Energy drink/bars/gels Recovery drink/bars/gels????

[lukesdad]

Its what your used to willhub,evrything is down to what you train for.

 

[navrat_biker]

If anyone wants any info on what supplements would be best (tailored to your training needs) just PM me or get in touch at contact@bodymaxsupplements.co.uk

Here to help any fellow biker - i personally take sis supplements and high 5 as they are light on the stomach. A big fan of the Nuun Hydration tablets too.

Honestly, if you are stuck thinking is this supplement right or that, get in touch.

 

[willhub]

What I took in the end for this 175 mile bike ride.

2x SIS Gel
1x GO Gel or w/e they are
4x TORQ Bar
1x Mars Bar
1x Snickers
2x 750ml bottle of ribena

I filled up in Richmond with a bottle of this energy drink or something, like lucozade from a garage, said go on it too.

I could not believe how much this stuff actually did help me this year, for the whole 137 miles I was with the group I was consistently destroying people up the hills (sounds nasty but the group I with don't mind it, we're a training lot) and the strongest overall on the hills.

The only problems I found is I was having blips of energy loss, I don't know if before I ate some more food, I was letting my reserves "go into the red", so I eat something, and before the nutrients and energy go into me, I am running low on energy as a result of leaving it too late. At one point I was feeling rather sick too, I reckon if I was doing a longer ride, by about 168 miles in it'd be time for a second cafe stop, as I had to munch on my emergency snickers bar to get me home, it took about 5 mins for the snickers bar to take effect and top me up.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/40913163

I did feel much better at the end of this ride compared to the normal 100-130 mile rides I have done, and I have recovered quicker from this too which is odd.

 

[zacklaws]

Weird how I do 21mph avg on a 50 mile route yet I struggle to average 24mph for 10 miles.

Perhaps your not warmed up on the shorter rides and its over before you are getting into a rythmn. I find that it takes me at least 30 minutes to get warmed up and if I'm not by that point, at least 12 miles on a ride before I can start knocking out a steady pace without all the aches, pains and breathing problems which I have at the start of a ride

 

[Fab Foodie]

I'd say if you're doing the ride this weekend, you've left it too late to be messing around with energy gels and drinks - these should have been tested out over the last few weeks so that you know you'll like the stuff enough to drink it and it doesn't make you ill. This may sound a bit dramatic but there are plenty of people who finds some energy drinks give them upset stomachs etc. - best to know this before you make up 2 water bottles for your event

The other thing is working out what you actually need - for instance, I never use electrolyte drinks even over long rides or in hot weather (and I mean hot, I used to live in Western Australia and Northern Italy) as my body doesn't need the extra salts beyond what I get in normal foods and the occasional packet of crisps with a post-race beer. Remember sweat is less salty than the fluid in your body so as you sweat, you concentrate the remaining fluid and drinking plain water is sufficient until you get to having to replace 3 or 4 litres**. And contrary to what many people seem to think, electrolytes aren't implicated in cramps - it's more likely to be underconditioned muscles (check out information on electrolytes and cramp in the Science in Sport blog here) which cause you problems, especially if you ride harder or longer on the day than you do in 'training'.

So stick with stuff you know - diluted squash or fruit juice, with pinch of salt if you must, flapjacks, malt loaf, bananas etc. And my main objection to chocolate would be that it clags the mouth (old sabotage trick - offer chocolate around your ride companions just before the start of a climb and they'll all be swishing the stuff out of their mouths and drinking from water bottles when you hit the climb ) - it might give you short term energy but on the other hand, if you're working hard ~ 1000 kcals per hour and using say ~80% blood sugar (and <20% body fat) for energy, you need a fairly big supply of sugar - 150kcals in a gel isn't going to get you far and 400 kcals in a Mars bar might get you a lot further while flapjack or similar might just be too hard to digest quickly enough. But this is part of knowing what you need and what works for you.


** Also note that thirst is driven by your body detecting salt concentration so electrolyte drinks can make you feel thirsty beyond what's needed for fluid replacement. The Science in Sport blog has more on this subject.

Top post if I may say so.

BTW, anybody notice Cadel Evans swigging a can of coke on his way up the last climb of yesterdays Tour stage?

 

[willhub]

Perhaps your not warmed up on the shorter rides and its over before you are getting into a rythmn. I find that it takes me at least 30 minutes to get warmed up and if I'm not by that point, at least 12 miles on a ride before I can start knocking out a steady pace without all the aches, pains and breathing problems which I have at the start of a ride

I ride 21 miles to the start of the TT, I don't thrash it.

 

[zimzum42]

Tracker bars are great, especially the chocolate ones. Well wrapped, easy to eat, and have a mix of nuts and chocolate and all sorts so you have different rates of energy release, or whatever!

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Tracker bars are great, especially the chocolate ones. Well wrapped, easy to eat, and have a mix of nuts and chocolate and all sorts so you have different rates of energy release, or whatever!

Chocolate is only any use if the climate is cool at the time. Even in Scotland, chocolate can be useless (even as a coating) in the summer.

 

[BigonaBianchi]

So...erm...what is the best thing to put in a water bottle over a long ride energy and hydration wise. I only ride with plain water and almost never eat on a regular loop (max 50 miles) but I eat before I go and when I get back. On my bike tours I just eat jelly beans etc or trail mix etc...and the odd Gatorade. It would be good to know what small easy to carry bottle mix sachets would be worth carrying sometimes.

 

[ianrauk]

So...erm...what is the best thing to put in a water bottle over a long ride energy and hydration wise. I only ride with plain water and almost never eat on a regular loop (max 50 miles) but I eat before I go and when I get back. On my bike tours I just eat jelly beans etc or trail mix etc...and the odd Gatorade. It would be good to know what small easy to carry bottle mix sachets would be worth carrying sometimes.

I carry a couple of High5 tabs.

 

[BigonaBianchi]

cheers..just ordered some

 

[HLaB]

Cereal Bars, Bananas or Flapjacks (or all three) for me unless like the OP its an organised even then I'll go to the gels and energy powder; on that front I like the ZipVit or Torq range but being a recognised tight wad I tend to use what ever came in my last wiggle/pbk/chain reactions order or what I bought on special offer. I last used High 5 stuff and it seemed to go down well.