Originally Posted by
cubewheels
If you're riding at a very slow pace, not burning a lot of calories then indeed water-only is perfectly fine drink for cycling if you're avoiding gaining weight.
At present, I drink decaf coffee milk on the bike with sugar and 3 pinches of salt and not gaining weight at 125 lbs.
Indeed, all depends how intense the ride. For most rides up to 2 hours it is not strictly needed to take carbs, but it makes it so much easier to go hard.
On the harder workouts, that for me can be up to 850-950 Cal per hour, I will add 8 tablespoons of sugar and 1.5 g of salt in a water bottle per hour. Afterwards I still need to eat some more, and I am actually loosing weight at the moment.
On the other hand, for rides in the “fat burning zone”, burning about 600 Cal per hour I drink just water and eat some fruit afterwards if it is for 1 hour and I will add perhaps 3 tablespoons of sugar per hour to the water for longer rides.