Originally Posted by
pepperbelly
I think I understand. Would taking a bottle of gatorade on my ride help?
I do a very low carb diet, and it has worked until recently.
When I ride I am alone, not in a group. I try to maintain speed as best I can. Depending on wind and climbs I normally average 14-15mph. My heart rate is around 135 to maybe 158 max according to my Apple watch. I am guessing I stay in Zone 2 but I have never figured that out.
Sure, Gatorade works. But!... It's too high in sodium for the average person doing the average riding. IMO. So if you are trying to cut back on sodium in your diet, be aware of that.
I only have half that amount in my hydration mix. And only on the hottest of days, 95 to >100°F. For most cycling I'm probably about a quarter to a third of that amount.
140 Calories is a good starting point for a hours ride. However, even as dilute as Gatorade might taste when not working out, when you get on the bike, it might taste sickly sweet. Other types of sugars aren't sweet. I now use maltodextrin as the base for my mix. I have to add some table sugar to take the dry taste out of it. If Gatorade is all you got, then go for it. If the taste while on the bike is still too sweet or it bothers your stomach, then dilute it.
If you were to consume Calories like the pro's do, then you might have 400 Calories in that bottle. But that takes a lot of getting use to to keep your stomach from rebelling on you. 180 to 220 Calories or a tad higher/hour is probably more realistic once you get used to them. But even if you were to stomach the Calories of a pro cyclist, you should note that it's still below the amount of Calories you should have expended during the ride. So you do get the Calorie deficit benefit.
I use to use Vitamin Water years ago. It has 0 sodium, you can add a pinch of salt if you need it. It does have other electrolytes as does Gatorade. Sodium is supposed to be the most needed for replacing what's lost through sweat. But different people lose differing amounts of salt in their sweat. Your correct amount will have to be determined by you. And depending on how hard and long you ride, you may not need any.
Fruit juice was what I used prior to going to Hammer Nutrition's HEED and then to my own mix. I use to do about 40/60 or 60/40 water/juice depending on how much effort the ride was to be.