What's in your bottle?

corblimey · 20-05-2010 09:37PM #1

Just wondering what people put in their bottle(s) before a long spin? Plain water, some sort of fruit juice, lucozade sport (ugh) or other 'sports' drink, vodka?

helimachoptor · 20-05-2010 09:40PM

Some mi wadi but its practically all water, i prefer a hint of flavour rather than over powering flavour.

Gers_punto · 20-05-2010 09:42PM

i just stick to the regular water..

BUT a guy that know put full bodies red bull in his hydropac. Flew down the forestry on the kilbane pass, red bull sloshing around inside it. when he got down went to take a drink, bit down on the valve..... you can use your imagination for the rest lol

LastGasp · 20-05-2010 09:45PM

Nuun is good, has decent flavour and is easy to drink, not sticky like High 5 for instance. Plain water isn't really up to the job for a long spin. You need to replace electrolytes lost through perspiration. There are plenty of other drinks available, or some people just add a bit of salt to water.

rebel.ranter · 20-05-2010 09:46PM

Ribena, weak mix.

ROK ON · 20-05-2010 09:48PM

Less than 70km. One 750cl bottle with water.
Greater than 70km 1.25L in two bottles. One with water and dash of Robinson summer berry and one with water and an electrolyte tablet.

72hundred · 20-05-2010 09:51PM

High Five (i think its called), great stuff.

xz · 20-05-2010 10:43PM

High Five 4:1 Summer Fruits flavour, yum, but like Last Gasp says, spill any on yourself or the bike, it's quite sticky.

keenan110 · 20-05-2010 10:46PM

I use Nuun tablets (tri-berry flavour) for spins over 60km, otherwise just plain water.

ED E · 20-05-2010 11:04PM

Half price Lucozade Sport from Tesco

biomed32 · 20-05-2010 11:07PM

robinsons sugar free orange and pineapple:)

IM0 · 21-05-2010 01:15AM

just water, but for epic rides like marmotte and general alpine climbing I use high 5 isotonic.

blahblah06 · 21-05-2010 06:14AM

High 5 tropical and high 5 orange gels when things get bad

DirkVoodoo · 21-05-2010 08:07AM

Nuun in one, Mi-Wadi in the other. I can't stand drinking water while exercising, the only problem with mi-wadi is it stains the bottles.

Murph100 · 21-05-2010 08:32AM

High 5 4:1 Summer Fruits, great stuff and not sickly sweet either.

CheGuedara · 21-05-2010 08:51AM

Nuun in one, Torq natural orange in the other

ednwireland · 21-05-2010 08:59AM

zym endurance tablets (no caffeine) in 750ml

ryan_sherlock · 21-05-2010 09:26AM

ZipVit Energy Drink in my bottles unless I'm on a recovery ride (where it would be water). Tried the experiment of using just water and normal food during longer training rides in the winter and it didn't work for me - power was down, perceived effort was up.

CheGuedara · 21-05-2010 09:30AM

ryan_sherlock wrote: »

ZipVit Energy Drink in my bottles unless I'm on a recovery ride (where it would be water). Tried the experiment of using just water and normal food during longer training rides in the winter and it didn't work for me - power was down, perceived effort was up.

Gave Zipvit a try as I was finding what product/brand suited me best - good on energy delivery, not far off Torq IMHO, but how are you finding the flavour/taste? Wasn't wildly impressed

kennyb3 · 21-05-2010 09:38AM

Water for short spin (less than 50k), water plus bottle of gatorade in back pocket if longer

Caroline_ie · 21-05-2010 10:20AM

Red Bull /Water Mix

ryan_sherlock · 21-05-2010 04:37PM

CheGuedara wrote: »

Gave Zipvit a try as I was finding what product/brand suited me best - good on energy delivery, not far off Torq IMHO, but how are you finding the flavour/taste? Wasn't wildly impressed

Yeah - I find the Orange flavour the best - they are reasonably new to the market and are still perfecting their flavours - I think next years/seasons stuff is a little different.

Sniipe · 21-05-2010 04:48PM

If one trains with the likes of nuun all the time and on a race day they use nuun as well; are they in a better position on the race day against someone else who trained without nuun, but come race day they use nuun...

Lumen · 21-05-2010 04:54PM

I've started experimenting with Red Bull energy shots, and tend to keep a few in my race bag.

Sometimes I'll use one as a pre-race alternative to coffee, 30 mins before. Sometimes I'll empty one into my bottle. Sometimes both.

I just read that they only have 80mg of caffeine, which they claim is about the same as a cup of coffee.

Maybe I should use more of them, since I've not won anything yet. :pac:

edit: apparently caffeine is now off the WADA prohibited list, which presumably means they don't think it helps performance.

ROK ON · 21-05-2010 05:01PM

Lumen wrote: »

I've started experimenting with Red Bull energy shots, and tend to keep a few in my race bag.

