water or not???

[spandex]

if your going out for a ride and not just riding to work what is best water, water and juice or some drink from your LBS?




Sorry ive just seen Re-hydration (i need a beer) now

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

I dont know how one would define 'best', but this is what i do:

I drink lot's before I ride, I take 2 bottles of water with me and drink regularly on the ride. Ona long ride (60 miles plus)I will sometimes drink a bottle of Lucosade sport about half way around. Recently however in this cold snap I havent been sweating as much and only getting through one bottle of water on a 25 mile loop.

 

[HLaB]

In the past I just used water but at the start of the summer for some rides I started using Torq energy drink, I like it (taste) and it seems to help performance.

 

[walker]

Depends on the distance Spandex. If its under 15 miles I'd say just use water, anything over that I would go with a sports drink. Also depends on your fitness levels too

 

[Blonde]

I drink plain water. I have tried various carbohydrate/isotonic powders on long rides in the past but I've realised that I don't need them and I cant feel/see any benefit or better times/results from using them. I've had some gastric and other health problems recently so its best for me to avoid anything that risks me feeling sick or bloated anyway, and odd though it might seem, I actually prefer the taste of water! I used plain water on the past few 200km rides I did, and even in the Alps in July I used very few sports/isotonic drinks. I only ever used carbohydrate powders to supplement some intake of 'real' food on rides though. If you rely totally on drinks for your fuel on rides, you may need to replace the KCals from the drinks with KCals from solid food or gels if you're going to try riding without. The only powders I'm interested in trying/using are those which do not contain any KCals (in the form of carbohydrates) but are hypertonic - containing only electrolyte salts. I'd be interested to see if I drink any less water on hot rides when using them. Will have to wait till summer holidays to find out though!

 

[Blue]

If I'm going to be out for less than an hour I don't take any liquid with me as there is little benefit because it takes a while for fluids to get into the system. Drinking before and after the ride is quite enough.

For longer rides I use a mix of water and innocent smoothie as that supplies both liquid and carbs with the added benefit of being a portion of fruit rather than just sugar and water. I read about this mix in a cycling mag some time back and I find it works very well for me.

 

[spandex]

thanks for the insite I was just asking because a mate is raving about some drink in the LBS that he loves. Im all for water good old water.

 

[bonj2]

I normally take just plain water in my water bottle, but have been known (extremely rarely mind) to take beer (actually haven't done that since I used to be into trekking)

 

[walker]

thanks for the insite I was just asking because a mate is raving about some drink in the LBS that he loves. Im all for water good old water.

only thing with water spandex is that it can wash away all the salts and minerals that your body needs to replace on a longer ride. also water isn't as fast as some other sports drinks to be absorbed into the body thus taking longer to re-hydrate yourself

 

[Blonde]

..also water isn't as fast as some other sports drinks to be absorbed into the body thus taking longer to re-hydrate yourself

Yes, you're talking about hypertonic solutions - they are absorbed by the body more quickly than water. Most sports drinks seem to be isotonic or designed to be made up into isotonic solutions though, which is the same as water in terms of the speed of absorbsion. Most sports drinks do contain 'electrolytes' and these are the minerals that you loose in sweat. They are useful for body function (and avoiding cramp) but are no more quickly absorbed than those in water (the amounts in water depends on which water you drink) unless they are within a hypertonic solution. It depends why you want to use a sports drink - do you need it for fuel (KCals in the form of carbohydrate) or rehydration/replenishing mineral salts? (a hypertonic solution, without any energy/KCals in it will be better for this). If you want both; the energy and to replenish any lost salts then an isotonic drink is the way to go - but it won't rehydrate you any more quickly than water as it's a compromise between fuel and rehydration.

 

[djmc]

If it's really hot you might want to pour water over your heat, feet, other parts of the anatomy. If you have anything else in your bidon other than water then it would be a sticky mess.

 

[Plax]

I just take water mixed with whatever cordial I have in the house. I only commute an 8 mile round trip. I never drink anything on the way into work as it is all down hill. I don't often drink on the way home either, but I do like to have a drink available just in case I get a "dry mouth" or have the misfortune to swallow a midge (bloody awful, moral of the story - if it is warm weather and there are midges about don't yawn as you cycle past. If they hit the back of your throat they make you gag and nearly fall off your bike).