On Tuesday, June 20, 2017 at 10:23:04 AM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 6/20/2017 12:00 PM, wrote:
I have rather a serious problem. When I ride I usually eat and drink nothing more than a pastry and a cup of coffee. The results of this are that I get extremely tired on long rides.

After reading physiological training books I'm informed that you should consume liquids with electrolytes in them - mainly slightly sweetened water with potassium and sodium in them. That is a type of cooking salt I believe.

Looking the drinks up that are replacement drinks the only one's I can see that aren't pure hype are Gatorade and Red Bull. The second one contains a little caffeine as well but only about 1/10th what you would get in a cup of coffee.

The "Sports Bars" and "Sports Drinks" in the stores upon reading the labels would scare the pants off of you. The amounts of sugar are so high that they cause your digestive process to freeze up and stop.

Does anyone have any good ideas about making your own sports drink since the cost of Gatorade or Red Bull are rediculous?

First, my younger body seemed to be much more tolerant of exercising
without replenishment, except for water. But somehow over the years
I've gotten more sensitive. I now try to remember to replenish both
sugar and electrolytes, but I sometimes forget - as on last Friday's
very hot, hilly 40 mile ride. I was pretty flattened for hours
afterwards. But I think I was also fighting off some mild virus.

Anyway, I once suffered from what I was sure was hyponatremia. I was
maybe 2/3 through my only double century on a very hot day. I'd been
drinking very consistently all through the ride, but I began feeling
almost sick with thirst, yet I had a belly sloshing full of water and
water tasted terrible. When I realized what was happening, I got salt
packets from a fast food restaurant, ate a couple, and put some into my
water bottles. It helped tremendously, and I finished the 200 miles
feeling tired but otherwise fine.

Since then, especially on hot days, I sprinkle some "Cardia Salt" (TM)
into each water bottle. It's table salt plus potassium chloride,
magnesium sulfate and some other stuff. I think it really helps.

A friend told me V8 Juice works well for her. Works for me, too. It's
sold in lots of convenience stores, so you can often buy it as you need it.

The other thing I should replenish better is simple sugars. I had a bag
of raisins (as usual) in my handlebar bag during that ride last week. I
forgot to eat them (as usual).

Salt Mineral Content: Himalayan and Celtic salts are cheaper than Cardia Salt and contain the same things.