I have recently been ramping up the amount of training im doing. (No clue what kinda hours. Probably close to 17h weeks). But the fueling for this is expensive. Thankfully I was given a life time (aka wayyy to much) Kachava for recovery drinks. But I find myself scraping buy and looking for cheap ways to get on bike fuel. Gels and stuff are great but just cost a lot. I currently get most of my carbs via 2 scoops of tang and one scoop of Gatorade per bottle (around 70g of carbs a bottle). But you can only carry so much drink mix.
So I guess my question’s are, what do you use to fuel training? And what suggestions do yall have to keep my wallet happy?
Just mix it yourself, it is super easy: buy dextrose and fructose in bulk and I like to add something acidic to cut the sweetness (lemon or, my favorite, lime juice). You can replace table salt with sodium citrate, the latter is easier on your tummy.
I mix about 1.2 kg in a container. Just use the ratio you think is appropriate (in my case 1:0.8).
You can also replace dextrose and fructose with table sugar if (1) you don’t mind that mixing your bottle might be harder and (2) you are limited to a 1:1 ratio of glucose and fructose. It may also be harder to digest.
Feel free to alter the recipe by e. g. adding in Gatorade for flavor.
If this is your main consideration then try to adapt to table sugar. It’s also the cheapest option by a lot.
Some people can’t stomach it and I suspect most people could take in more optimised mixes at higher rates than sugar, but probably not by enough to make it worth the extra expense and logistical challenges.
You can probably get well into the 100g+ per hour range with table sugar even if you’re not gifted with an iron gut. Lots of us are happily into the 120-150g range and it means we can stop and refuel just about anywhere in the world.
If you don’t want all your fuel in your bottles then there are also lots of riders who make up a kind of a gel in a 250-500mL hydro flask using an ultra-concentrated table sugar and water mix. Flask is stored in jersey pockets or sometimes down the back of the jersey itself. Otherwise same benefits and considerations as above.
In my experience (and you should try), adding something sour soothes my stomach. Some people also prefer sodium citrate as opposed to table salt for that reason. Even then you will save a significant amount of money compared to drink mix.
Oh yeah this makes a big difference, especially at first. And sometimes in terms of flavour even more than digestability. If you’re going to try sugar then it’s worth having a search around the forum and maybe elsewhere to see what tips others have. Some add other kinds of flavouring too. Sodium citrate is good if you want to take it with you - a dime bag each of salt and sodium citrate stored with your emergency cash is plenty for multiple bottle refills, and you can carry enough of each for a multi-day ultra without even really weighing yourself down. Definitely looks like you’re bringing your cocaine with you on a ride though
At this point I’m usually good with just salt - I think the psychosomatic link between drinking sugar water and endurance performance is now solid enough that my body knows what’s going on and welcomes the stuff.
That’s the biggest factor for me. Anything above 50~60 g of pure sugar per bottle makes the drink unpleasantly sweet. And since I really like sour and tart things, adding lime juice (or lime-ginger if I want to spice things up) cuts back on the sweetness.
Training - keep it simple and cheap. Straight sugar with sodium citrate, maybe some citric acid and a flavoring packet if you can stomach it and it’s not too sweet. And, as mentioned you can mix it really strong and do a dedicated bottle or flask.
Races I prefer gels though so I can separate fuel and hydration. Doesn’t matter as much training if I have to stop to take a leak (although it can be a pain when you can’t find a place) but during a race I don’t want unnecessary stops. I am playing around with the sugar route mixed real strong in small flasks though…
Drinks are good but I like something more solid too. I’ll take banana in jersey pocket and some Nature’s Bakery fig bars. On longer rides I’ll supplement that with some gels.
+1 on the white sugar, ideally caster sugar because (well I think anyway) its finer granules are quicker to dissolve. Besides being cheap (Au$2/kg at Aldi, thankyouverymuch! ) it’s available EVERYWHERE! It’s pretty hard to find a fuel station (that isn’t a workshop), or convenience store that doesn’t stock white sugar. If the event requires participants to be self-supported it’s a massive plus.
@BCM, I keep fuel separate from hydration too, by having the fuel in a 3rd bottle hanging from my TT bars. I start events with up to 500g of sugar dissolved in 250mL of hot water, then refrigerated, fills the 3rd bottle. Heavily concentrated, it’s like having a gel that’s big enough for four hours.
