Thanks @Dr_Alex_Harrison - looking forward to the app!
What an awesome thread!!! Thank you @Dr_Alex_Harrison for invaluable insights and videos!!
- after all this reading I think Iāll just start with Table Sugar + Table Saltā¦
I consume 1000ml/hour
so 60gm of table sugar/32oz bottle + 4g table salt and a splash of lemon juice
For me in Australia this works out to roughly $0.20AUD/bottle (60g)
@AussieRider are you based in AU? where do you source maltodextrin from that is not silly expensive?
As @redlude97 points out, my only concern here is my bodies ability to effectively use all 60grams of sucrose as opposed to 60g maltodextrin that Iām used to via Drink Mix and Gels.
Also anyone have good advice about adding potassium/magnesium?
Iām in the U.S. I get a 5kg bag for about $40. Iāve found a cheaper source of Fructose from a local grocery store. Sodium Citrate is what I use for sodium. I find it much better than table salt.
seems to be much more/cheaper options for maltodextrin and sodium citrate in USā¦ almost 3-4x the cost here in AU
Well thatās $US40+Tax so I guess thatās about $AUS65. This is the brand I get. We have free delivery here which I doubt is a thing yet in OZ.
thanks @AussieRider works out to about $100AUD from Amazon AU free shipping ā¦ $20/KG ā¦ itās still about the 1/4 the price of a premium drink mix 
but when table sugar is only $2.5/KGā¦ lol I think Iāll play with both and experimentā¦
I might be testing the limits of the topic here, but have any of you tried any of these (primarily/exclusively table sugar) solutions in ultra-endurance racing? Whatās it like after a few days? Obviously thereās a nutritional need to still stop for solid meals, but I just mean in terms of keeping calories topped up as much as possible.
Iāve just been accepted into a self-supported ultra where weāve also got to carry all our rubbish with us to the checkpoints rather than discarding it en-route. Should be about 3 days between checkpoints and a week and a half overall. It means Iām thinking not just about calorie density of what I carry (and can find at corner shops) but also about the bulk and biodegradability of packaging.
Coincidentally, I also just switched from SiS to table sugar + himalayan pink salt + lemon juice for my indoor training rides as a cost saving measure. May or may not add some malto as I settle in, but it sounds like itās really not necessary unless pushing absolute absorbtion limits. Given that Iām already going to be training my gut on this stuff, it seems like it might be a pretty good option for supplementing solid food on the big ride - can be had anywhere and the only ingredient with any bulk comes in a paper bag.
Define ultra-endurance. I can answer better with a little more specifics.
Multi-day (riding every single day)? How many sleep hours? Mandated sleep? How many hours riding during each 24-hr period?
The longest Iāve had someone use exclusively fueling like this: 24 hours straight of pedaling. Worked great. Since I havenāt tested beyond that, I canāt say for certain that it will work for 25 hoursā¦ but Iām pretty confident nothingās going to change out to about 30-36 hours. It should work great for the longest single-session events Iām aware of.
Itās also worked great for folks who have done 10-12 hours of riding per day for up to 7 days. As far as multi-day stuff, I havenāt tested it beyond that, but I suspect that it could be used for something like Rait Rataseppsās 60 IM in 60 days, all of which were under 12 hours.
Beyond 36 hoursā¦ Iām not so sure. Things might get a little weird from even a pure performance standpoint.
But if youāre riding more than 36 hours straightā¦ youāre probably at the fringes of āacceptable behavior for humans who function reasonably well in a society.ā
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Howās everyone feel about adding honey to water bottles? What Iām reading says 100 grams of honey has about 300 calories and about 85 grams of that is 50/50 glucose/fructose.
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I did it for about a year. It worked. Not absolutely optimal and I didnāt like the sweetness at higher concentration, but it was acceptable.
Thanks, this is really helpful to know and probably confirms that my use-case should be workable. Iām talking about longer riding days than this, but with rest stops and solid food in the mix as well. Probably 14-16 hours riding & 3-6 hours sleep in every 24h. Thereās a longer rest/reset roughly every 3 days too.
Itās 4x mass start stages, each of which should take about 3 days to complete, so as long as you get to the end of a stage well before the next one begins then you get an extended rest until the clock starts again. Looks like past riders have got anywhere between 10 and 20 hours between stages, so likely enough time to get a full sleep, wash some kit, etc. but not enough to begin to really clear the fatigue of the previous effort. Iād guess its enough for a mostly complete digestive reset though, which should make the sugar solution more workable.
Totally workable.
Sugar during. And easy to digest other foods between events. Can āeasilyā meet daily macro needs. Limit fiber. Probably should consume some sugar off the bike too.
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