Hydration – done with gatorade

[creadinger]

Typically on my longer, hotter rides to stay hydrated I would drink/chug no less than 64oz of gatorade, in addition to lots of water. Last year, in an attempt to help my break through the 130 mile barrier I’ve bumped up against a few times I tried an energy powder called perpetuem. I had read that it can interact badly with sugary drinks like gatorade or powerade in your stomach, but I continued doing what I knew while trying it out.

On a few rides last summer/fall I realized what upset stomach and vomiting on a bike can feel like. Ugh… on one ride I was 45 miles from home, still beat from my tour, and basically unable to keep any food or liquids down. That was a long afternoon! Thankfully I had some gels with me, which I was able to tolerate.

Partly because of that experience I’m going to make 2012 a year free of the mass marketed, sugary sports drinks like gatorade and powerade, which I don’t think are even designed for endurance events exceeding 6 hours. I think I’ll give the perpetuem another shot in lower concentrations, but I want to know what you folks use for hydration on long, hot rides besides water?? I’m a heavy sweater and I’m also a salty sweater – I’m the guy with white streaks on my face, jersey and helmet straps. I’ve used Nuun tablets that dissolve in water for a couple of years and I like them. I’ve seen e-caps(?), which look like tylenol pills you can pop, and coconut water is a recent fad being advertised as a natural hydrator although I think it’s just high in potassium and very low in salt. Are there any other products you like or recommend? I also sometimes snack on salted peanuts and chips when I take a break.

I’m hoping after this year I can more or less forgo having to drink “sports” drinks unless I actually want to.

Topic

[pfunkallstar]

Coffee is human Draino – but damn does it taste great and you can always buy decaf if you are worried about the shakes. I don’t normally hydrate on rides under 10-15 miles, I don’t even bring a water bottle. Anything above that and I have an exponential scale of food+drink that I haul along terminating with Krispy Kreme and Banana smoothie.

[PotomacCyclist]

@creadinger 16309 wrote:

Can you handle tea? It’s a bit more gentle on the stomach than coffee with less caffeine overall. I don’t handle caffeine well either, but in the way that I’m really sensitive to it rather than digestively. It will keep me up if I drink coffee after 6am basically. I have to reserve the strong stuff for long drives or things I know I’ll need to be awake for.

Once or twice I have brewed some tea in the evening, chilled it in the fridge overnight then put it in a water bottle as a little pick me up. I swear though that caffeine makes me sweat more, even though studies seem to show that that is a myth.

For some reason, tea causes other problems. When I tried it in the past, I got a bloated sensation very quickly. I probably haven’t had any tea in over a decade.

I find that managing sugar intake helps with drowsiness. Sugar on an empty stomach without any fiber or protein is guaranteed to knock me out, unless it’s in the middle of a long workout or immediately after. Other than those two situations, I try to limit sugar consumption. If I have any sugary foods, it will only be in combination with a lot of fiber and protein. That helps to slow down absorption of the simple carbs into the bloodstream.

A large breakfast and eating on a regular schedule throughout the day (maybe every 3 hours, even if it’s only a healthy snack, with protein and fiber) also helps with drowsiness and good management of blood sugar levels. (I’m not diabetic and I’m pretty fit, doing at least 10 hrs. a week of cycling, running, swimming and/or strength training. But I don’t handle sugar that well on an empty stomach when not exercising.)

I’ve largely sworn off caffeine completely. I was never much of a coffee drinker anyway.

[Author]

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