I keep meaning to (but haven’t yet) investigate hydration pack options, so that would be one way to keep to just one bottle in the frame. I do mostly audax so none of my events so far requiring fuelling have necessitated removing the TT bars.
I have no issues with this amount of sugar so I see no reason to vary the plan between training & events.
I use a flask of maple syrup as my primary fuel source. Not as cheap as sugar, but pretty reasonable when bought in bulk jugs and it goes down easy for me. My flask hold about 400g of carbs, so pretty energy dense and much easier than dealing with the mess and wrappers from 12 gels.
I supplement with my home brew drink mix, which is a mix of sugar, dextrose, sodium citrate, lemon/lime flavor, and and a pinch of potassium. I mix that at around 40g of carbs per 20oz bottle. And sodium content is about 1250mg per liter.
I’ve gotten to a point where I can do ~150g/hour for the first 2-3 hours of a race when it’s cool and then I usually back off to around 100g/hr as the day progresses (sometimes even less when it gets really hot).
I’m probably a sucker for buying it but I really like the neversecond stuff. Use drink mix, bars and energy gels.
Taste decent, math is easy with every serving being 30gs of carbs and I haven’t had any issues digesting or not ingesting enough on marathon mtb races.
Usually will just do a 30g scoop for sweet spot plus rides. If going long or above threshold may go 60g.
Use LMNT as well, try and have one pre-ride and then if it’s super hot one post.
I’m sure I could make my own of that as well but it’s easy and helps me recover. Salty sweater and it’s really helped me not be zonked all day after a ride.
Skratch strawberry/peanut butter. Because: strawberry and peanut butter!! That RULES!!
Not overly sweet, not overly salty, my go to for sure. Reminds me of a PBJ, and YUM.
Oh, and they may have dropped it!! The peanut butter/chocolate is a second best, cheery pistachio isn’t too bad either which is a great thing as I normally hate cheery flavors.
no guilt if you accidentally drop the leaf wrapper
Find the ones without bike branding. Recently picked up 144 which worked out about 40 pence each - that’s after some big price rises too.
For me, these paired with maltodextrin in the bottle cover 99% riding. I’ll make a maltodextrin and fructose mix for big rides. My fuelling costs are tiny.
I love the taste of Skratch lemon/lime sport hydration mix, but I just don’t bother anymore. Table sugar (sucrose) is a 1:1 mix of glucose and fructose and very close to the ideal proportions of what your body can absorb. The only real reason to do anything beyond sugar and water is taste.
I really like the taste of lemon/lime Gatorade, so I use a mix of Gatorade and sugar, with maybe a little sodium citrate to get ideal hydration results. I find the Saturday nutrition app to be REALLY helpful for my fueling.
I buy my Gatorade in powder form, in the large 2.1kg canister, so 80g of Gatorade in a bottle costs me 59.2 cents. I use as much Gatorade as will get me the flavor I want, then add sugar as needed to get the total fuel I need.
For comparison, Skratch costs $3.16 per 80g… fully 5.3X. Over the course of a year, my Gatorade/sugar mix is about $150 while Skratch would cost $790. I simply don’t see $650 in additional ANNUAL value from the higher-priced fuel.
I just noticed I wrote the wrong thing. I was talking about flavoring so I meant to say citric acid which is also a white powder but adds a sour lemon/lime/generic-citrus taste.
Sodium citrate is what a lot of people use to get electrolytes if they don’t want the taste of table salt but it’s not sour at all.
Careful with the acid - it’s not strong enough to need gloves or anything but I used the same teaspoon long enough without washing that it etched the finish in the stainless steel.
I just started diy. Table sugar, citric acid, sodium citrate, strawberry powder. Shooting for skratch strawberry lemonade.
Not sure how much sodium citrate I need yet, and it doesn’t take much citric acid to cut the sweetness. 1 tbs of strawberry powder just for flavor. I’m only tried up to 40g sugar per bottle, which isn’t much compared to what some run. For context, I’m training about 4 hours per week for XCO, so my training/events are not super long.
) it’s available EVERYWHERE! It’s pretty hard to find a fuel station (that isn’t a workshop), or convenience store that doesn’t stock white sugar. If the event requires participants to be self-supported it’s a massive plus.