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What’s In Your Water Bottle? – Part 2

08.16.2013 by Ray Niekamp // 3 Comments

I’ve been getting a lot of response to my fellow club member’s inquiry about what to drink on rides. While some people go for the drink mixes offered by nutrition companies (Hammer, etc.), it seems that most of us use more mundane mixes.

In fact, the number one hydration fluid — by a long shot — was plain old water. “Water, water, water, and lots of it!” said one. Others seconded the water idea, but did add some electrolyte mixes, such as Nuun.

Of course, there’s plenty of information online about maintaining electrolyte balance during cycling. It’s just that, for most of us, most of the time, we’re not straining ourselves that much. A couple of hours seems to be a routine ride, and in my experience, any kind of electrolyte replenisher will do the job. As I said before, one bottle of plain water and another with some kind of electrolyte drink will work. Gatorade — many folks dilute theirs — and their ilk will do the job, although lots of people don’t like Gatorade.

One of my friends, Don Bynum, does put a lot of thought into what he takes on a ride. Since he rides a recumbent trike, he carries a lot more fluids than diamond frame riders carry, anyway. On his blog earlier this summer, he recounted a 53-mile ride in 90–plus degree heat, and how he was able to stay fresh throughout (he’s 69 years old).

“I have tried numerous electrolyte replacement products over the last eight years of cycling. Nothing I tried comes even close to Hammer Nutrition’s Endurolyte capsule product in preventing cramps and heat exhaustion in our Texas Summers.  A few minutes prior to rolling out I took two Endurolytes, with water, then a Hammer Perpetuem Solids ‘thing.’

“In the course of the ride and lunch I went through five liters of water and/or iced tea, nine endurolytes and six Perpetuems, plus a hamburger.  That kept me going through 53 miles.”

I’ve been known to replenish my electrolytes by grabbing some pretzels or a Payday candy bar during rides. Don is leery of that strategy:

“I have heard people make statements about getting electrolytes by eating salty food.  That is foolish and not supported by what we know about our bodies.  A good electrolyte suppliment will have some sodium salt, but also salts of phosphorous, magnesium, and manganese as well as some other stuff that helps our boduies assimilate the salts.  Too much sodium chloride actually blocks the other electrolytes from getting through the cell walls.  Don’t bother to comment about how great you do with the salt from a bunch of On the Border toastadas.  The simple, inarguable truth is that you would do even better with a balanced load of electrolytes.”

Finally, our guest poster Jeff Hemmel chimed in about his favorite electrolyte supplement: Skratch Labs. That’s the mixture developed by cycling physician Alan Lim for pro cyclists.

“Flavor is actually from fruit and not some chemical,” he said. “Low calorie, no stomach issues, different kind of salt, and actually tastes good.”

A few others had an issue with the price of Skratch Labs, however. A pound of the mix costs $19.50 online. A 16-oz. tube of Nuun tablets is $7.00. For Jeff, the price difference is worth it. And I haven’t checked lately, but if you do order Skratch Labs online, try using the code BIKENOOB at checkout, for a 15 percent discount.

With August winding down, a lot of us are looking forward to cooler fall riding. But we’ll still need to drink.

 

 

 

 

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Categories // Heat Tags // electrolytes, sports drink, water

What’s In Your Water Bottle?

08.13.2013 by Ray Niekamp // 15 Comments

Electrolyte_drinksOne of our newer club members revived a time-honored thread that occurs each year during the hot summer months. She bonked badly about a month ago, and was wondering: What are you putting in your water bottle on hot summer rides?

She uses Nuun. Apparently, she’s happy with it, but was wondering what other alternatives there might be.

Some chatter within the club turned up a few ideas. One member said she just makes sure her water bottles are frozen the night before a ride, and carries as much as she can — which works out to two 24-oz. bottles.

Others go half and half — one bottle with water only, and the other a mixture of water and some kind of electrolyte replenisher, such as Nuun, or diluted Gatorade.

Myself, I freeze water bottles the night before a ride too, and use the half and half method. I also favor Nuun. But I’m only concerned about an electrolyte replenisher if I know the ride will run much longer than an hour. My usual 90-minute or less rides during the week are just fine with water only.

Our club president uses one bottle of plain water, and adds a scoop of Gatorade and a scoop of Endurolyte to the second. When that runs out, he’ll find a store that sells Mexican Coke — the kind sweetened with sugar, and not high fructose corn syrup.

Others carry some Endurolytes or E-tabs, or such in a plastic bag.

What I’m not seeing is heavy use of Cytomax or Hammer products.

What do you normally take on a ride to prevent the bonk?

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Categories // Heat Tags // bonk, electrolytes, sports drink, water

A Drinking Problem

08.07.2012 by Ray Niekamp // 5 Comments

As a sort of follow-up to the last post about problems eating during a ride, guest poster Don Blount addresses his trouble with drink.

I am not afraid to admit that I have a drinking problem.

I have had the problem of drinking too little when I’m riding my bike. (rimshot!)

That may not seem like a significant problem to those who do not ride or who drink more than enough. But it is a huge issue for someone such as me who has suffered from hellacious, make that H-E-L-L-A-C-I-O-U-S leg cramps.

I found that I would go through about 14 ounces of fluid, about 2/3 of a 20 ounce bottle, an hour instead of the recommended 20 ounces an hour.

Given this, why not just drink more?

Three reasons: 1) I was not thirsty 2) I was not sweating much 3) It seemed that the more I drank, the more frequently I had to go to the bathroom. This was inconvenient enough on solo rides and even moreso on coed group rides.

It was not as if I was not carrying enough fluids with me as I carry one 20-ounce bottle of water and another with an electrolyte such as Nuun or Endurolyte.

But after a last round of leg cramps a few months ago that led me to borrow some electrolyte pills from a fellow rider, I just decided enough was enough and I would tackle this problem head on.

I started by making sure I had some fluids in me before leaving for a ride.

While on the bike, like Pavlov’s dog, I would work at conditioning myself to grab for a bottle at a given signal. In this case I used the lap timer on my Garmin as my signal to take a sip. When the Garmin chirped at the one-mile mark, I would take a drink.

Of course this time could vary by as much as a minute or two depending on where and how fast I was riding. Early on it seemed terribly inconvenient but I forced myself to follow through.

A mile goes by – grab the bottle and sip. Another mile – when it seemed like I had just put the bottle away – grab it again and sip. Initially the miles seemed to come up far too quickly but slowly, and I do mean slowly, I found myself drinking regularly even without the Garmin reminder. An hour would pass and I would have one bottle down and had started working on another.

On really hot days I would go through 20 ounces before the hour mark. My new problem became calculating where I could refill my bottles on longer rides and choking down the inflated price of Gatorade or Powerade at convenience stores.

I have not had any cramping problems since I began this program. I have not even had to stop more often to do No. 1. Perhaps my body conditioned itself. More than likely it shows how much I really needed those additional fluids. Overall, at least for me, it illustrates the important role hydration plays in cycling.

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Categories // guest post Tags // Blount, hydration, sports drink

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