Sometimes I'll use one as a pre-race alternative to coffee, 30 mins before. Sometimes I'll empty one into my bottle. Sometimes both.

I just read that they only have 80mg of caffeine, which they claim is about the same as a cup of coffee.

Maybe I should use more of them, since I've not won anything yet. :pac:

edit: apparently caffeine is now off the WADA prohibited list, which presumably means they don't think it helps performance.

I was cycling with a doctor recently. He commented that coffee was a particular no no. The initiall high is not long lasting and is followed by a low.

karltimber · 21-05-2010 05:03PM

hi,

is nuun available in a chemist or tesco/supervalu type place ?

just had a look at their website - will give it a try

I usually just add miwadi.

thx

k

ryan_sherlock · 21-05-2010 07:33PM

Sniipe wrote: »

If one trains with the likes of nuun all the time and on a race day they use nuun as well; are they in a better position on the race day against someone else who trained without nuun, but come race day they use nuun...

No, you always want to train well. Moving away from nuun for a second and take another example that is easier to understand.

You train without eating in the previous 12 hours each day - the training ride is 3 hours long...

You hit your competition and have a proper prerace meal - you ride much faster than you would in training.

BUT, if you treated your training better and ate better, you would have had much higher quality training all along and been much much faster come race day.

If something gives you a physiological racing advantage (that is not something that if you use too much loses it's effectiveness - caffeine for example) - than you should be training with it => higher quality training => higher quality racing.

Paul Kiernan · 21-05-2010 08:03PM

ROK ON wrote: »

I was cycling with a doctor recently. He commented that coffee was a particular no no. The initiall high is not long lasting and is followed by a low.

High 5 have a big blurb on their website claiming that caffeine improves the absorption of carbohydrates by 25% and thus improves performance.

Also means you need to spend 25% more on High 5 products to get the full benefit:rolleyes:.

niceonetom · 21-05-2010 08:12PM

ryan_sherlock wrote: »

No, you always want to train well. Moving away from nuun for a second and take another example that is easier to understand.

You train without eating in the previous 12 hours each day - the training ride is 3 hours long...

You hit your competition and have a proper prerace meal - you ride much faster than you would in training.

BUT, if you treated your training better and ate better, you would have had much higher quality training all along and been much much faster come race day.

If something gives you a physiological racing advantage (that is not something that if you use too much loses it's effectiveness - caffeine for example) - than you should be training with it => higher quality training => higher quality racing.

Ok that makes sense, but what about training for endurance events?

If I were training for an event that would be in the 8+ hour range, there's simply no way I can supply that many calories from food, right? So I've got to train my body to supply fat calories from reserves as well as from eating on the bike.

Is there not a case for doing some training (not all, and certainly not intense efforts) without giving your body that easy access to energy from energy bidons/bars? Just prefuel with complex carbs and then eat sparingly on the bike - it certainly wouldn't be as fast as doing the same spin with high blood sugar, but it might serve a purpose.

I'd be worried that if I did all my training with as much blood sugar as I can stuff down my throat it would come as a bit of a shock when my digestive system just can't keep up with the demands of a really long day...

I stand ready to be corrected here though.

Lumen · 21-05-2010 08:33PM

niceonetom wrote: »

So I've got to train my body to supply fat calories from reserves as well as from eating on the bike.

Is there not a case for doing some training (not all, and certainly not intense efforts) without giving your body that easy access to energy from energy bidons/bars?

Sounds a bit like "bonk training". AFAIK there is no evidence that low blood sugar stimulates fat burning, it just forces you to cycle slower.

In any case, draining yourself will just mean you'll take longer to recover, so your overall training volume will suffer.

niceonetom · 21-05-2010 08:55PM

Lumen wrote: »

Sounds a bit like "bonk training". AFAIK there is no evidence that low blood sugar stimulates fat burning, it just forces you to cycle slower.

No, not bonk training. At all. Just training at a lower pace, for longer, in a way that encourages your body to process complex carbs and fat and not just quick-burn sugar. Any feeling of bonk should be met immediately with a bar, but I'm not for one second advocating training to the point of bonk. I'm pretty sure I've seen this advocated for iron man training as it's simply not possible to eat enough calories to get through an iron man at any pace without developing you fat burning prowess. I vaguely remember tunney saying something about it around here...

Anyway, you're the guy who recently tried to explain that the reason you were carrying no more than 500ml of fluid on a 120km+ ride through Wicklow to train your body to need less fluid. I'm not sure you're really on solid ground here.

Lumen wrote: »

In any case, draining yourself will just mean you'll take longer to recover, so your overall training volume will suffer.

Intense training really takes it out of me too, and recovery from hill repeats can be slow. I should probably avoid them so. Right?

What's in your bottle?

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