000k Audax I use a mix of Overstims & Isostar, but from Day 2 on I just drink water - can't touch the sweet stuff. If you're eating bananas, dried fruit etc and eating meals as needed then electrolyte problems hardly arise. Since our 1100k last August I've ridden on nothing but plain water. I do like it as cold as possible: drinking it warm when the temperature on the tarmac is 40°C is not pleasant.

For salt, and a change from sweet stuff, I carry salami.

[JohnW]

Water is best. Others (even juice), are just sucking sugar between your teeth, which is bad for them. You could try just putting a little lemon or lime in your water? If you must, drink juice rather than energy drinks. When it's hot out, you can add electrolyte drops to juice for an energy drink.

I have used energy drinks to help treat the bonk (low blood sugar). I cary powdered drink mix, and emergency banana for that purpose.

Reading between the lines, I think that your experience and consequent conclusions are the same as mine Vorpal - certainly my opinion agrees with yours. I ride all day - in summer between 120 and 150 miles, steady pace (steady becomes slow as the decades go by!) - and drink water all the time - and large quantities of tea at tea-stops. A lot of the liquid escapes through perspiration and there are hawthorns in the Dales that rely on me for hydration! But it's water for me. I also take one or two small bottles of fresh fruit juice, for vitamin C when I feed..............but for hydration I only use water.

[elPedro666]

I do the same as mentioned near the start - one large bottle of water and a smaller of energy drink.

High5 tabs were 90% off (not a typo) at PlanetX/OnOne last time I looked...

[Mick F]

I tried that, but its too sweet.

When it's hot and sweaty and you're on a long ride, water isn't enough.

Water sits in your stomach and it needs to get into your bloodstream pretty damned quickly, but the process is too slow.

You need an electrolyte so the water can get through the stomach lining easily. Plain water will do it, but slowly, that's why people will tell you to drink in sips and often.

What I have done .......... and this works! ........ is to add a small amount of squash to your water bottle. Not much, because it will be too sweet. Then add a small pinch of salt. This mixture tastes funny, but it's cheap and very very simple.

The salt and the squash make the water more easily digested. You can buy proper electrolyte drinks, but they aren't cheap or readily available.

[DanCharles]

Just found this, would love it to be true. Thoughts?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... tists.html

[elPedro666]

Daily Mail?
Of course it's true! [emoji23]

Joking aside (easier said than done) I've been told before by our resident übergeek that milk is absolutely the best thing for recovering muscles and I find it works well for me.

Chocolate milk and black pudding is also my (serious emergencies only) hangover cure... [emoji2] [emoji106]

[SteveHunter]

I've always been told since I was a kid that one of the best things to drink after exercise was milk. Whether true or not I don't know but I often do drink a large glass of milk after a hard session of exercise whether that be a fast cycling session or a run.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
Interesting, milk shakes.
If I am doing a planned all day ride etc. Likely that I will be eating junk food too so not a problem with salt loss.
On shorter training rides of 2.5 - 3 hrs I would no usually bother with much to eat except a cereal bar.
My rucksack is normally streaked with salt marks of sweat in warmer months on 2 - 3 hour rides.
But you can also feel effect of dehydration on short vigorous rides, I try to drink liberally on every ride.
But the other day cold weather was sweating and hair wet but did not drink enough in 2.5 hrs as I was thirsty when I stopped at home.
Also peeing a lot just after which is a clue, thirst continues.
Like I said on long planned rides I eat on the hoof after one hour min.
So I am thinking of some supplement to add to my drink bottle other than fruit juice.
I don't eat any more than one slice of toast at breakfast before my training rides some I am obviously in some nutrition dept, this on its own does not bother me, aids my training for what I am doing but I would not recommend it unless your intent on digging deep for specific training. I could just do without the thirst and the peeing, so I need to address that soon.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,

I've always been told since I was a kid that one of the best things to drink after exercise was milk. Whether true or not I don't know but I often do drink a large glass of milk after a hard session of exercise whether that be a fast cycling session or a run.

In my youth 40 years ago I would drink 3 pints of milk a day, but milk was plenty as other types of drinks weren't readily to hand, the fridge was convenient, my average rate on my five speeder was 20 MPH up to 50 miles a day so it probably helped....